East Yorkshire builders criticise 'poaching'
07:00 - 15-July-2008
Abbey says it will visit the homes of flood victims still living in caravans and other forms of temporary accommodation and look to take over repair work from local builders.
A spokeswoman for Abbey, which has dealt with 3,000 flood-related claims in Hull and the surrounding area since last June, told the Mail: “We will be revisiting people still in temporary homes to see if we can pick up the repair work.
“Abbey has a national network of builders on its books. They are all checked and verified by us and our loss adjusters.”
Abbey insists 97 per cent of its customers are back in their homes. But the spokeswoman said: “If people are having problems with their local builders, they should call us. It is possible we can take over work.
“We can focus all our resources on that area and can arrange to bring in builders and contractors from other parts of the country.”
But Fess Traynor, owner of Kingston Plastering, which serves Hull and the East Riding, is angry with the insurance firm's tactics.
Mr Traynor, who employs two men, said: “Nobody is going to be happy about them poaching work from us.
“These big insurance companies should be helping small, local firms like ours, not taking work away from us by recruiting for out-of-towners.”
John Richards, owner of Hessle plumbing firm APG Solution, said: “It stinks. They will be taking work off us and it will be the customers who suffer.”
According to latest figures, 1,476 Hull flood victims and 750 in the East Riding remain in forms of temporary accommodation.
The Mail told recently how Abbey insisted it had “no control” over local builders, who are often preferred by customers of insurance companies.
“Customers can opt to have their own builders carry out the repair work or they can use a national builder on our list,” said the spokeswoman.
“Unfortunately, we have no control over local builders, so we cannot put pressure on them to get the work done, allowing customers to move back into their homes.”
“We can keep a close eye on our approved builders, which means the length of time people have to wait is kept to a minimum.”
Coinciding with the anniversary of the June 25 flood, the Mail launched the Back Home campaign, which aims to speed up the return of people to their properties from temporary accommodation.
Coinciding with the anniversary of the June 25 flood, the Mail launched the Back Home campaign, which aims to speed up the return of people to their properties from temporary accommodation.