Builders insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,376 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why do you need builders insurance?
Builder insurance protects you against the cost of accidents and mistakes at work. While you can’t stop them from happening, you can make sure you’re covered. Whether it’s just you or you have others working with you, it’s protection for your business and your customers.
- protection from big claims like accidental injury or damage
- help to keep going when an unexpected event gets in the way
- it covers what you need from legal costs, to tools, to personal accidents
- quotes start at £6.56* a month based on 2021 data
What does builder insurance cover?
You understand your business best – that’s why we put you in control. Whether you want to cover yourself for accidents on site, legal disputes with clients or the tools you need to run your business, you pick what goes into your policy. 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.
Builders public liability insurance
In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.
Tools insurance
In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.
Stock insurance
In case materials you're responsible for, like bricks, are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.
Hired-in plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you've hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.
Own plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.
Contract works insurance
In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.
Professional indemnity insurance
In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.
Builders public liability insurance
In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
- accidents while working at your premises, or on a commercial or residential building site
- accidents while building new structures, or altering, converting or extending existing ones
- accidents that happen because of your work, or faulty materials, equipment or parts
For example:
- a wall you’re building accidentally falls on a member of the public
- your employee accidentally puts a ladder through someone’s window
What you’ll need additional cover for
- if you do work other than building on some standalone jobs – for example, electrical work, plastering, or plumbing
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?
- employee illness or injury caused by working for you
- medical bills and legal fees due to employee illness or injury
- some temporary or casual workers may be covered – find out which ones
**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 bricklayer develops a repetitive strain injury in their shoulder
- your apprentice gets an electric shock from a faulty power tool
Tools insurance
In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.
What’s typically covered by builders tools insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of your hand tools, power tools and equipment
For example:
- a flood at your workshop causes water damage to your Stihl saw
- you turn your back on site for a minute and your tool box is stolen
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tools left in your van, hired plant, machinery, stock or contents
Read more about tools insurance
Stock insurance
In case materials you're responsible for, like bricks, are lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of materials like bricks and cement
For example:
- your bricks are stolen from the site you’re working on
Read more about stock insurance
Business and office equipment insurance
In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of things like your work laptop
For example:
- you take your laptop on site and drop an electric drill on it
- your work laptop is stolen from your home
What you’ll need additional cover for
- your tools, materials and machinery
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Hired-in plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you've hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of things like excavators, rollers, cement mixers etc. you’ve hired in
For example:
- a bulldozer you’ve hired is stolen from the site you’re working on
- you damage a cement mixer you've hired by dropping a saw into it
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tools and plant machinery you own
Read more about hired-in plant insurance
Own plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.
What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of things like excavators, rollers, cement mixers etc. you’ve hired in
For example:
- your bulldozer is stolen from the site you’re working on
- you damage your cement mixer by dropping a saw into it
What you’ll need additional cover for
- plant machinery you hire in
Read more about own plant insurance
Contract works insurance
In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.
What’s typically covered by contract works insurance?
- repair costs for the work you have in progress on a building site or job if it’s damaged or destroyed
- labour, materials and tools to get the job back to the stage it was at before it was damaged or destroyed
- damage caused by things like fires, floods, storms, vandalism or theft
For example:
- a fire partially destroys a house extension you’re in the middle of building
- high winds rip the roof off a summer house you’re in the middle of putting up in a customer’s garden
What you’ll need additional cover for
- existing structures already on the site you’re working on
Read more about contract works insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- 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, and tax and compliance disputes
- includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help you protect your business’s reputation
For example:
- if an employee is injured at work and brings a case against you
- if your site is vandalised and you bring a case against the vandals
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- injury or death at work or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you lose a finger while working on site
- your casual labourer breaks his leg while on a night out
Read more about personal accident insurance
Professional indemnity insurance
In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.
What’s typically covered by builders professional indemnity insurance?
- legal costs of defending yourself if you give bad advice that causes a client to lose money
For example:
- you design an extension to a house and it collapses within the first year
- you advise a customer to use superglue to hold up kitchen cabinets and they fall off the wall
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
How much does builders 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 £6.56 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
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 Sep 2021 - 31st Feb 2022). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example builders insurance quotes, real prices
£8.29 /month
£62.88 /year
A builder working on residential alterations, conversions and extensions
- 5+ years experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Manchester
Public liability
£1,000,000
Employers' liability
Not included
Tools
Not included
£42.76 /month
£380.07 /year
A builder working on commercial new builds, alterations, conversions and extensions
- 5+ years experience
- Limited company
- 3 employees
- Based in Swansea
Public liability
£5,000,000
Employers' liability
£10,000,000
Tools
£9,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 21/02/2022). 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 |
| Professional indemnity | No excess | £2500 |
You'll get a complete breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us. 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
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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
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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 team 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.
£28 million in claims paid out in 2021
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2021
Example claim
Having builders insurance through Simply Business has saved builders thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Andy saved more than £4,335
Andy (not his real name) was working on a loft conversion for a customer when his ladder fell onto someone else’s car. It damaged the bonnet, roof and windscreen. Luckily Andy’s insurance covered the cost of the repairs.
Insurance payout
£4,335.00
Covering the cost of the damage to third party property
Andy’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Andy’s policy terms
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of 5 back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 800,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,376 reviews
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Builder 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 builders insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
In some situations you may need more than public liability to cover certain kinds of property damage. Learn about hired-in plant cover and contract works cover.
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 tools cover.
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.
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.
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 roofer insurance or bricklayer insurance?
If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered
Other types of insurance
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.
Insurance companies calculate the price of your policy based on a range of factors. The quotes you get to compare will be based on your unique business. The following factors could affect the prices you’re quoted:
- your claims history
- how long you’ve been in business in this particular trade
- if you work in dangerous environments
- if you work with dangerous materials
- the value of your tools, equipment or materials
- the number of covers you want to include in your policy
If you have people working for you, employers’ liability insurance is required by law. While you may not be legally required to have other types of insurance, there are some covers builders may want to consider.
Being covered may be especially important if you want the added mark of trust you get from membership of a trade body or professional accreditation. Some trade bodies may require you to have a certain level of public liability or professional indemnity cover, for example.
You can set up your insurance before you begin trading. At this point you don’t need trade licences, but as soon as you begin trading, you’ll need to have any required licences in place.
Under the terms of your policy, you’ll need to comply with all relevant rules and regulations for your insurance – and any claims you make – to be valid. Check which licences apply to your unique business using the government’s licence finder.
Whether you set up as a sole trader or a limited company, you’ll also need to register with HMRC (and Companies House if you form a limited company).
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
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