Tank sitter services (Calgary)

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

HEHE, I installed my own, when I helped him over his Hawaii holiday... Working on the Delphinus Compilation, COMING SOON!!!

Are you worried Tony? HEHEHEHEHEHE LOL.... SNORT!

I ummm... need to talk to you then (before you start reviewing that footage)

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Myka

When you guys are looking for tank sitters be sure to check that they are bonded and insured (ask was their limit is). That way if they do something dumb and burn your house down or leave the door open and thugs steal your ginch then it will be covered.

I prefer to use a maintenance company because they (should) know what to do in a tank emergency, but also because of the insurance. If your friend did something dumb and burned your house down or got busted sniffing your ginch then your relationship may become a bit stressed!

While partially true and good advice you will have a hard time finding a person with such insurance. Most these guys are not likely to even have business licenses and getting proper liability insurance and everything else you need isn't that easy and pretty expensive, it would only make sense if it was a full time business with decent revenue.

In all reality it's also not really required, home insurance requires that someone checks on the residence every so often and you don't need any special maintenance company to preform such task. So provided the person watching your tank was in agreement to be acting as a someone trusted to preform this task which may also include some tank maintenance stuff you will be covered even if the person does cause damage.

However if the person is acting as an official contractor then yes they must be setup appropriately but more for their benefit and not yours. Your home insurance is still likely to get the bill no matter what as proving the cause of failure a result of the contractor will be difficult, the contractors insurance really only acts as a team of lawyers to save the contractor the trouble of dealing with a lawsuit.

I know this because I was a contractor who did maintenance type work among other things and I did have the insurance and an incident with significant damages. Basically all my insurance did was tell the other insurance company to **** off. When it comes right down to it I wasn't liable unless I agreed in writing otherwise which even then isn't a guaranty unless perhaps it's notarized.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I ummm... need to talk to you then (before you start reviewing that footage)

My "Money Shot" is blurry, how is yours?

[Parker]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

My "Money Shot" is blurry, how is yours?

.

[lastlight]

I don't think Tony's coming back

[Myka]

Originally Posted by sphelps

While partially true and good advice you will have a hard time finding a person with such insurance. Most these guys are not likely to even have business licenses and getting proper liability insurance and everything else you need isn't that easy and pretty expensive, it would only make sense if it was a full time business with decent revenue.

In all reality it's also not really required, home insurance requires that someone checks on the residence every so often

I agree that most of the tank maintenance companies don't have insurance. There is only one company in Saskatoon and he is not insured. Go to a larger area like Vancouver and there are many of them with full liability insurance that covers the livestock as well as the home.

The dog sitter I use does have full liability insurance.

Most people's home insurance doesn't cover any livestock in the tank, so using home insurance will only fix the damage, and maybe cover some lost equipment.

We carry $2M of additional liability insurance for my partner as he is an oil field supervisor and carries responsibility for many people. The company he works for only covers $1M. The additional $2M isn't overly expensive, so I imagine it couldn't be that bad for a maintenance company. Although maybe the additional insurance is cheaper because the first $1M is already covered...?

[sphelps]

Depends on the industry and being an independent contractor is much different and how much revenue you bring in makes a difference. Typically more revenue means a more reliable and established company so less risk and cheaper insurance. I'm still a contractor now and I pay way less for insurance as an engineer even though the projects I work on now have WAY more at stake and the risks and danger are much higher, we're taking million dollar projects now compared to a few grand at most before.

It's pretty stupid really but aquarium maintenance and that industry in general is a blank for most people, go the bank and ask for a loan to open a fish store or anything related, you won't get it unless you have a ton of assets but ask for one to open a pizza store and you'll have no problem.

Also yes the additional liability would be significantly cheaper, same for virtually any insurance.

Way off topic now but the point is you don't need someone insured or bonded as that really only protects the contractor anyway, not yourself. Livestock would never be covered under any insurance company and your home insurance will cover you in most cases. All you really need is someone you trust, I'd always opt for a friend or fellow reefer over one of these "companies".

[Delphinus]

OMG you guys !

Hey, take footage or not .. it's your own retinas at risk !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agnmysB-2Gc&

[Delphinus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vT1CLv5xsU

[Nate]

Just an fyi...

N8's Aquarium Maintenance carries 2 million liability insurance. To not have insurance and work on some of the tanks I do... well... I'm not prepared to give up my first born, nor an arm and a leg.