Doing the work of an insurance company

As I mentioned at this entry, we've had the builders in. The wrap up was that a painter was to come and paint the garage floor to finish it off. Supposed to arrive Thursday morning last week, he phoned to say he wouldn't be coming, giving the reason that the garage was not clear... Since he'd known that since seeing his colleagues (they'd mentioned that they'd told him) I was surprised he left it till Thursday to tell me. Mind you, it does seem to match my experience of Princebuild management. He said he would contact the insurance company without saying why and would arrive Friday morning. I asked that he let me know what the result of his enquiry would be the same day. He did neither of these. Friday I emailed the loss adjuster and propsed that I go to B&Q, our local DIY store, buy the paint and do it myself. I'd had my fill of this insurance claim. They agreed and with a £100 adjustment in my favour ( a little less than the cost of the paint and roller sleeves I bought) I set to and did the work myself. Ironic, but the painter had suggested they get someone in to clear the garage for him! A little late? They saved the insurance company the money and it was only the customer who suffered having to clean up. I now have an image of this painter driving up in white gloves and a bowler hat! Princebuild had estimated sixteen hours (presumably plus materials), so they have probably done very well out of this deal. As of this morning my garage floor is covered in non-slip floor paint (looks like Dulux with sand mixed in!) and I'm waiting to tidy up and get back to normal. I did it in 3 'bits'. One half with everything crammed to the back, then two further goes shuffling the rubbish around. Since had to move everything I did get the chance to have a tidy up. I think I found 8th generation spiders in there. It also gave me a chance to 'dust', if that's the right word. The cement dust from the twelve inch concrete cutter had put a fine layer over everything. Yuk.

An insurance claim that left a nasty taste in my mouth. And it wasn't just the cement dust. I'm quite curious what bills have gone to the insurance company. I wonder if it included 16 hours of the painters time?