Founded in 2008. The Landscape Juice Network (LJN) is the largest and fastest growing professional landscaping and horticultural association in the United Kingdom.
LJN's professional business forum is unrivalled and open to anyone within within the UK landscape industry
LJN's Business Objectives Group (BOG) is for any Pro serious about building their business.
For the researching visitor there's a wealth of landscaping ideas, garden design ideas, lawn advice tips and advice about garden maintenance.
Replies
Hi Simon
Yes, this sounds bizarre....I also thought an insurance is put in place to protect one against accidents.
Why not contact David Buxton http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/profile/DavidBuxton of Simply Business. SB are a Landscape Juice partner...David may be able to advise on what the best route forward is for the future.
Simon,
Direct Line are a strange insurance company when it comes to commercial policies. They seem to have unusual clauses. We looked at moving to them as a result of their advertising campaign.
A long time into the phone call, after confirming our trade etc they asked a seemingly innocuous question about any machinery we used rated at above 90dba noise. Answered yes, because many of the powered tools we use make 'noise'
They then stated they could not insure us due to the 'noise risk'. I countered that we have risk assessments/method statements and that suitable H&S equipment would be used. They insisted they could/would not cover us due to the machinery! I know of very few trades who do not at some time use 'noisy machinery'
Our current Broker states that Direct Line cherry picks it's markets, taking high profit, low risk business only. We now a great Broker who deals with all our insurgences (inc my personal stuff).
Anyway, we been thru your situation a few times (tends to come in batches), always paid for damages direct rather than load our policies at next year renewals. I think our excess is £250. Seems crazy to pay when you are insured, but for small costs its better to eat it.....
p.s I tried to pursue this at the time, but their call centre approach would not allow it to be escalated, asking me to write in and a response would be supplied within 30 days. Welcome to the online world !
Yes the window cost £240 to repair and my excess was £250 so it was not worth it in the end.
It just concerned me that I would not be covered if anything bigger was to happen in the future. I dont think I will be using them again anyway
Simon, I think it key that we all deal with businesses that 'understand' the markets we work in. I too felt uncomfortable at saving a few pounds on polices administered by call centres who often are not UK based.
Find a business like above or a Broker you can build a relationship with.
Simon Jarvis said:
Cherry picking comes to mind.
You are quite right in thinking their policy does not make any sense.
If you are negligent then that is when the insurance company will not pay out, or if they do will reduce your payout as you have contributed to the loss.
My public liability is coming up for renewal so always like to shop around just in case renewal not competitive.
My main business is gardening but I do a bit of mole catching to get me through our never ending winter.
Online sytem at Direct line happy to accept all my details for gardening with pest control as secondary business.
No claims made, I would have thought I would have been a good bet, but comes up to say sorry we cannot cover your occupation.
No doubt I will now be on a junk e-mail list for the rest of my life.
I have a clause in my terms that says I take all care to avoid this happening, and customers must keep their lawns free from things like stones and golf balls. In the event that all fails and there is a freak accident it's not covered by me, but by their home insurance.
In practice I'd probably offer to pay their excess, split it, or something, so long as it wasn't an incident such as their kids putting stones on the lawn, but they have cover for this.
We had exactly the same last summer, had 3 of us strimming a garden down as the grass was about knee high, one person was near the patio doors of the house when the strimmer through a stone up and it hit the window. We rung natwest insurance and had exactly the same conversation, to find as we had taken precautions we where not covered! same £250 excess, unfortunately the window was £450, and as it was just a job we tacked on the the end of the day we had only priced it at £30 as it was going to be a quick 15 mins with 3 of us and out!
This year i have starting building a fund pot just for this very reason, despite our care of practice these things still happen, i could say put approx £500.00 aside each year just to pay for windows.
Strange that Simon, I too broke a window last season with a stone off the strimmer, the window was £240 my excess is £250, Chequebook out, and let the swearing begin.
We had this conversation ages ago. If you run a strimmer on very low revs, facing so it throws away from the "hazard", you really shouldn't have an issue. If, however, the client needs us to run a strimmer on long grass anywhere, surely it's up to us to explain the risk and that it's on them if there's a breakage? It's covered on their home insurance.
The same with anything, if it's something the client demands that's the risk then they pay if it goes wrong. If there's no obvious risk, then go careful and you shouldn't break any windows. I know I'm tempting fate (yet again!), but I've not had a stone incident in 30 years! I've hit plenty of things in long grass with the strimmer, but I'd not use it near glass or cars to clear long grass. I use the strimmer to edge grass, but only on the lowest of speeds and always thinking about the direction it's throwing the clippings. If you explain to the client, they have the option of taking your advice, or getting someone else in. Then it's his risk. Put this in your terms, and stick to it.
I'm really not trying to be a smart-arse here, just recommending that you don't run strimmers at high revs near glass, or at least you get the client to agree the risk in advance. It's a cost we should avoid, and if the insurers covered it then it would be open-season for the careless, and all our policies would go up.
With the damage I see to the bases of trees, fence posts etc., I think strimmers need to be licensed more srtictly than chainsaws, personally!
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next