Anyone may need at some point to put a shelf, change a socket or repair a faucet. However, it is common that you do not have the knowledge, tools or time necessary to carry out this type of work. The best solution is to hire the services of a ‘handyman’.
What most don’t know is that Home insurance usually includes this coverage, which is increasingly in demand. Insurers normally have professionals at no cost to carry out small DIY or repair tasks in the home.
The days are limited. Some policies offer up to three appointments with this professional per year, while others only allow one visit from the technician. A trick to make the most of this service is to gather all the repairs or work that you want to do so that you can carry them out in those appointments.
some conditions
This service, which is included in the price of the policy, has a limit of repairs or work per year. each insurer offers a number of maximum hours that they can dedicate to repairs. For example, the conditions of the Mutua Madrileña are two annual services, with a maximum of 3 hours in each one. However, BBVA offers three annual services for a total of 6 hours of labor.
Also, some policies cover travel expenses and tools you need to use the technician. In most cases, they are not responsible for the expenses involved in the purchase of parts or materials that are going to be installed, repaired or changed.
The jobs that cover
In most cases, the professionals that are usually included in the home policies are the plumbers, electricians, blinds and DIY experts. Even so, it is best to ask the insurer what specialists it offers with the contracted insurance. In the case of Zurich, they make a technological ‘handyman’ available to their clients. He attends remotely and is in charge of jobs such as synchronizing a television or repairing the satellite dish.
As usual, the tasks they are usually responsible for These types of professionals are assembling furniture, installing plugs, heating maintenance, changing faucets, repairing blinds, cleaning carpets, checking air conditioning or fixing technological devices.
It is best to check directly with the insurer about the problem or work to be done to find out if it is covered by the contracted policy.
Make the most of the hours
The hours or number of annual repairs offered by home insurance may seem very few. However, there are some tricks to get the most out of them.
The main thing is to call him when he is really needed. In many cases, these services are misused: hours of service are abused for tasks that you can do yourself or that are cheap. For relatively low-cost jobs, it’s better to hire a professional directly and pay for it. This will be appreciated when a repair with a high price arises because the insurer’s ‘handyman’ will be able to take care of it.
Another trick to take advantage of the hours of the service and not charge you any supplement for spending more time is have everything ready. “If the technician comes to your house, he does not have the materials he needs and he has to go down to buy them, those minutes are deducted from the working hours,” they explain from the Zurich insurer.
The best thing is for the client to explain to the technician what work he wants to do to know what materials are needed. “Sometimes it is the technician himself who puts the tools, but other times he tells you what you have to have on hand when they arrive,” they say from Zurich.
In any case, that everything is prepared and positioned for when the ‘handyman’ arrives will prevent do not lose hours of work looking for what is missing or even having to go buy it. “If a faucet is going to be installed, have all the parts on hand and the tools that the technician has requested so as not to waste time,” they recommend.
Something that must be taken into account is the maximum number of hours they can perform or the number of free days offered by the insurance. To take advantage of them, a piece of advice is put all the jobs together that they want to carry out. Thus, in these limited visits the technician will be able to make several repairs at the same time.