Plumber caused damage - now what?

[comealongdobbeh]

Posting here for advice really. Plumber came out to do what I think he thought was a straightforward job - changing elements in water cylinder. However when he was emptying the water, he misjudged how much water was left.

Long story short - the water emptied onto my floor. Upstairs. There was a lot of water - the cylinder was still very full.

Wet carpets. Water gone under the floor. Water under the skirting boards so 2 rooms attached to airing cupboard both have wet carpets at the adjoining edges. Water gone through my floor to my ceiling in the room below and dripped down the light fitting which he had to remove. You get the picture.

What I’d like to know is, now what do I do?

This happened Thursday afternoon. I’ve taken photos of the damage. I feel he was very unprepared for things to go wrong which is why I think he expected it to be a nice, easy job - he had no drop cloths, no towels, no bucket, no vacuum etc. I had to run to his van to fetch his wet/dry vac because he couldn’t let go of whatever he was holding because the water was coming that fast. Hot water.

We lifted carpet edge in one room last night, the carpets are drier but the floorboards under the underlay are still soaked. Carpet has gone brown where it was wet. Ceiling in room below is stained and my house stinks.

He said something about letting it dry and he would pay for a decorator. He didn’t charge for the work or the parts. He lent us 2 x humidifiers - they’re AC units that can dry rooms - but these cost a bomb to run don’t they? I doubt he’s going to pay my electric bill.

Now what do I do?

Is it reasonable to want someone to come in and lift my floorboards to assess the water damage underneath? Who would do this?

How do I go about billing him for the repairs?

We’ve rang our own home insurance this evening who said call back Monday 🙄

Any sage advice for a complete simpleton who has never been in a situation like this and hasn’t a clue where to start?

If he is a decent tradesman he has insurance. I would go down that avenue.

What’s the betting he’s not insured. Or he’d have already mentioned it. Claim on your insurance and they will recoup costs from him.

I understand that, but how? Literally, how?

Do I contact his insurance? Does he? Do I start repairs, or wait? I’ve no idea where to start or what to do.

Do we ask for his insurance details?

Ask for his insurance details and pass them to your insurance company and let them sort it out between them.

If he can't or won't produce the details then give all the information you have to your insurance company and they will chase him.

Ask for his insurance details but be prepared that your insurance company may not pay out. We had a similar issue and our insurer (large major brand) refused to pay out as the workman / contractor should have had their own.

Talk to him. Ask him to come over and look at the damage with you if he's willing. Document everything. Agree on the extent of the damage, and agree on a course of action to put everything right. Whether that's him doing it, or you going through his insurance.

If he's not willing to play ball, let your insurance deal with it.

You have two options:

1. tell him he needs to report the incident to his public liability insurance company as you are making a claim for the property damage he has caused. His insurers should then arrange repairs to make good the damage using their network of tradesmen. But do note, public liability insurance works on the same basis as motor insurance in that cover is provided on an indemnity basis. This means that if you have a 10 year old carpet, you’ll only be given the current value of that carpet. This differs to the majority of home insurance policies which are based on new for old cover. Unless the carpet is beyond repair, they are also likely to insist on trying things like carpet cleans before agreeing to pay for replacement to keep their costs down.

2. you make a claim under your own household insurance. They will arrange any repairs, replace flooring etc and that will be done on a new for old basis (I assume you have this cover for your home insurance). Your insurer will then make what’s called a subrogated claim to recover their costs from him / his PL insurer.

He may offer to get people in himself to sort out repairs. I would advise against this as if there are subsequent issues with the work they have done, you’ll likely struggle to get the back / get it resolved.

You also can claim for any additional electricity used for the dryers - try to take meter reads so you can track the usage as you can then compare against typical usage to show the difference. It’s not likely to be a huge amount but it is an additional cost you are only incurring as a result of his negligence so you are entitled.

So he should have public liability insurance, most tradesmen do, even one man bands. So ask him.
Then you will need to find someone who can quote for repairs, possibly 3 quotes.

You can ask your house insurance to manage this, or you can do yourself.

If he is not insured then it is small claims court for recompense.

This isn’t as simple as just changing the carpets and repainting. You’re going to need to expose the areas the water got to and properly dry it out. If it stays damp and isn’t able to dry properly, you can risk getting damp. Given it’s a fixed amount of water that’s fallen, and not a continuous stream (like a leaky pipe would be), it possibly won’t take that long. But you’ll need the wood to be 100% dry.

Thanks all, this is really helpful.

@JustMyView13this is what I needed to get my head around. Thank you. Any idea who would be able to lift my floorboards to check the joists etc have dried?

There are specialist companies who deal with leaks/ managing water damage OP

You need to get the ball rolling on insurance ASAP so they can get someone in to start the process.

The last thing you want is mould as well as wet

Thank you. We’re going to contact him to get his insurance details. We rang our ‘24 hour open line to report an incident’ only to be told we have to call back Monday which is annoying

Really, you want a specialist firm. Usually they deal with water & fire damage.
I’ve had an escape of water claim before, and the team specialised in finding out what was and was not damp / wet, drying it out & replacing what was necessary.
The horror stories they told me of people that had cut corners. I would suggest going through your insurance company, and they should be looking to claim off the Plumbers insurance. If you have legal cover included, and your insurance aren’t able to help from a claim perspective, you could seek legal advice. Ultimately you shouldn’t be out of pocket for this.

You’ll also need your electrics checked given it was coming through the light as that’s now a potential fire risk.

It's his insurance you need to contact