Hi from Alvechurch

[cejm78Participant @cejm78]

New member from Alvechurch, Worcestershire.

By trade I am an aircraft engineer but in my spare time I overhaul mini diggers, small dumpers etc.

My workshop burned down late last year and we are finally coming to the end of the rebuild stage. I lost all my tools and equipment in the fire so it is now time to start replacing it all.

Hopefully I will be able to share some projects in the near future.

Cheers, Colin

[Thor 🇳🇴Participant @thor]

Hi Colin,

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the fire, I hope your insurance covered your loss.

Thor

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Welcome Colin, You will be amongst friends here. Good luck and best wishes. Noel.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Welcome.  So sorry to hear your workshop burned down.  Nightmare!  If you don’t mind sharing, what was the cause?  Might help someone else avoid similar.

I keep forgetting to buy an extinguisher!

Dave

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome!

Sorry to hear if the fire. Being without a workshop and tools must leave you feeling naked.

Hope that you can get everything up and running again.

If you need help, am sure that some will be forthcoming

Howard

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Welcome to the forum

H

[cejm78Participant @cejm78]

Thank you for the welcome.

Unfortunately, the insurance company has not done an investigation. They just called it an accidental fire and that was it.

I was at home at the time of the fire and it was quite scary. It took the fire brigade around 15 minutes to get to us and by that time the roof had already collapsed. Fortunately, the too.s are relatively easy to replace. It was our Christmas decorations that had more sentimental value. My better half is not very impressed.

Fortunately we were properly insured. With most insurance companies an outbuilding is only insured for £2500-£5000, we were insured for £100k. Cost a bit more but I am glad we did it.

Two fire extinguishers will be installed before I move all my tools in.

The only recommendation I can give, is to catalogue everything stored in your garage/house. Photos, receipts etc. The insurance company wanted every item listed individually, who bought it, where it was bought, when it was bought, who paid for it and ideally with receipts.

As I move items into the garage, every item will be photographed and a detailed list will be kept.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Methinks your insurance company is trying ti wriggle out of their obligations. As far as your last para bar one who keeps all that info for everything that they own???

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

It sounds like a huge upheaval, Colin.

Before you move your new tools in, hopefully you will have insurance cover in place as before.

I’d be interested to know how the claim affects or has affected your premium at renewal.

[cejm78Participant @cejm78]

Bernard, in all fairness to the insurance company they have been excellent to deal with. Our claim came to £40.227 and we were offered a £38.000 settlement within two weeks of submitting our claim. Yes, the paperwork was a pain in the backside but I can’t fault them.

Bill, our premium went from just shy of £900p/y to just over £1400p/y. Which was less than I expected. The initial premium was not cheap, but at least all my tools were properly insured. I can insure the house for £300p/y but it only covers up to £2500 of contents in an outbuilding.

The cost of rebuilding the garage is probably close to £120k. It can be done cheaper, but this is the contractor the insurance company uses. I am happy with the end result as it is a lot more structurally sound then the old one.

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