We hire people to do odd jobs all the time. Some are licensed and insured sub-trades, some are general contractors, and some are your best friend’s teenager son.
If something goes wrong, this can create an entire string of events involving you, the hired individual, your insurance company and their insurance company if they have.
People can be hurt, there can be damage to your building or a third party building, your contents, their contents, and there can be loss of business. The list goes on. Any of these losses could find you responsible.
We recently discovered a new twist to the potential scenarios.
This son volunteered to find someone to clean the snow off his parent’s roof. He hired a friend’s teenager son. This is innocent enough but now they realize that the shingles were damaged from the shovel. The insurance company may pay for the damage but they will want the name of the person who caused the damage. They will possibly expect that person to pay the costs to replace the roof because it was he who inadvertently caused the damage. This puts everybody involved in a very awkward position. More supervision would have been a great idea!
What can you do? Hire those with financial stability. Hire insured contractors or sub trades, obtain certificates of insurance that prove they have insurance, track and verify the certificates and set minimum standards for coverage and limits.
These practices are your best defense. It is a simple solution to what could be a significant problem or assume the risk yourself.
Be sure to seek advice and purchase insurance from those who understand your business!