Imagine you finally buy your dream project. It’s an old hotel but it’s right on the beach and it’s already got tenants in it. With the right remodeling you’re sure you can capitalize on the appeal of a beach bungalow with the growing population of hipsters driving around in their range rovers thanks to the exploding local economy. The place has some work that needs to be done to make it into your dream beach pads and you have little to zero experience in remodeling. After going through the units, you quickly realize there is water damage in some units on the ceiling. You know you’re going to have to have the roof fixed to stop the leaking ceiling. You figure you need to fix the roof first before you can move on to the next step because the water is damaging everything else. You make a few phone calls and get a few quotes and you pick one.
Hopefully the one you picked is insured. Without insurance the property owner is doing more than taking a risk. The property owner is trusting the uninsured roofer with their life’s dream. Let’s look at the following real-life scenario and decide how important insurance is for roofers. Owner discovers the roofers she hired didn’t have insurance hotel owner decides she will have to take them to court. When she talks about filing the lawsuit with her lawyer, her lawyer does research on the roofing company to find that the roofing company is has no assets or money to recover. The landowner’s attorney advises the landowner it would not be worth pursuing in court.
Since the landowner did not check to make sure the roofers had insurance, she is stuck defending herself in court for the claims of negligence from the roofer and the tenants. The costly attorney’s fees alone end up costing her more than the beach hotel cost in the first place. All of her worries could have been alleviated had she made sure the roofers had insurance. Doing something as simple as checking the weather is essential when working on a project that could be totally destroyed by a rainstorm. That roofer who failed to check the weather would most likely be deemed negligent. The roofer should be liable for any damages that his or her negligence causes. The roofer should be liable and that’s why insisting that roofers be insured is a good idea. Although the roofer should be liable and often is in fact liable, it is not always possible for the roofer to pay the damages. In the example above, the roofers themselves did not own substantial assets or money to pay for costly damages to compensate for personal injury and property damage. The property owner feels like she gave responsibility to get the job done right to the roofers when she hired them so she didn’t think to check the weather. While the property owner in this example is innocent the parties who suffered loss are deemed to be more innocent. After all, the property owner is the individual who made the decision to hire the roofers who were negligent. Therefore, if the roofers do not have money to compensate for personal injury or economic loss resulting from their work, the law imposes the liability on the party in who is in the legally appropriate position to pay for the negligence.
If the hotel property owner had been aware of the importance of hiring insured roofers the roofer who fell could have filed a claim under the roofer’s insurance policy. Absent independent negligence of her own, the landowner shouldn’t have to worry about getting sued just because someone was hurt while working on the property. The roofer’s insurance would have also potentially paid for the damage to the tenant’s property and the damage to the hotel landowner’s property. It was a huge mistake for the roofer not to check the weather. Whether or not the roofer would be considered negligent is ultimately a question to be decided among the parties and if there is no agreement of fault the matter would be tried in court. The roofer’s insurance would pay for the legal bills for the roofers who are being sued for negligence.
Roofers’ insurance covers the roofers for personal injury and property damage while they are working on roofing projects. Equally as important the roofer’s insurance covers others who may be damaged by the negligence of the roofers while working on roofs. Moreover, the quality of the workmanship of the roofer’s work is also covered if it is deemed to be inadequate work. Without insurance, liability may not necessarily be imposed on the roofers if they are unable to compensate the injured parties. Liability may ultimately be imposed on others who were less culpable or even innocent in their actions.