OnDemand
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Bobcat Service Division
with-operator rentals, excavation services
Our responsibility or liability regarding perceived issues of "damage" and such is extremely limited. It is important for all customers to be aware of this fact from the outset.
The nature of the work we do is such that many types of collateral and unintended "damage" is to be expected and not something that any kind of any issue should be made of to us by you or the property owner. Any experienced contractor will know well in advance that the presence of any mechanized excavating machinery will have consequences on the site, from the most benign (rubber tire marks on the driveway) to rutted or even totally destroyed lawns where the machine passes over (depending on time of year and moisture content of the grass, number of trips and so on), hydraulic oil drips or even significant leakage (it happens to almost any machine, hard to nearly impossible to avoid - safer that you expect leaks and lay out plywood or other protection if the surface is valuable and vulnerable), and so on.
Remember, you have ordered compact equipment likely because you have compact spaces to work in, tight access and obstacles, etc. When working in such an environment any operator, as good, careful, experinced and skilled as he can be, can still as an imperfect person make contact with something unintenionally. Like bumping or nicking a fence, retaining wall/curb or other landscape feature, a part of the building or something else of value, and do minor/cosmetic, or even more structural or serious damage to it, potentially needing repair attention. We in advance wish to extend our apologies for such, but remind you in advance that as careful as one can be, things will happen - please expect it.
We recommend that you take positive action yourself to help prevent and protect whatever you feel could be damaged in the course of the use of the equipment. So we recommend that you take seriously your responsibility to take positive action to care for protecting your site. Most all attachments, and machines, come with some inherent risks specific to them – for example a concrete breaker can throw chips and chunks of concrete – so you should expect that and take measures to protect windows, glass and other breakables within the general area.
The onus is on you to foresee and prevent all perils and potential damage and to absorb any and all costs from such typical and unfortunate damages.
Our operator will be as helpful in this regard – perhaps making suggestions for things to be aware of and what might be done to protect components and structures, but this is strictly a gesture of helpfulness and should not be relied upon – he/we are neither guilty of bad advice or lack thereof in the event something is not protected, or moved, or otherwise and ends up being damaged.
Another example: If we have to run a bobcat along a house that is of the painted stucco over styrofoam type of finish (some of the most fragile and poorly designed to endure in a real-world enviroment (with kids, and just normal Canadian winters, etc., never mind to be in the presence of demolition and/or construction), you (not us) would be wise to think ahead to protect your/your client's property from such a high-likelihood potential for damage by laying plywood against the tightest and most vulnerable areas to protect it. You need to think ahead in such a proactive and responsible way - don't rely on us to foresee all potential dangers to your site - it is your site!
We want you to be happy; we’ll do our best to avoid any undesired machine contact with structures and other property, but it is inevitable this will happen from time to time. However never will we contemplate any compensation to you for any such and other damages or consequences of the machinery’s operation. We apologize in advance for this, as it should be expected that every day, every booking, inevitably you could incur some cost to fix or replace something that you hadn’t intended to. Sorry for that, but that is to be expected. Negligence, human error, or even incompetence does not implicate your operator or us as being responsible – in the same way you do not hold your employees liable for what mistakes or damages they make or contribute to. You could fire them, but that would probably be the furthest extent of what would happen.
We are not fully-responsible-for-everything-contractors, but rather very-limited-liability-serivce-providers, and dependent on you for direction and part of your team for the time we spend on your site. That is why you are there to oversee, direct and supervise. And that is why you have insurance. And as a contractor, you build into your project unexpected and unintended costs, repairs, overages, etc. That is part of what it means to be a general contractor, or property owner, developer. Again, we will be very careful, will do our absolute best to avoid any issues (and to be fair, they are extremely rare where anything of consequence is damaged, of any real value or cost).
Secondary Service Policies - Expanded Details:
9. Jobsite "Damage"
