Do you need insurence if you are only doing driveways? On the condition of having a contract signed by both the owner of the home, and a witness signature? Also if I dont do any type of salting or sanding, and if in the contract it says that you do not garenty that the driveway will not be slippery and that I have no liability to any accedents that happen to the customer anyone that has walked over the plowed area. Thanks.
Insurence Needed???
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Insurance is overrated. So is having up to date licenses on the trucks. Don't even bother with insurance for your vehicle.
Yes
Doesn't matter if God witnessed the signing.
You can say it all you want, but people are stupid and think that nothing is their fault anymore. Wear high heels in the winter? You should've salted. Might not go anyplace in a lawsuit, but better safe than sorry.
Might be a wise idea to incorporate or become an LLC to limit your personal liability as well.
Yes
Doesn't matter if God witnessed the signing.
You can say it all you want, but people are stupid and think that nothing is their fault anymore. Wear high heels in the winter? You should've salted. Might not go anyplace in a lawsuit, but better safe than sorry.
Might be a wise idea to incorporate or become an LLC to limit your personal liability as well.
That's for sure. Just ask the nut who got my town's account and thought he'd do 52 miles with one truck - unregistered, uninspected and without liability insurance. Town council was not very happy with the State DOT report.Mark Oomkes;460120 said:
Bottom line - it's called a "Residential" insurance policy. Another contractor in our area wasn't properly insured for residentials and has just lost everything; including his business and trucks. He'll never be able to legally plow again (never get insured). He still owes the State for fines and another individual for a judgement. It'll take years to pay.
Residential - Generally all or a majority of single family sites. May or may not include duplexes, apartments and private roads.
Commercial - sites which are used by the general public - businesses, and may include duplexes, apartments etc, depending on the insurance company.
Industrial - self-explanatory - not routinely used by the general public. Factories, distribution centers etc.
Municipal - government owned or managed. Streets, highways, schools etc.
Individual insurance companies may have policies whereby some accounts of one type can be mixed with another. For instance, I had a written statement that I could plow commercial accounts on a Residential policy, providing the number of commercial accounts did not exceed the number of residential accounts. So technically, I could plow a shopping mall for every single family account. On the same policy - I got the ok to plow a library, although it was by definition a commercial site. Reason was the remoteness of the site. I showed them that it was in a rural area with no other public facility within five miles of the library.
Commercial - sites which are used by the general public - businesses, and may include duplexes, apartments etc, depending on the insurance company.
Industrial - self-explanatory - not routinely used by the general public. Factories, distribution centers etc.
Municipal - government owned or managed. Streets, highways, schools etc.
Individual insurance companies may have policies whereby some accounts of one type can be mixed with another. For instance, I had a written statement that I could plow commercial accounts on a Residential policy, providing the number of commercial accounts did not exceed the number of residential accounts. So technically, I could plow a shopping mall for every single family account. On the same policy - I got the ok to plow a library, although it was by definition a commercial site. Reason was the remoteness of the site. I showed them that it was in a rural area with no other public facility within five miles of the library.
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Look at it this way. Most people out there are decent folk, but every now and then you get a piece of scum that's looking to get rich quick. You plow their driveway and they "fall". They will get a lawyer, and claim that you were negligent and sue you for a lot of money, voiding the clause in the contract. I don't know about you, but I do not have a couple hundred thousand dollars sitting around to pay off a lawsuit, so that's where the insurance kicks in. Your insurance co. will get the lawyer to fight it, and you can continue to work, do your business, and keep your house and truck, and not have to file bankruptcy.albhb3;460111 said:
Sure, you probably will never need to use your insurance, but the one time you do, you'll be thanking your lucky stars that you got it.
BTW, don't get a policy for anything less than $1 million in coverage.
Do you have enough work to cover the cost of insurance?? A 1 million commercial policy is about $700-800.
Thats a lot of driveways---you're just starting out right??
We can argue the legal issues all day but the economics of plowing driveways part time makes it difficult to justify. Just an observation. Commercials seem to make it easier as theres usually more dollars involved in lots.
In residentials, stay away from shoveling walks and signing up for salting as much as possible. Thats where the majority of compaints come from.
Thats a lot of driveways---you're just starting out right??
We can argue the legal issues all day but the economics of plowing driveways part time makes it difficult to justify. Just an observation. Commercials seem to make it easier as theres usually more dollars involved in lots.
In residentials, stay away from shoveling walks and signing up for salting as much as possible. Thats where the majority of compaints come from.
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