Tenants car went through Back of Garage

[black95gt]

I let them use the contractor that he had.  I have seen some of the work that they have done and it was ok.  They still need to put the window and the door in but other than that it is done.  I will be heading over there today to inspect and approve it.  We are still trying to figure out the siding deal.  He said he cant find the siding, but he doesnt want to pay to reside the entire garage.  He insisted that he was going to continue to look, but how much time do i give him?  I was actually pretty good and said i would side the garage myself for $1,500 with material including the wall the was busted up.  I figure, what a great way to learn how to do siding. ive never done it before, but would like to learn and possibly side the house as well.  I figured material to be about $800 and 3  days labor for $700....i have no clue on this, but the 1500 has to be alot cheaper than a siding contractor.

[kenvest]

i'm glad things seem to be coming around for you.  even though i may seem to be siding with the wrecker guy, he should still pay for at least half of the siding on the rest of the garage to make it match.  he knows how much he's saving by coming out of pocket and he also knows how lucky he was that the accident happened where it did instead of out on the road somewhere.  stick to your guns!

siding, in and of itself, isn't hard to do.  good luck!

[black95gt]

Thats what im figuring.  I can use a tap measure, ive got saws, or can get a saw to cut the siding, and i can run a screw gun, nail gun, or whatever is used to secure the siding to the wall.

[Bluemoon06]

I am sorry I brought crooks into the question.  Let’s get back on subject and disregard all the extraneous issues about good guys versus bad guys.  Look at it a different way, assume the tow truck company is on the up and up.  He is just trying to not report the accident so that his insurance rates won’t go up.  The reason his insurance rates would go up is because he is a bad tow operator.  His rates should go up.  This guy dropped a car off of his truck.  He could be a Sunday school teacher, but he should not be in the tow truck business.  I say make him claim on his insurance and you take the money and fix the house with your own people.  If he can’t even tow a car (his primary line of work) how do you expect him to fix your house right?

[kenvest]

here we go again.....

glad to see you don't make mistakes.  i've been waiting a lifetime to meet the perfect person.  

making insurance claims can be a double edged sword.  like someone mentioned earlier in the post, just calling for advice could be regarded and recorded as a claim.

you could twistedly say that the property owner is at fault for letting idiots live in the apartment who are stupid enough to call a jack leg to tow their vehicle.  we all know this isn't the case but i still haven't been able to figure out the insurance industry and the liberties they take sometimes.

and we don't know why the accident happened...equipment failures do happen.

i would call the wrecker guy on this though and remind him what could have happened and how you're actually doing him a favor by not notifying his carrier.  trust me, he doesn't want to screw you on this.

what kind of siding are you using?

[black95gt]

i'll be using vinyl, unless he can find some old wood siding, the same kind that they used when they sided it probably 25-30 years ago

[kenvest]

you should definetly be able to find the wood siding.  There will be one place in town that sells it and he may not have it in stock, but i assure you its avaliable somewhere....Home Depot or Lowes will not be carrying it....

working with vinyl is a PIA in my opinion and will do nothing to hone your carpentry skills.  not only that, it looks cheap.

i would much rather use "hardiplank" which still isn't crazy expensive if you can't find the wood...

[black95gt]

what im saying is, the siding is like 1.5'x 1' shingle style siding with little wood carvings in it.  Also it is a faded blue color as well, so if they do find it, they would have to paint the whole garage probably as well.  What is hardiplank?

[kenvest]

holy smokes....thats a bizarre sounding material...

hardiplank is basically cement dust a nd glue compressed and extruded into long pieces.  it comes in 16 foor lengths, will not rot, is fairly easy to work with if you have the right blade to cut it with and gives a much cleaner look than vinyl.

[black95gt]

yes, its rare, i dont know if i have ever seen this kind of siding before.  I will probably stick with the vinyl, or aluminum siding because the house is only worth about $60,000

[kenvest]

good luck!

post a picture of the siding if its at all possible...Thanks!