A Customer Dies During an Open Job
Why this matters
Sooner or later a shop gets the call: the customer whose roof is half done, whose new furnace is on order, whose deposit is in the bank, died last night. Everyone in the office wants to do the decent thing and nobody knows what the decent thing is. Two mistakes are common and both are expensive. One is carrying on as if nothing changed, taking instructions from whichever relative calls, and finding out later that relative had no authority. The other is walking away from an open roof or a disassembled heating system because it feels wrong to ask questions. The right path runs between them: protect the house, stop, find out who can now decide, and leave the money until the family can face it.
This card covers a customer who dies away from the job. A customer who collapses while you are there is a medical emergency first; see related: The Medical Emergency on a Service Call SOP.
The first call
Whoever takes the call says sorry, plainly, and takes nothing else off the family that day except what the house needs. Something like: "I'm very sorry. Please don't worry about the job today. We'll make sure the house is protected, and we'll talk whenever you're ready." Then two practical questions, because the shop needs them to protect the property: is anyone staying at the house, and who should we call about access this week? Write down the caller's name, relationship and number.
Do not mention the invoice, the deposit or the contract in that call. There is no version of that sentence that lands well within a day of a death, and nothing about the money gets worse by waiting a couple of weeks.
Stop the work, but protect the house first
The job stops: no crew returns to resume billable work until someone with authority says so. But a job stopped mid-stream can damage the house, and the house is now the estate's, often its largest asset. Before walking away, put it in a state that will hold for weeks:
- Open roof: confirm the dry-in, add fasteners or a tarp where underlayment is exposed at edges or ridges, and note the exposure window printed on the underlayment's own label. Anyone going up to do it is protected exactly as on a working day: residential construction work at 6 feet or more requires fall protection under 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13). No one goes up untied because "it's only ten minutes."
- Heating out of service in cold weather: restore heat with the old equipment if it is safe to run, or arrange temporary heat, and if neither is possible tell the family the pipes are at risk and where the main water shutoff is. Before any fuel-burning appliance is fired back up, the gas connections are leak-checked with solution and the venting is reconnected and confirmed drafting.
- Water off: restore it if the work allows, or leave it off and tagged with a note to the family saying why. Never leave a cut line capped with a temporary fitting under pressure overnight in an empty house.
- Electrical: every cover back on and every box closed. Prove dead before you touch an opened circuit to close it up, with a tester proved on a known live source before and after, per NFPA 70E-2021, 120.5, with work practices at 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2), and energize only what is safe to leave live.
- Tools and materials on site: remove anything that can be stolen or that the family should not trip over. Leave delivered materials that belong in the job, photographed and counted.
Photograph the state you leave it in. That record is what answers the question, months later, of whether the shop left the house sound.
Who can authorize work now
Authority usually ends at death, including a power of attorney, which terminates when the person who granted it dies. Who has authority afterwards depends on how the home was held and on state law:
| Situation | Who can generally decide | When |
|---|---|---|
| Home jointly owned with right of survivorship (often a spouse) | The surviving owner, in their own right | Immediately |
| Home held in a revocable living trust | The successor trustee named in the trust | Usually immediately, without court involvement |
| Home owned by the customer alone, will names an executor | The executor, once a probate court has appointed them | Only after appointment, which can take weeks or months |
| No will | An administrator the court appoints, often next of kin | Only after appointment |
| Small estate | A relative using the state's small-estate procedure, where the estate qualifies | Varies by state |
The trap is the middle rows. A son named as executor in his father's will has no authority to bind the estate until a court appoints him; until then, he is a grieving relative with a document. He can, however, agree to pay for work himself, in his own name, if he chooses, which is a different arrangement from acting for the estate. Ask, kindly, which situation applies, and write down what you are told and what document you saw.
This is not legal advice. The moment anyone disputes who has authority, the moment you are deciding whether to resume work on someone's say-so, or before you file a lien or a claim, stop working from this card and call your attorney. Walk in with the contract, the deposit record, what was completed and delivered, the photos, and the names and claimed roles of everyone who has called.
Access to the home
The customer's permission to enter, the lockbox code, the garage code and the key in your office all came from someone who can no longer give it. Do not use them to go back in, even to protect the property, without clearance from whoever now controls the house. If the house needs attention and nobody can be reached, call the family contact again and leave a message saying what you need to do and why; if there is an immediate risk, such as water running, that is a call to the police non-emergency line, not a reason to let yourself in.
Offer to return keys and codes, and record when and to whom. Empty houses after a death attract theft, and you do not want to be one of the people who had a key.
The open invoice and the estate
The money sits on a layer of state law, and the general shape is this. The estate, not the family, owes the customer's debts, including your contract balance. Family members are generally not personally liable for a relative's debts unless they co-signed, contracted in their own name, or are dealing with the estate's assets improperly; the FTC publishes guidance to the same effect. Never tell a relative they personally owe it.
Claims against an estate are made to the personal representative, usually after the court has appointed one and notice to creditors has gone out. The deadline to submit a claim is set by state law: in states that follow the Uniform Probate Code model it is four months after notice is first published, with an outer limit of a year after death, and other states set their own periods, some shorter. Miss it and the claim can be barred. Separately, your mechanic's lien deadline keeps running from your last day of work regardless of the death, and a pause in the job does not stop it. Calendar both the day the job stops.
A reasonable rhythm for the shop: no mention of money for about two weeks, then a short letter addressed to the estate of the customer, care of the person handling affairs, stating what was done, what was paid, what remains, and that you will wait for the personal representative to be appointed. Deposits for materials not yet delivered should be stated plainly, including whether they can be refunded or the order cancelled.
Worked example: the roof, day one of three
A three-day tear-off and reroof on a house owned by a widower alone. The deposit was a third of the contract price. Day one: the crew tore off and dried in the rear slope with synthetic underlayment, and the shingles and flashing for the whole job, about 40 percent of the contract price, were delivered to the driveway. That night the customer died in hospital. At 7:30 the next morning his son calls the office.
Day two, 7:30. The office manager says sorry, says no crew will come today, and asks the two practical questions. The son is staying at the house. The manager asks if a crew lead can come by at 10:00 to check the roof is protected, and the son agrees.
Day two, 10:00. The crew lead and one tech, both tied off under the shop's residential fall-protection plan, check the dry-in: two edge laps lifting on the rear slope. They add cap nails at both and a tarp over the ridge, where the underlayment ends. The underlayment's label gives an exposure window, and the forecast shows rain on day five. They count and photograph the materials on the driveway and cover them.
Day two, afternoon. The son explains that the will names him as executor, it has not been filed, and the family attorney says appointment may take six to eight weeks. The house was his father's alone. So under the table, nobody can yet bind the estate to finish the roof.
The owner spends 20 minutes on the phone with the shop's attorney, then lays out two options for the son, in writing:
- Wait. The tarp stays, the shop checks it weekly and after any storm, and the job resumes when the son is appointed. The shop's lien deadline is calendared from day one, its last day of work.
- The son contracts for completion in his own name. He signs a completion agreement personally, the deposit already paid is credited, and he pays the remaining two thirds himself; whether the estate reimburses him is between him and the estate.
The son chooses the second, because six to eight weeks with a tarp on a house he plans to sell is a bigger risk to him than paying now. He signs on day two. The crew finishes on days three and four, ahead of the rain.
Why it went that way: the shop did not resume on the son's say-so as executor, because he had no authority yet, and a later dispute among heirs could have left the shop with a balance owed by nobody. It did not refuse to protect the roof, because an unprotected roof would have damaged the estate's main asset and made the shop the obvious target. And it did not discuss money on the first call.
What changes the answer: had the house been jointly owned with a surviving wife, she could have authorized completion that morning in her own right. Had it been held in a living trust, the successor trustee probably could too, without waiting for court. In both cases, confirm it with them directly and note the document you saw.
How to check the shop handles this well
After any job interrupted by a death, check the file for five things: photos of the condition the property was left in; the name and claimed role of each person who called, and the document seen; a dated decision on who authorized any resumed work, and in what capacity; the lien deadline and any estate claim deadline on the calendar; and no money discussed in the first call. A file with all five is one that can answer any question a family, a court or a buyer's inspector asks later.
References
- 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13), fall protection in residential construction
- NFPA 70E-2021, 120.5, and 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2), verifying absence of voltage before closing up opened electrical work
- Federal Trade Commission consumer guidance on debts and deceased relatives
- Uniform Probate Code, creditor-claim provisions, as adopted by your state where it has been
- See related: Working With a Power of Attorney or Guardian