Damaged lightweight roof tile

one of my lads dented some metal lightweight roof tiles while cleaning windows.The customer knew that they went on the roof to clean the velux. I went to look at it and told them it was an easy repair to lift the sheet and push out the dent. They are refusing to allow me to fix it and have given me a £680 quote from a builder to do the repair. Is it allowed to not let me do the repair?

Thanks. John

I think technically it should be an insurance claim and some companies will allow the customer to choose who does the repair , with respect you arnt a roofer and if you were to cause more damage or they then get a water leak then you would fund the situation gets evan worse . My question would be why are you allowing staff to walk on that type of roof in this day and age it’s asking for trouble , from a H &S point of view . 

Tricky one. If they agreed to allow you to do it and the repair wasn't of a professional quality where would that leave them legally? What if you were to make the situation worse? I'm not supposing for one minute that you will but if that happened and they had granted you permission to work on their roof they may have no grounds for any recourse to legal action to remedy the situation. If that is what they've been advised or the decision they'd already arrived at I think the best you could hope for is to allow you to get in alternate, professional companies to provide a couple more estimates and hope that one is cheaper.

John Jow said:

one of my lads dented some metal lightweight roof tiles while cleaning windows.The customer knew that they went on the roof to clean the velux. I went to look at it and told them it was an easy repair to lift the sheet and push out the dent. They are refusing to allow me to fix it and have given me a £680 quote from a builder to do the repair. Is it allowed to not let me do the repair?

Thanks. John

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Why would you put an employee on a roof like that it's asking for trouble and maybe your insurance company would question why also, it would have been a no go for me purely on the risk factor of the roof becoming damaged. 

Also so you aren't a roofer and no doubt have no experience with this sort of repair it's some ones house and they want the best repair possible, for the builder to do it with employees it could very well be a scaffold job even on a low roof which will u add £100's to the job from the off and they will be replacing the sheet no doubt. 

Stop letting your lads climb on roofs (unless it's the odd flat roof in good repair)...its madness in this day and age....most tiled roofs were a big no no even when I was on the ladders....

As for the repair I think your just gonna have to suck it up mate as you could cause more damage by trying to do it yourself....

I think if it were me I'd get a quote or two from reputable local roofers and be done with it. Whether you use one of them or the one she spoke to, I'd try to fund it myself outside of the insurance. The work would be guaranteed and you could move on with your reputation intact. Damage occurred... that can happen, you had it put right promptly and professionally. What more can anyone ask for? 

You will have to find the money once. Not nice I know but you can offset the cost to your tax bill and move on with a clean no claims on your insurance. If you claim from your insurance you will be paying a higher premium possibly for ever more. I don't know for sure that I'm right on this but that's my super reliable gut feeling.
I broke a poly roof panel on an old conservatory in my first week. I did as I suggested above even though it was very tough to find the £300 or so I think it cost from memory. My son cracked a window by dwelling too long with the hot water while talking with a customer on a frosty day. We paid our local "Doctor Glass" to fit a new glass. I think from memory he charged £40 but we gave him £50. I'll avoid making an insurance claim if at all possible. I'll hope to offset against the tax bill instead. Rather than having to pay increased insurance costs for at least a few years.
I'd get to know good local tradesmen in different fields of work who hopefully won't do you or your customers wrong.  I try and have a bank of tradesmen that I can recommend to customers and they in turn can confidently recommend me. Old style standards of neighbourly service.

Good luck. You could have done without this hassle and expense but no one is in hospital. ?

I’m no legal expert, however I do have one question:

Did you get permission to walk on the roof to clean the window? If yes, and again I’m no lawyer, but couldn’t it be argued it’s their (the homeowners) fault? To allow a workman to carry out work on your property YOU need to make sure it’s safe for them to do so. So you could argue it wasn’t actually safe and they should be thankful that no one was hurt, otherwise they would be claiming on their home insurance. 

Again, no legal expect, but I suspect that’ll be the first question your insurance company ask you. Did you have permission. 

Master Jedi Alejandro said:

I’m no legal expert, however I do have one question:

Did you get permission to walk on the roof to clean the window? If yes, and again I’m no lawyer, but couldn’t it be argued it’s their (the homeowners) fault? To allow a workman to carry out work on your property YOU need to make sure it’s safe for them to do so. So you could argue it wasn’t actually safe and they should be thankful that no one was hurt, otherwise they would be claiming on their home insurance. 

Again, no legal expect, but I suspect that’ll be the first question your insurance company ask you. Did you have permission. 

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It possibly could be argued, but it's a metal roof, if a custy said to me I could stand on his car because I'm too short to reach the window would I stand on it, the answer is NO! as I know the risk of metal getting dinked even with my small frame, also a potential slip hazard with water,

I did a first clean today and made a judgment call that even though it was tiled potentially the small tiles could crack under my weight, they were only quite small tiles and if I cracked a few of them it wouldn't have been good although it would have been a dam sight easier than cleaning to two windows and two veluxs off a ladder, these judgement calls have to made, no point been Gung Ho, my good man.

John Jow said:

one of my lads dented some metal lightweight roof tiles while cleaning windows.The customer knew that they went on the roof to clean the velux. I went to look at it and told them it was an easy repair to lift the sheet and push out the dent. They are refusing to allow me to fix it and have given me a £680 quote from a builder to do the repair. Is it allowed to not let me do the repair?

Thanks. John

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Firstly serious questions need to be asked about the employee who thought walking on a roof was a good idea or if this is a regular thing why doesnt he or she know from you this is a complete no no?! 

On the repair unless you are a professional roofer with liability insurance for that specific trade you have no choice but to accept it's your fault which it is and cough up the cash. Ok £680 is not nice to pay out but I would just try and push an extra 2 or 3 gutter jobs next week to cover your cost over the coming weeks and take it as a lesson learnt. 

If it was my roof and a tradesman walked on it I would also want the professional repair then as soon as it was done and paid for find a window cleaner who knows how to clean a velux without walking on and breaking my roof ?

Master Jedi Alejandro said:

I’m no legal expert, however I do have one question:

Did you get permission to walk on the roof to clean the window? If yes, and again I’m no lawyer, but couldn’t it be argued it’s their (the homeowners) fault? To allow a workman to carry out work on your property YOU need to make sure it’s safe for them to do so. So you could argue it wasn’t actually safe and they should be thankful that no one was hurt, otherwise they would be claiming on their home insurance. 

Again, no legal expect, but I suspect that’ll be the first question your insurance company ask you. Did you have permission. 

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Exactly this if they give permission and say it’s safe your not at fault IMO 

Jamesmarshall said:

Exactly this if they give permission and say it’s safe your not at fault IMO 

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Difficult argument to make stick though. The issue isn't injury, so may not be safety as such, it's damage to a customer's property. It always pays to argue with yourself internally as if you were fighting from the opposite corner, as a means of building a strong defence. I've always done that and it's stood me well up to now. I would still go with my original suggestion as probably the best way forward.

Not my decision of course. Nor should it be. ?

Jamesmarshall said:

Exactly this if they give permission and say it’s safe your not at fault IMO 

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The home owner is in no position to give you permission  to go on a roof , he’s not a structural engineer or a building inspector , he would have no idear if it’s safe to walk on it , it’s your responsibility to do a risk assessment and make a decision based on that , and the answer from the information given by the op is clear he should never have gone on it , he’s lucky his guy wasn’t injured or went through the roof as the HSE would throw the book at you if they investigated. 

Pjj said:

The home owner is in no position to give you permission  to go on a roof , he’s not a structural engineer or a building inspector , he would have no idear if it’s safe to walk on it , it’s your responsibility to do a risk assessment and make a decision based on that , and the answer from the information given by the op is clear he should never have gone on it , he’s lucky his guy wasn’t injured or went through the roof as the HSE would throw the book at you if they investigated. 

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Ah good To know

i would never go on a metal roof ever. I didn’t know that though, I’ll be using that as an excuse not to step foot on them in the future