Grandparents Water damage

[wotantn]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MS (state my grandparents live in)

My grandparents live in MS. One day last week they noticed an unusual amount of water in their backyard. They called a plumber to try and track down where the water was coming from. The plumber soon realized that it had to be coming from a pipe underneath their house. After contacting their insurance company, a contractor began demolishing the concrete slab underneath their kitchen and sunroom to locate the leak and repair it. The repairs have been completed. So far so good. Since they paid someone to do all of the work to repair the leak and the concrete slab the insurance company in prepared to take care of those costs. My grandfather is the handy type and he replaced the flooring that was in place after getting an estimate from a professional to replace it. The insurance company wants a 'contract' (his term) to validate that he actually performed the work before they will pay for the flooring replacement. Being the tech-savvy grandkid, he has asked me to write it, but I don't know where to start. I'm not even sure that a contract is the right term for what the insurance company needs. Can anyone tell me what is needed?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I thought this was going to be an incontinence thread. My Bad.

 

[tranquility]

I'm not sure he will be compensated for the work granddad did. He might get materials, but compensation for work done by the owner of the insurance is problematical and creates taxation issues.

 

[xylene]

Lesson to the handy diy types

Get a professional to do it in an insurance claim situation.

 

[ecmst12]

He can send his receipts for the material and probably photos of the finished work. They probably require this in order to cut a check directly to him without his mortgage company named on it as well. Otherwise, they would pay based on the estimate and wouldn't care if he ever actually got it fixed. But when there's a leinholder, they have an obligation to the leinholder to make sure their collateral is maintained in good shape.

 

[tranquility]

If they do pay on the estimate, be sure granddad reports his income on a schedule C. Just saying.

 

[ecmst12]

It's not income, it's an insurance payout for a loss. It's no different than accepting payment for damage to your vehicle which you choose to not get repaired. You may suffer a loss to the value of the property if you don't fix it, or if you do the work yourself and it's not up to professional standards, but the payment you received was to cover for all possibilities. A leinholder may require that you get the repairs done and done competently, but an insurance company can NOT have that requirement for itself.

Now, maybe it took the homeowner 2 full weekends to get it done when a pro could have done it in 4-6 hours. He's not going to get paid for 24 hours of labor, the estimate will be for the expected amount of time to do the job (and probably a low estimate at that). But it's still not income and he's not, strictly speaking, getting paid for his labor. He's getting paid for the expected cost to get the job done professionally and choosing to get it done cheaper.

 

[tranquility]

It's not income, it's an insurance payout for a loss.

No, it isn't. Let's say I hired a repair company and the money went to them for the repairs; THEN the money is payment for the loss because that is part of MY loss. However, to the repair company, it is income. They did a job and got compensation for it. Here, in fact "strictly speaking", granddad is doing labor for money and has to report it as income.

 

[LdiJ]

No, it isn't. Let's say I hired a repair company and the money went to them for the repairs; THEN the money is payment for the loss because that is part of MY loss. However, to the repair company, it is income. They did a job and got compensation for it. Here, in fact "strictly speaking", granddad is doing labor for money and has to report it as income.

Assuming of course, that the give grandpa any compensation for the labor, and not just pay for materials only.

 

[tranquility]

Assuming of course, that the give grandpa any compensation for the labor, and not just pay for materials only.

I completely agree.