Tradesman: Builders Insurance

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What is Builders Insurance?

Builders Insurance is a specifically tailored Tradesman policy that covers the main risks and requirements of working in the construction trade and/or as a contractor or subcontractor.

Depending on your trade or trades (if multi-skilled) and scale of business (turnover and employees) you can select and insure different risks.

When considering the cost of cover and deciding you do really need it, it's worth asking experienced and time served builders and brokers if they consider it a necessity, and hearing the tales.

Why do Builders Need Insurance?

Simply having tradesman insurance can put off spurious claims designed to unfairly intimidate you into settling out of court.

Plus it is there should even the smallest building job goes horribly wrong resulting in expensive damage to property or in the worst case scenario, death or injury to innocent people.

It can also be there to cover loss or damage to tools or hired in plant, or thousands of pounds worth of materials in transit which could prove disastrous if lost. Fire or flood if pinned on you could seriously delay a building contract and put you out of business if you cannot mount a legal liability deefense.

Builders insurance policies are designed to minimise the impact of certain damaging events for self employed builders. If working as a subcontractor it will also cover risks that a main contractor needs covering and they usually insist on seeing certificates.

There is also the compulsory/mandatory insurance for commercial vehicles such as vans which must be kept up to date. By combining all insurances into one policy you may be able to save money and simplify renewals.

As well as liability insurance you may want to consider All Risks cover. While you're working on a site, this type of insurance protects the building from risks during construction as well covering materials, tools, machinery or plant you're using.

Do Builders Public Liability Insurance (PLI)

As a self-employed builder you should consider public liability insurance to cover injury to members of the public and damage to property.

If you take on a job as a sub-contractor working for another business, you will usually need public liability cover - most large contractors won't allow a contractor on site without seeing insurance certificates.

Building contractors often specify the calie of PLI for sub-contractor such as £1m, £2m, £4 mill, £5 million or even £10 million cover for local council and government contracts. These higher value policies can increase the cost of your cover, but averaged out over several lucrative contracts it could prove worth while.

Do Builders Need Employers Liability Insurance

If you're a sole trader and do all of the work yourself, you don't need employer's liability insurance however you may want to consider "personal accident / sickness" and "key person" insurance. But if you hire someone - a casual labourer, say, even if it's just for a couple of hours, then you need it. Ask your insurer to cover them for the contract period, otherwise you're trading illegally.

You'll also need cover for tools and plant that you hire in.