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Carpenter insurance

Join over 17,000 carpenters like you with PL cover from £3.19 per month*

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A carpenter installing roof trusses on a residential property

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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 do you need carpenter insurance?

Whether it’s finish or framing work, just one of you or a whole team, you’re running a specialist business. Insurance for carpenters can cover most projects, and usually includes public liability cover for accidents and injuries. You can add protection for employees and equipment too, plus other specific risks.

  • protection from big claims like accidental injury or damage
  • help to keep going when an unexpected event gets in the way
  • specific cover for what you need from legal costs to tools and equipment

Start your quote

What does carpenter insurance cover?

You know your trade better than anyone, which is why we put you in control of choosing your insurance policy. Public liability insurance for carpenters is a popular cover, and you may need protection for employees too, if you have any. You can add specific protection for personal accidents, your tools and any legal expenses which may hit your carpentry business.

Public liability insurance

In case someone is injured or their property gets damaged, because of your carpentry business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for carpenters?

Claims against your business for:

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

For example:

  • you make a dent in a client’s wall, which will need restoring
  • someone trips and falls over a drill you’ve left on the stairs, breaking an ankle

What you’ll need additional cover for

  • your tools and equipment – you can add this specific cover when setting up your policy

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

  • an employee, including a temp or casual worker, suing you after falling ill because of working for you, or
  • making a claim for an injury they’ve suffered through 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:

  • you send a contractor to a new job, while you finish up with a client. They slip and fall down the stairs on their way out, breaking their wrist
  • an employee slips while cutting wood for a job, injuring their finger

Tools insurance

In case your carpentry tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for carpenters?

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

For example:

  • someone breaks into your garage and steals essential tools, including your jigsaw
  • your new drill gets dropped and broken on-site

What you’ll need additional cover for

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

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to the carpentry products or materials you keep in stock.

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 customer’s stock gets damaged in a road accident, on the way to another job
  • the materials you’ve ordered for a new contract are stolen from the customer’s garden

Read more about stock insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to equipment like your phone or laptop.

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

  • loss, damage or theft of the equipment you use to run your business (operational equipment, not your carpentry tools)

For example:

  • a leak in the roof of your house causes damage to your laptop, which holds your bookings and client invoices
  • despite a good CCTV and alarm system, your small office premises are broken into and your computer, printer and a spare monitor are stolen

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

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

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

  • loss, damage or theft of things like tenoners, sanders and panel saws which you’ve hired in

For example:

  • one of the panel saws you’ve hired malfunctions and damages the materials you’re using
  • a water leak on site damages the sanding machine you’ve hired

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 for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Own plant insurance

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

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

  • loss, damage or theft of things like a glue spreader or spindle moulder

For example:

  • a machine you’ve just bought is stolen while locked in your work unit overnight
  • your customer drives into your workbench, causing significant damage

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 from running your carpentry business.

  • legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, like disputes with employees
  • the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
  • HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance issues
  • includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a trusted tradesperson

For example:

  • your customer raises a contractual dispute, claiming you haven’t fulfilled your obligations and refusing to pay an invoice
  • an employee sues you for unfair dismissal

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?

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

For example:

  • you lose a finger while working on site
  • a casual labourer breaks their leg on a night out (they’ll need to be covered on the personal accident policy already, before their accident)

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 carpentry 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

10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.

Example carpenter insurance quotes, real prices

optima insurance

£8.63 /month

£66.33 /year

A self-employed carpenter focusing on domestic jobs, on location

  • 1-2 years' experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Bournemouth
  • Public liability

    £1,000,000

  • Employers’ liability

    Not included

  • Tools

    Not included

maltings insurance

£60.18 /month

£534.92 /year

A carpenter working on commercial and domestic jobs, occasionally using fixed machinery

  • 5+ years' experience
  • Limited company
  • 2 employees
  • Based in Swindon
  • Public liability

    £2,000,000

  • Employers’ liability

    £10,000,000

  • Tools

    £3,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 12/10/2020). 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.

Is public liability enough for third party property damage?

In some situations you may need more than public liability to cover certain kinds of property damage. Learn about hired-in plant cover and own plant cover.

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 carpenters 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 builders insurance or bathroom fitter 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 above 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 insurance through Simply Business has saved carpenters thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Ian saved more than £4,900

Ian (not his real name) was working in a customer’s house when a nail went through a water pipe, causing damage throughout the property. Ian’s insurance covered the escape of water and cost of repairs on the house, which was up for sale at the time.

  • Insurance payout

    £4,936.76

    Covering the cost of escape of water

  • Ian's costs

    £100

    The excess amount stated in Ian'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

Carpenter 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 carpenters. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

  • 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.

  • 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 installments.

  • 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 carpenters

A female carpenter working at a workbench

14 Aug 2018 • 5-minute read

How to become a joiner in the UK: a step-by-step guide

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