Never ran across this one before. Bid a attic clean out for guano & insulation. The insurance company is going to pay for the clean out for the home owner. We get a letter from the insurance company & they give us the go ahead if we sign a agreement not to put a lien on the house when were done. Never heard of such a thing. They don't own the house even. Any one??????

Not unusual. I see this when doing pigeon dropping clean-outs on rooftops of commercial structures. However, it is the roofing companies that require such a contract.

This should be a "heads up" moment for you.... if the insurance company pays the homeowner instead of you (common), and the homeowner doesn't pay you, you may have just done the job for free.

Get the contract wording correct to insure you get paid!

Great advice Ron, was told a similar thing about who gets the money from Eric.

I had two of these that went fine, but I made sure I had language that clearly states we received te check directly.

Justin

I'd recommend talking with your business insurance agent to see if they can explain this request to you. I can see this as a way the insurance company is "protecting" the structure owner in their minds (contractor does work, insurance company does not pay or does not pay full amount claiming work wasn't done according to the insurance company's standards, contractor says it was so a lien is put on the structure until it is settled in court or to try and force a settlement out of court) but that's just a guess on my part. Again, talk to an insurance agent about this and see what actual reasons there could be behind such a request.

This is also where having a lawyer review or write your contracts really starts paying off. Like Ron said, when dealing with commercial structures it can be different than residential structures, but I've never heard of a residential claim where the contractor had to agree not to put a lien on a structure in order to guarantee the insurance payment. I'm interested in knowing what the logic behind this request is and the legalities of it.