How to claim electrician liability insurance

Discussion in 'Repairs & Maintenance' started by Jasmine, 17th Jan, 2020.

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  1. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    That's a better photo. Repair isn't gonna be too intense probably get away with 600 mm galv strap screwed both sides of the chord (but don't take my word for it).
     
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  2. Jasmine

    Jasmine Well-Known Member

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    I can hear the stunned silence. He really did cut 90%+ of the chord. No over-reaction.
     
  3. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I’d allow him to make the decision on paying for your choice of contractor to fix it. It was your decision to use him for whatever reason. You chose not to ask for a tax receipt so you are now in a spot because you also have done the wrong thing.

    I’m guessing if he’s a qualified electrician and had issued you a tax receipt you would go back to him to ask him to fix it even if you didn't want him to do the fix himself?

    Or you’d take it to an electrician’s regulatory or insurance body to
    force him to pay for the fix.

    I’d ask the father and/or son to pay for the fix before taking it further.
     
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  4. willair

    willair Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Just look at the probabilities ,all the trades-person has to do is state it was like that before they started the job,and most people i know working in this area would have several photos once they saw this stuff up..

    Jasmine ,now it's up to you as some of the advice from highly experience people in this site cover,s everything..

    If you were to scale this out on the posts so far ,most would know the odds most would not go down the never ending legal..But as your hell-bent then employ a legal person and who ever you want then see what happens between 2 or more people or entities ..
     
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  5. Jasmine

    Jasmine Well-Known Member

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    So it doesn't really matter whether I have an invoice or not? :(

    I just wanted to know my options? ie. would the larger Kitchen contract have covered this?

    I still feel that reporting him is the right thing to do to save others from his errors.
     
    Last edited: 18th Jan, 2020
  6. willair

    willair Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Quote..
    I had a bright idea to ask him to install two hallway downlights for $100 extra (cash in hand). We supplied the downlights.

    A back of the envelope calculation and as people react to money in different way's ,with the above statement as i see 2 distinct separate images when you think about the possibilities about the spaghetti legal system and the way it works in real life..good luck..
     
  7. lightbulbmoment

    lightbulbmoment Well-Known Member

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    No this wouldn't be sufficient.
     
  8. lightbulbmoment

    lightbulbmoment Well-Known Member

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    I would claim insurance on this for sure. This is so serious a knock down -rebuild is your only option.
     
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  9. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    Of course it matters. No invoice (or quote) means you have no proof of who did what.

    If it was not included in the kitchen invoices (which you said it wasn’t?) then it is an entirely different matter and nothing to do with the kitchen installation.

    Report to whom?
     
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  10. Joynz

    Joynz Well-Known Member

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    Hi Jasmine - best to contact consumer.vic and/or VBA for advice.

    Definitely not related to the kitchen contract - you would have needed to extend that contract with the builder.

    The sparky being the son of the builder is irrelevant.
     
  11. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Does anyone know who would be in trouble (if anyone) in this instance?

    Jasmine for offering cash in the hand?

    Electrician for accepting cash in the hand and obviously not expected or asked to write an invoice.

    @Jasmine, if this had been done differently, not a cheapie add on for cash, what would you do?

    There's nothing wrong with paying tradies cash. Who is in the wrong when the trade doesn't issue a receipt?

    Does that stop the homeowner from asking for the tradie who did the shoddy work to fix it or pay for it to be fixed?

    Does that stop the homeowner from going to the industry body if the tradie will not fix the mess he has made?

    I'm genuinely curious, because this must be a problem many people face, and is also the reason we don't try to save dollars this way.
     
    Last edited: 18th Jan, 2020
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  12. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    I don't have direct legal experience, but I suspect the whole "cashie" thing isn't as big a deal as people might think.

    Generally speaking it would be considered an intention, or evidence of an intention, to commit some sort of tax offence. The reality is that this sort of offence is rarely one that is pursued and prosecuted by the authorities. Not on this sort of low level domestic scale anyway.

    In terms of whether it precludes civil remedies of one party or another - well almost certainly not. In fact, I would be pretty confident in saying that generally it makes no difference.

    Sure an invoice/receipt is evidence of the transaction. But there's almost always plenty of other evidence that exists of the transaction anyway - and often the existence of the transaction isn't that is in dispute anyway.
     
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  13. marmot

    marmot Well-Known Member

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    Isnt the electrician working there on behalf of the builder, so maybe he misses out on his cut as well.
    Was the electrical work billed separately or just part of the cost that the builder charged , the electrician then invoices the builder.
    How would you even contact the electrician, if he is their as a contractor/employee of the builder.
    Or just ring up the builder and admit that he was bypassed and missed out on his profit margin, and now would like the number of his sparky because the little side hustle between the two other parties involved work that was later discovered to be possibly unsatisfactory .
    Maybe why the hesitation to contact anyone that was involved in actually doing the work.
     
    Last edited: 18th Jan, 2020
  14. Jasmine

    Jasmine Well-Known Member

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    A small update. I called up our insurance and explained the situation which they said was not uncommon and happens all the time. They asked that I forward a copy of the structural engineering report that I commissioned.

    It was a good thing that I got a structural engineer to inspect. The electrician ALSO notched the bottom chords on the wide spanning kitchen tresses. As these chords had several notches they are not repairable. New tresses must be manufactured and craned in. Insurance is covering all of this and I suspect the sparky will loose his licence. I have attach a screen shot from the report of the first hallway notched chords from the OP. These notches are repairable.
     

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  15. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    Sounds line @thatbum was on the money with his reply a few above this. I'm glad you are getting it fixed, and I guess if the sparky loses his licence, it is because he stuffed up badly and hasn't fixed it, and not because he was paid cash. After all, you can pay him cash and he adds it to his income and it goes into his tax return. It is not up to you to see what he does at his end.
     
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