ᐅ Liability Waiver for Heavy Construction Equipment

We were suddenly required by our construction manager to arrange for a second crane. This is a 100-ton crane to be used as an auxiliary crane. In connection with this, we are asked to sign a liability waiver in favor of the crane company for any potential compression damage to the masonry wall of the immediate neighbor’s property as well as the neighboring building, and also for any compression damage to the sidewalk.

We consider this approach completely unprofessional, as the “experts” should be able to assess the maximum possible loads to prevent any damage. For unforeseeable damages, their liability insurance should cover the costs—after all, crane operations are their specialty. Why should we take on such incalculable risks? Our builder’s liability insurance does not cover this type of damage, nor is it insurable elsewhere. Does anyone know of an insurance that would cover this?

Has anyone had experience with heavy construction equipment and liability waivers? Is this procedure a) legal and b) common practice?

Hello.
We have often had a crane on site, but it was usually arranged by the contractor. We have never been asked to provide such a liability waiver, even when we arranged the crane ourselves.
But what exactly do you need to lift at a single-family house that requires a 100-meter (328 feet) crane, or how high does it need to lift? Which crane company is it?

Best regards

Stoffal02 schrieb:
We were never asked to sign such a liability waiver, even when we arranged the crane ourselves.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is a large nationwide provider (name available via PM). One of their field representatives visited the site and offered the construction manager this setup of two cranes with their respective outreach lengths. The field representative mostly ignored us and referred questions about the cranes directly to the construction manager.

The question is whether it is actually possible to refuse to sign this liability waiver without being held responsible for any construction delays.

However, the risks are unpredictable for us as non-experts if damage were to occur to neighboring buildings.

Traumfaenger schrieb:
The question is whether you can actually refuse to sign this liability waiver without being blamed for a construction halt.

In my opinion, without knowing the contractual details, this cannot be assessed. Do you have a contractor agreement with a completion date? Then the contractor should be made to deliver...

Traumfaenger schrieb:
But the risks if damage occurs to neighboring buildings are incalculable for us as laypeople.

Exactly. I would probably not sign it either. Your own house needs to be completed differently, without you having to rebuild the neighboring houses afterward. How many hundreds of thousands of Euro do you still have readily available? Depending on that, you can decide.

Bieber0815 schrieb:
In my opinion, this cannot be assessed without knowing the contractual conditions. Do you have a construction contract with a completion date? Then the contractor should deliver....

No, there is no completion date included. The usual arguments are: "We would have to be able to predict the weather in advance, etc." There is a construction schedule, which is naturally "provisional," as well as an agreed date by email...

This week I will also check in parallel whether other companies offer something like this without a liability waiver or if there is at least insurance available on the market!

The inquiries with our insurance broker, an independent architect, and another prefabricated house provider have all consistently shown that such a procedure involving liability transfer is uncommon and that the offer is extremely overpriced. Our homebuilding company now points out that they work exclusively with this provider and that any further delay could jeopardize the schedule, as there is a lead time for applying for the road closure. Nonetheless, we are still waiting for alternative offers.