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Insurance for alarm installers

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Based on 39,755 reviews

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Claims paid in 24 hours

For 80% of settled claims

What's on this page

  • Why is insurance important?
  • What does it cover?
  • How much does it cost?
  • How do I choose insurance?
  • How do claims work?
  • FAQs
  • Helpful articles

Why is alarm company insurance important?

Alarm systems aren’t just an expense – they’re relied on by so many people as a first line of protection. If you’re being trusted to install or fix an alarm, your liability risks can be significant. Burglary or fire alarm company insurance policies are built to provide specific cover for potential claims and legal costs.

  • fire alarm insurance, plus burglar and intruder alarm companies
  • rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ public liability customer reviews
  • optional personal accident cover for your own injuries, or anyone on the policy

Start your quote

Insurance for alarm installers – what’s covered?

Typically, we’ll start with public and product liability insurance, designed to cover fire and burglar alarm companies against claims for third party injuries and property damage. Most quotes also build in options for employers’ liability insurance – usually a legal requirement, if someone’s working for you. From there, you can add cover for your equipment and legal expenses, depending on your business needs.

Public liability insurance for alarm installers

In case your alarm company causes an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • damage to someone’s property, caused by your work
  • injuries caused by your business activities
  • accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

For example:

  • while installing an alarm you drop a piece of kit from a height, injuring your customer
  • you damage a client’s wall while installing CCTV in their business premises, and they raise a claim

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • an employee, including a contractor or casual labourer, suing you after falling ill because of working for your alarm business, or
  • making a claim for an injury they’ve had while working for you

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

  • your employee is knocked down by a car while working on a busy trading estate
  • an apprentice working for you slips on a client’s kitchen floor, injuring their lower back

Professional indemnity insurance for alarm alarm installers

In case there’s a claim for loss-causing errors or issues with your work.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your alarm installer business for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

  • advice which turns out to be incorrect
  • mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

For example:

  • you’ve installed a customer’s shop alarm incorrectly and it goes off throughout the day, causing loss of earnings due to noise disturbance

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case essentials like your laptop or phone are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

  • theft, flood, fire, or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your alarm business
  • operational equipment like your laptop, rather than the trade tools you take out and about

For example:

  • your business partner drops your laptop onto the pavement, damaging it beyond repair
  • you accidentally put your work phone through the washing machine, and it won’t power up

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

  • loss, damage, or theft of your hand tools, power tools, and specialist equipment

For example:

  • your tools are damaged in a fire at your business unit
  • two tool kits belonging to you and an employee are stolen from your van at a motorway services

What you’ll need additional cover for

  • larger plant items you use to carry out your work – you’ll need to add our specific plant cover for these

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to the stock you keep in supply.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

  • loss, damage, or theft of your work materials, or items you’re planning to sell

For example:

  • your stock of spare parts is damaged by bad flooding over Christmas
  • someone steals your stock from the back of your van while you’re parked up for

Read more about stock insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case your rented plant machinery is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?

  • loss, damage, or theft of things like a cherry picker which you’ve hired in

For example:

  • you hire two cherry pickers for a larger job and these are stolen from your workshop overnight

What you’ll need additional cover for

  • tools and plant machinery which you own yourself – you’ll need to add our specific own plant insurance or tools cover for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Own plant insurance

In case your own plant machinery is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

  • loss, damage, or theft of things like your own cherry picker

For example:

  • your cherry picker is damaged during a bad storm overnight, and you need to buy a replacement

What you’ll need additional cover for

  • plant machinery you’ve rented – you’ll need to add our specific hired-in plant cover for this

Read more about own plant insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs in connection with your alarm business.

  • legal costs attributed to your alarm business
  • property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
  • tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
  • includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and

For example:

  • your former employee raises an unfair dismissal claim against you, and you need to pay for legal services
  • HMRC begin an investigation into your last two years of tax payments, and you need to hire legal support

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or away from work.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

  • accidental injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
  • lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

  • you trip over your employee’s tool kit and break your wrist in the fall
  • your business partner breaks their leg while playing rugby, and needs minor surgery

Read more about personal accident insurance

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

How much does alarm installers insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £3.19 per month

Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.

Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes

Start your quote

How we work out example prices We take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 January - 31 August 2021). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.

Example alarm installers quotes, real prices

churchill insurance

£11.46 /month

£94.63 /month

A self-employed alarm installer working in the local region on residential properties

  • Less than 1 years' experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Bristol
  • Public liability

    £1,000,000

  • Employers’ liability

    Not included

  • Tools

    Not included

chiswell insurance

£82.74 /month

£735.47 /month

A family run alarm installer ltd company working in residential and commercial locations

  • 5+ years' experience
  • Limited company
  • 4 employees
  • Based in Nottingham
  • Public liability

    £2,000,000

  • Employers’ liability

    £10,000,000

  • Tools

    £5,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 16/08/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Public liability

£100

£2500

Employers' liability

No excess

No excess

Tools

£60

£500

Stock

£100

£500

Business and office equipment

£50

£750

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

  • Pick what goes into your policy

    Only pay for what you need

  • Get prices from a range of insurers

    Choose the best fit for you

  • Buy online in minutes

    Get your documents the same day

Start your quote

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How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does alarm installers insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It's important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider door supervisor insurance or security guard insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

Other types of insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm

Call our team

0333 043 8527

Online

Contact us on our website whenever suits you

Phone

Call our insurance experts during office hours (calls are charged at a local rate)

FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.

£39 million in claims paid out in 2022

Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022

Example claim

Having alarm installer insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Gary saved more than £1,200

While installing an alarm system for a commercial client, Gary (not his real name) accidentally drove his cherry picker over a new pressure plate, causing significant damage. The public liability cover in his alarm company insurance policy covered Gary’s accidental damage and replacement costs.

  • Insurance payout

    £1,226.16

    Covering the cost of accidental damage

  • Gary’s costs

    £100

    The excess amount stated in Gary’s policy terms

Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

  • Compare and buy in minutes

    Documents arrive today

  • Rated 4.7/5

    Based on 39,755 reviews

  • Here to help

    Help from UK-based experts

  • 24/7 claims

    Make a claim any time

Alarm installer insurance FAQs

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about insurance for alarm installers. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

  • This depends on your insurance provider, and the specific covers you select when building your alarm installers’ insurance policy. A professional alarm installer insurance policy will usually provide options for public liability cover, built to protect against a third party’s injury or property damage, as well as specific types of tools cover.

    You may also have the option to include professional indemnity insurance for alarm installation, covering you for mistakes in your work which cost others money to fix.

  • Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.

  • Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

  • You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

    • one-off credit or debit card payment
    • BACS payment
    • Direct Debit

    If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.

  • This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

    If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

    There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

Helpful articles for alarm installer

Alarm installer fitting an indoor smoke alarm

30 April 2021 • 7-minute read

Carbon monoxide and smoke alarm regulations for landlords in the UK

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