We have a 40 ft maple tree that is coming down this week. Its dead and is very much a risk of falling into the house. We are also getting a new furnace and AC unit this week installed. So I have been down in the basement covering the layout with plastic drop cloth to keep dust off it. And the day they come Im going to tell them not in anyway bump it in a way.
So my question is what do you do when you have to have contractors come in and work in the house around your model railroads? If they ever broke something or damaged something on the layout can they be held accountable?
If they’re licensed, bonded, and insured you may be able to collect from their insurance carrier, but it will be a highly depreciated value for all items that are damaged and might turn out to be a long, drawn-out process.
When some of my train collection was lost or damaged by movers during an Army transfer, the claims office wanted photographs or original receipts to prove that I owned the items, when they were purchased, and a catalog or other proof of their true replacement value; then they paid only about ten percent of the replacement value based on “use and depreciation.”
If you give the workers too many warnings about what they can and cannot touch in the performance of their contract, they have the right to walk out and could even sue you for breach of contract, so the best way to approach the situation would be to kindly ask them to be careful without being too demanding and overbearing.
If I were in your situation and the layout was in an area where they must perform work, I would try to find a sturdy cover such as a sheet of plywood sitting on bricks or something.
I think in general most reputable contractors are going to be respectful of your belongings. A lot of their business is generated by recommendations from previous clients. They don’t want someone bad mouthing them over damaging their property. Its not good for business.
On the other hand, if for some reason you and your Contractor didn’t walk the job before hand, I hope you advised the Contractor that there was a model railroad layout that needed to be protected during the work. If not you might find that the Contractor will seek additional compensation to protect and work around it or they may refuse to work near it at all if they think there is too much liability or exposure to a claim for damage. Remember they need access to do their work and they need to be able to work safely. If they can’t get to it, then they can’t work.
I would suggest if it is possible for you, to talk to them before hand about your concerns and offer to make your self available to help them with protecting the layout while they are working in the vicinty of it.
Every time a contractor comes in it cost me money. That’s because they make me fire up the pike and run a few laps. Do you have any idea how much electricity cost?[(-D]
In all seriousness though, I have always found they are extra careful around the layout. It must be a guy thing. The unwritten code to respect the cool things in another persons mancave.
I worry more about theft than damage although i’ve never had anything taken. My layout is in a bedroom with an exterior door lockset so I can lock it and no one will get in without the key. I once let a contractors workers use my tablesaw in my garage. After a couple of hours of no work I found them playing darts with my dartboard out there. Most of the contractors I hire I have known for some time and I trust them.
I have had NO problems. I setup a coffee pot in the family room for them, and run the trains at lunch time! Even the building inspector enjoyed the coffee and trains. Most folks are just fine.
Wow Jim, as a contactor myself, I wish ther were more people like you out there. Of coarse if you hired me, I doubt that much work would get done, (on the house anyway)
Actually the great majority of my clients are very decent people and a pleasure to work for.
Had a whole-house re-plumbing last year (original builders used substandard `Made in China,’ product, then lost the class action suit!) A lot of the work had to be done in my layout space, including opening up walls to get at pipes.
The entire experience was very positive. The contractor’s crew put plastic sheets over the plastic sheets I had put over the layout(!) as well as everywhere else that they had to work. From turning off the main valve to painting the last of the new drywall was only five days - the crew was well organized, the necessary supplies were on hand and the whole works ran like a well-oiled machine. My wife and I supplied lubricant in the form of ice water and soft drinks (August in Las Vegas is NOT coffee weather!)
Hopefully, I’ll never have anything similar again, but if I do I won’t be overly concerned.
I had a whole new furnace and duct work done around an old layout and it was a duck under to get to the work area. They never hurt a thing and they were in and out in about 3 hours and of coarse they had to see the trains run. I think they were completly amazed at what I had done. Dont worry they should be very respectful of all your hard work.
Jim has a great idea. When my grandparents needed a new furnace, the crew was fascinated by my grandpa’s layout. He ran the trains for them and let them run a train also. They loved the tiny details and how the buildings and trains lit up when he truned the lights off.
I had my hot water tank checked by my landlords contractor and he was interested in what I was doing with “trains.” He had never seen any layouts except a Lionel around the Christmas tree a long time ago. When telling him about HO scale and what I was hoping to build, he said he could never do it because it is too small.
WE just recently had our furnace replaced. Although it is in a nook in the hall, the spare room with the layout in it is “next door” to the furnace space and in fact the furnace nook takes up part of said room {we live in a trailer}
When the installer was finished he asked me if I played with the HO trains a lot. I replied I hadn’t so much this year and was dismatling it to build a bigger one {hopefully}.
We chated about model trains {toy trains to his 5 yrs old son who loves them} and how he spent $85 on just 2 buildings at a shop near him {in defense of the industry they were “built ups”}, But oh, how his son wanted them!! I turned him onto another "LHS’ 45 mins away from me that is linked to wholesaletrains.com.
He had no cause to go into the layout room,. nor did he have to go anywhere near it, and all that is left on it is the track,., but I have a feeling he would been very careful about it had he had too.
moral of the story: ask for an installer who has a model train layout to install your equipment!!!
The contractors that have been in my house almost always get to see the train room, and for the most part are suitably impressed. I have to admit, I hate having to call anybody in to do stuff around the house, but when it comes to HVAC and plumbing, I bite the bullet and call.
Ha, in my mind, them seeing the layout lets them know that I am not a helpless old geezer and do know my way around tools and such.
Fortunately, the layout is in a spare room with no need for them to access the area in the room or above it in the attic.
I had new thermopane windows replaced in the house and one located in the layout room. My LA&SFV layout is built in modules, so the module that crossed in front of the window was removed to allow the contractor easy access. He was careful and there were no problems.
