When it’s time for your roof to be repaired or replaced, you want the best people for the job to be working on it. When you hire a contractor without a license or insurance, you’re gambling with your hard-earned money. Here’s why you shouldn’t hire an unlicensed and uninsured roofing contractors.
What Can Go Wrong?
Things go wrong on a construction job, and common problems include shoddy artistry, low-quality materials, injuries and damage to property. At the end of the day, these responsibilities fall on the contractor. However, if they’re unlicensed or uninsured, you’ll have a problem. When you hire a contractor without licensing or insurance, it makes you the general contractor, because you’ve hired them. Therefore, when things go wrong, you’re liable.
For example, if a construction worker falls off a roof, gets injured and can’t work for a year, you’re liable for their lost wages and hospital bills. In addition, your homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover these instances, because it’s up to you to hire the right person for the job. A worse situation is if they damage something. For this reason alone, it’s imperative that you check if your roofing contractor has the necessary credentials and insurance before hiring them to work on your roof.
Hiring The Wrong People
It’s easy – and logical, to ask a neighbour or a friend to refer a roofing contractor when you need repairs or a new roof installed. However, you should be careful about hiring the wrong person for the job. If you hire a friend or a family member as a contractor, the liability issues will remain, regardless of your connection to them. If they get injured or cause damage to your or someone else’s property, someone will need to be liable. If they’re insured and certified, then you have no problem. However, if they aren’t protected, you’ll be accountable at the end of the day, and your personal relationship won’t help the matter.
When you hire a roofing contractor to work on your house, it’s essential that they’re insured and certified to do the job correctly. If nothing unfortunate happens, then you can count yourself lucky. However, you won’t always be so fortunate. When there’s damage or injury, and the contractor of your choice can’t be held liable, you’ll deal with the fall-out for months, or years, to come. The next time you hire a contractor, make sure that they’re professional, reliable and trustworthy – like the team at Archer Roofing.
