Liability for fitting services - outsourced

[James500jag]

I am a sole trader in the fireplace business for the last ten years and worried about the increase in our ' blame claim' society. I outsource all my fittings/installations to Corgi approved engineers, so they are not directtly employed by me. If there was a major issue with a poorly fitted fireplace would I be personally liable or the engineer who was responsible for fitting the fireplace.

[buildersmate]

There is a contract between you and the end customer. If a problem occurs with the delivery of that contract, it is your problem.
You have chosen to subcontract part of that service to another organisation. It is in your interests ensure you have contract conditions that reflect that what expect them to do and the remedies if they fail to deliver an acceptable service to you, and hence your end customer.
At the moment the buck stops with you.

[gucciman]

James, i'm a corgi engineer who is interested in opening a little showroom selling gas fires, fireplaces, cookers etc How did you go about it when you started out? would it cost a fortune to set up? would the appliance manufacturers provide display models to help you set up?
is there any money in it these days with eeryone buying off the net?