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INSURANCE
Homeowner's General Liability During Home Repairs and
Modifications
by Third Parties (More Specifically; Contractors and
Sub-Contractors.)
Homeowner's General Exposure and Homeowner's Insurance
Contractors' Insurance, Their Liability Insurance and Workman's
Compensation Insurance...
The subject of insurance and
liability is an extremely important one, and no Website
verbiage,
advertisement, sign, contract, wink, handshake or warm pat on
the back should ever discourage
homeowners from doing their homework thoroughly and with diligence
due the moment.
This most specifically includes the tedious task of physically
calling each of the individual contractors' and sub-contractors'
insurance companies that you've chosen to perform the work on
your home to verify
that they are fully and amply insured, and that you have absolutely no
exposure for a minimum amount of five to ten million dollars in
liability insurance.
It's also a good idea to attempt
to have the insurance company fax or email you over a copy of
the insurer's policy naming your family as the beneficiary in
the case of any unfortunate mishaps. This is a very common
request and many of the more established contracting companies
actually offer their customers this effort up front, before is
even expressed on your behalf.
It's best to make these calls
before you sign any contracts and certainly before you hand over
any cash. But if you do find yourself caving to high
pressure sales techniques or committing in writing because of a
specific, very popular sales technique know in the industry as a
"The take away close" (which is defined
at the bottom of this page) - please don't lose any sleep over
it just yet. All hope is not lost!
Georgia State Law, allows
homeowners up to three days to change their minds and rescind
their written commitments with contractors under specific sets
of circumstances, most often free of any fees or
obligations.
IMPORTANT!!!
Please consult formal legal
counsel for more specific information concerning any and all
laws or rights you may or may not have pertaining to anything
stated within this Website.
The information published in
this Website is posted to provide nothing more than an open
exchange of informal information and ideas, many of which have
existed as laws in the state of Georgia for many decades, but
are in absolutely no way intended to be a substitution for
formal legal counsel in any city, county or state throughout
North America.
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Below
is an actual photograph of one of many identical service
vehicles that commonly work on new construction community
developments.
One of Gwinnett
Daily Online's in-house photographers took this picture along
with dozens of others - of a number of identical service
vehicles - all within close proximity of one another. Our
photographs have not been altered in any way, although many if
not most of our regular viewers are still in such disbelief that
they are convinced that its simply a joke on our behalf. We
assure all of our readers that it is, in fact, not a joke in any
way and is a prime example of the lengths contractors and
developers will go to get over on the unsuspecting
public.
One local contractor has a number
of very impressive new service vehicles on the road - performing
home improvements and other such tasks for Atlanta area
homeowners. The photograph below is no joke!
It was submitted by one of our readers. It was taken very
recently and the same verbiage is proudly displayed on all their
service vehicles.
We thought it might very well be
a joke or a trick on us, so we actually tracked down one of the
service vehicles to see for ourselves. Sure enough, it was
real. In fact, when our photographer approached the work
crew that was in the act of performing contract work for a
homeowner - he inquired if the crew was in-fact insured.
Having a bit of trouble with the
English language, the crew foreman actually pointed to the
wording on the side of their truck as proof:
In general terms,
contractors that call upon homeowners to persuade them to enter
into written agreements.
Your home is quite possibly the
most important investment you'll ever make in your life.
Your family not only depends on it currently, but when they're
grown and moved on - the equity in your home will most likely
make up a good portion of your retirement fund.
When home improvements are done
correctly, very often they'll carry a transferable lifetime
warranty. Make the most of your investment in your home
improvement. Follow our simple guidelines and you simply
cannot lose.
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