Job not going to plan advice please

[Rupe]

If you break something in the course of a job you have to pay for it!

 

I'm sorry but you can't say on the one hand a quote is a fixed price and there's no changing it once you've given it...

 

.... but if you break something it's the customers problem

 

You can quote how you like. I'm not saying I've done it often, and I'm not suggesting it would be the thing to do in this case. I agree you can't say its a fixed price and then change it, thats no good at all and I'm not suggesting that.

 

But you can state that your price does not include covering damage to the crappy roof, as long as thats in the quote.

 

Weather you get any work doing it that way depends on the customer and any other quotes they might have. An honest quote with no loading for possible damage but no liability for damage might be a better choice for the client than a loaded high just in case quote.

 

Its their chioce. I'm not keen on paying for asbestos roofs if, for example, the client is planning on replacign the roof later once the tree is gone. Discuss with the client what their expectations are and then quote accordingly.

 

If the roof is perfect and they want/expect no damge then of course I would quote on that basis.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Rupe

[Rob D]

If it's clear to the customer that damage you cause is not going to be paid for by you and they agree then that seems fair I suppose.

 

 

 

The trouble is that if you put you're not responsible for minor damage what constitutes minor damage? They may have a different opinion when it comes to the crunch

[Mark Bolam]

You could always pop round the night before and lob a few bricks onto the roof.

 

'Bloody little vandals, eh. Should get the birch. Bring back National Service I say. Never mind, won't matter if the roof gets damaged now, will it?'

[Rob D]

 

It almost sounds like you've done this before Mark

[Rupe]

If it's clear to the customer that damage you cause is not going to be paid for by you and they agree then that seems fair I suppose.

 

 

 

The trouble is that if you put you're not responsible for minor damage what constitutes minor damage? They may have a different opinion when it comes to the crunch

 

Thats what I was getting at. Not a blanket "I'm not responsible" and definatly not after the damage is done. As for what constitutes damage, I think I stated roof tiles not include but structural damge to roof i.e. beams and woodwork etc would be covered.

 

I can dig out some pics I think, it will be clear why I did it that way for that particular job.

[Steve Bullman]

as a freelance climber ive tackled the odd job in the past where ive stated i wouldnt be responsible, but theres been exceptional conditions...ie exceptionally delicate targets coupled with wet/windy conditions.

[Highland Forestry]

Would it not have been easier to deck the tree, carry on dismantling and just replace the sheets, tell the customer you will replace them with corrugated steel sheets??

 

We've been on jobs before where there has been rotten fences and trellis fencing underneath and it was far cheaper just to drop stuff on the fence and replace it afterwards than try to work around it.. as long as the customer knows what's going on before you start then there's no problem.

 

Another example is an oak tree next to a main road we are taking down in a couple of months time, it has a brand new fence on the other side of it but rather than us messing about dismantling and rigging under traffic management, i'm just going to winch it over the fence, clear up and replace the fence afterwards.

[Rich Rule]

So you were walking on the roof

 

Err no! I was on a felted new roof leaning over trying to position a board at the far side of the garage. i had my feet/legs on the solid roof and one hand on the ply. try to reach over holding with one hand. the brick work collapsed and a couple of beams went through and I went down with it.

 

The ironic thing was that I was trying to position the boards so there was no gaps as a small branch once went butt first through a roof because the groundy hadn't matched them together.

 

Me and my mate can laugh about it no but the lady in question decided she would try and get the whole block of garage rebuilt... when in fact the trees had compromised the footings and the garages had moved causing it to be pretty delapidated. This had all happened about 15 years earlier, the lady was trying to con... I could go on about the list of things she tried,, but I won't.

[Rob D]

I went straight through an asbestos roof on this row of garages... entirely my fault. I was balancing on the edge of it using the pole pruner when one second I was there the next minute gone!

 

I laugh now but luckily there was nothing in the garage and I just landed on my arse and started laughing.... more from the shock than because I thought it was funny

 

Had to replace the panel which the property manager arranged and it wasn't too expensive....

 

 

 

 

You live and learn

[Mark Bolam]

That's justice for wielding the gypsy stick Rob!