Short answer: yes. If a handyman performs deficient work that causes you damage, you would be entitled to recover damages from the handyman and/or his insurer (if he has one). This is true for a handyman the same as it would be for a licensed contractor.
My Own Experience with Deficient Work Done by a Handyman
My first Florida property damage case involved damage to my own home caused by the deficient work of a handyman. We were redoing a half bathroom in our home and we had asked our handyman to paint the bathroom. He insisted that he also could perform minor plumbing work, like hooking up the vanity my wife had selected to a sink and then turning on the water to the sink. Naively, we agreed to let him do so. He hooked up the sink to the vanity, painted the bathroom, and everything seemed fine. We were happy with the bathroom and everything seemed fine.
Fast forward several months and my wife noticed one day that the vanity appeared swollen. When she looked inside the vanity, water had pooled underneath it and there was mold that had formed inside the vanity. She ran the water and water was dripping from the connection of the vanity to the faucet. Water was dripping down into the interior of the vanity where the fitting was supposed to be watertight. It appeared that, when he connect the faucet to the water supply, our handyman failed to ensure the seal was water tight.
When we eventually pulled off the baseboards, there also was black mold. We finally told the handyman to stop trying to treat the problem himself and requested his insurance information.
Your Recourse under Florida Law against a Handyman Who Performs Deficient Work
If you have suffered damage as a result of a handyman’s deficient work, you can seek relief against the handyman in court the same as if a licensed contractor had messed up your job. The process begins with giving written notice to the handyman of your intent to sue the handyman before you can file a lawsuit.
Chapter 558.004, Florida Statutes, requires you to give written notice of the specific defects you are alleging in the handyman’s work. The written notice must be given sixty (60) days before you file suit against the handyman. The notice of claim must include a specific description of the alleged defects in the handyman’s work as well as what damage occurred as a result of that alleged defect.
The handyman then has 30 days to inspect the property and correct the issues with his work (if you agree to that). Once this 30 day period has elapsed, the handyman must provide a written response to the notice of claim. To the extent an inspection was performed by the handyman, a written report describing the results of the inspection must be provided. Within 45 days of service of the notice of intent on the handyman, a formal response is due. The formal response can offer to fix the alleged defects, serve a denial disputing the alleged defects, or make a monetary offer to compensate the property owner for the alleged construction defects.
Once the 60 day period has elapsed, you are then free to file a lawsuit against the handyman.
The Conclusion to My Story
We gave the handyman some time to try to do what he could to fix the problem, but he wanted to treat the mold and then be finished.
I then sent a Chapter 558 Notice of Claim to the handyman and he finally provided me with his insurance information. I filed a claim with his insurer and, to their credit, his insurer addressed the problem. We ended up needing to have mold remediation not once, but twice, had the bathroom completely demolished and then had to redo the entire bathroom given there was mold behind the baseboards. It took another nine months until it was finally finished.
Contact The Florida Flood Lawyer
If you have been harmed or your property damaged by a handyman who did substandard or deficient construction or work, you are entitled to seek damages for the deficient work performed by that handyman.
At Florida Flood Lawyer, I have personal experience with deficient work performed by a handyman to my own home. To the extent that you have been harmed as a result of defective work done by a handyman in Florida, please contact me for a free consultation regarding your options via email today.
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