What do I do if a builder damages something?

Damage during building work is common and mostly resolvable. What decides how it goes is the first twenty-four hours: whether it was photographed before anything was moved, whether it was reported in writing, and whether the right insurer was told. Those three things are free and they are frequently all missed.

Step by step

1. Photograph it immediately, in context and close up.Before anything is moved, cleaned or repaired. Wide shots showing where it is, close shots showing what it is, and the date. If water is involved, photograph the source as well as the damage.
2. Stop further damage if you safely can.Turn off the water at the stopcock, isolate the electricity, get a bucket under it, move what can be moved. Mitigating loss is expected of you and failing to do it can reduce a claim.
3. Report it to the builder in writing the same day.Email, with the photographs, describing what happened and when. Prompt written reporting is what stops a later argument about whether the damage predated the work.
4. Ask them to notify their public liability insurer.Damage to your property caused by their activities is what that policy is for. Ask for the insurer's name and the claim reference so you can follow it up rather than relying on being told.
5. Do not rush to claim on your own policy.Your excess, your premium and your claims history are all affected, for a loss that was somebody else's liability. Tell your insurer that it has happened if the policy requires notification, and say that a third party's liability is being pursued.
6. Get an independent quote for the repair.From someone unconnected with the builder. It gives you a figure to work to and it is what any insurer will want. For anything specialist — a period fireplace, a stone floor, a stained-glass panel — get a specialist to quote.
7. Deal with damage to a neighbour's property carefully.Report it to the builder and, on party wall work, to the appointed surveyors immediately, and compare against the schedule of condition. Do not agree liability or arrange repairs directly with the neighbour before it has been recorded.
8. Withhold a proportionate amount if it is not resolved.Say in writing that you are holding back a stated sum against the damage and why. That is a legitimate position; silently not paying is a different and weaker one.
9. Escalate if it stalls.A written deadline, then the trade scheme or dispute route, then a letter before action. The photographs and the same-day report are what make that straightforward.

Tips

• Photograph the whole house before work starts — every room, the drive, the pavement, the garden, the neighbour's flank wall. It takes twenty minutes and it settles every argument about what was already there.
• Move the irreplaceable things out before the job starts. Insurance pays for objects; it does not restore them.
• Damage to the highway, kerb or verge from deliveries and skips is charged back to the property. Photograph those too before anything arrives.

Common mistakes

• Claiming on your own home insurance first — You pay the excess and carry the claim on your record for a loss that the builder's liability insurance should meet. Pursue the liable party first.
• Reporting damage verbally and days later — It creates room to argue that the damage was pre-existing or happened afterwards. Same-day, in writing, with photographs, closes that off.

Questions people ask