Trusted builder but not insured

[sud78]

I have a builder (not a company) who I have been using for the last 8 years. He's diligent with his work. I want to knock off a load wall for a bigger kitchen but the guy is not insured. Should I go with him purely on trust? Or should I only go with insured builders..?

Not sure he can legally run his business without public liability insurance

Well and what will happen if something happens that insurance would cover?

How is a builder operating without insurance? Both of the ones we've used (two locations!) sent us their insurance documents before starting any work.

Can you afford if the work goes wrong and he does structural damage to your property? Can you afford to be sued by a neighbour if he causes damage to theirs?

If you’ve used the guy for 8 years with no problems it’s highly unlikely there will be any problems. If he props everything up securely then there is little to go wrong. It all depends on how big the wall is I suppose ?

I helped someone and they had knocked the whole of the back of his house out to build an extension, it was a huge steel and took eight of us to get it in. We had it propped up the best we could, but it was still squeaky bum time when it came to knocking out the last bit holding the house up 🙂. There wasn’t as much as an hairline crack after it was done.

like you say if he’s diligent and not the type to go swinging a sledgehammer at walls, but likes to do things methodically then that’s a good sign.

but who’s to say you get a builder in who’s insured but it goes tits up and you end up having a nightmare ?

I’ve taken walls out, whole chimney stacks out. A few times with no insurance on my own houses …….. if you take your time and think things out there’s never any problems……….. it’s not rocket science 🚀