Craftsman invoice for replacement of defective tool

I don't see it as clearly as everyone here does. In my opinion, half of the facts are still missing.

Who caused the pipe break?
The own efforts to replace it again somehow do not suggest that the civil engineer was to blame for the broken pipe and that it was not part of his job.
If the civil engineer (or more likely his employee) only showed goodwill here and got the camera out of the car for free instead of the brother having to arrange a specialist company for pipe inspections, I can understand that the head of the civil engineering company is not happy about the loss of a camera that was provided free of charge and wants the damage to be compensated.

That would be comparable to lending tools to a buddy for free and them getting lost or broken.
I think everyone would also expect that there would be an agreement regarding compensation for the damage.

That would be comparable to lending a friend tools for free and them getting lost or broken.
I think everyone would expect an agreement for compensation in that case.

No. The correct comparison would be:
I offer my friend help and I lose my tools while with him.
I don't think the brother controlled the camera.

Ergo, the contractor now assumes that they found the camera in the removed pipe, which is not the case.

Could it be that the excavator means your brother embezzled the camera? The agreement was basically that your brother retrieves the camera during the pipe replacement and then hands it over to the contractor? Then at least one could understand the contractor, who feels he has been fooled.

Who caused the pipe break?
The work done in-house for the replacement somehow doesn’t suggest that the civil engineer was at fault for the broken pipe or that it was his job.
If the civil engineer (or more likely his employee) just showed goodwill here and retrieved the camera from the car for free instead of the brother having to arrange a professional pipe inspection company, I can understand that the head of the civil engineering company isn’t happy about losing a camera that was provided for free and wants the damage compensated.

That would be comparable to lending tools to a buddy for free and them going missing or breaking.
I think everyone would expect there to be an agreement about compensation for the damage.

It is an old house, and the water pipe leading to the house broke due to old age (sounds pretty cool ). The civil engineer was then commissioned to inspect the damage and was supposed to provide an estimate afterwards. The inspection of the pipe was carried out by the civil engineer. During this, he lost the camera inside the pipe.

In the end, my brother decided to replace the pipe himself.

Could it be that the civil engineer thinks your brother embezzled the camera?
The arrangement was basically that your brother would retrieve the camera during the pipe replacement and then give it to the civil engineer?

Then you could at least understand the civil engineer feeling cheated.

That’s exactly how I can piece it together, too. However, the civil engineer only spoke again with his brother-in-law afterwards (complicated ownership situation: 50% wife of my brother; 50% brother-in-law of my brother), so my brother doesn’t know what they talked about. He wants to speak with his brother-in-law and the civil engineer again in the next few days.

But the invoice won’t be paid for now.

I’ll keep you updated...

Am I the only one wondering how someone can lose the camera? Isn't it supposed to be securely attached to the cable? And yes, if it is stuck there, of course it has to be retrieved!

But first of all, the invoice will not be paid.

Explained, I hope (otherwise I would advise so).