Construction business insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
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For 80% of settled claims
Construction business insurance – why is it important?
From builders to plumbers, electricians to roofers – whatever your trade, we know you have your own unique needs when it comes to business insurance. Make sure you protect your business with the right cover, whether you work alone or with a team.
- peace of mind, letting you focus on your business, not the what-ifs
- UK-based claims team, award-winning and available 24/7
- trusted by over 900,000 small UK businesses for flexible, tailored cover
What does building trade insurance cover?
The first cover to consider is usually public liability insurance, which covers you if a member of the public gets injured or loses out financially and blames your business. Then you can add other covers to a policy that protect against the different risks that construction businesses face.
Public liability insurance
In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your construction business.
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.
Business legal insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your construction business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your products and consumables.
Tool insurance
In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.
Buildings insurance
In case something happens to your business premises.
Own plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.
Hired-in plant insurance
In case plant machinery, like excavators, you've hired in 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.
Excess insurance
In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.
Public liability insurance
In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for construction businesses?
Claims against your business for:
- any injury or illness caused by you at work, or because of your work
- property damage caused by your business
- injuries or accidental damage caused by one of your employees, if you have any
For example:
- you spill hot coffee on a client’s laptop, scolding their arm and damaging the laptop screen
- you accidentally scratch the flooring in the venue you’re working in
- your employee leaves a trailing wire, causing someone to trip and twist their ankle
**If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.**
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your construction business.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- an injury to someone you employ, including contractors and temps, that happens as a result of working for you
- a member of staff (including casual workers) falling ill due to your business
**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:
- one of your employees falls down some stairs in your business premises, and makes a claim against you for chronic shoulder pain
- a temporary employee traps their hand in a door at your premises, causing several fractures
- a member of staff trips on a ledge on their way to a meeting, injuring their hip
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.
What’s typically covered by business equipment insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- accidental damage to your contents, or the equipment you use to run the business
- theft, flood, and fire damage
For example:
- someone breaks into your business premises and steals three company laptops, as well as two sets of headphones
- a faulty dishwasher floods your office kitchen, causing damage to several appliances
- your business equipment is damaged by vandals during a break-in
Read more about business equipment insurance
Business legal insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your construction business.
What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- VAT disputes
- theft of your company’s identity illegally
- compensation under data protection legislation
For example:
- HMRC is investigating your VAT affairs, triggered by seemingly incorrect figures on your return
- a fraudster steals your company’s bank details and buys goods to set up a new line of credit with banks or retailers
- a client is claiming you didn’t process their data in accordance with GDPR, and is seeking compensation
Read more about business legal insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
- medical costs, lost income, and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- your business partner, who’s named on the policy, is injured while ice skating and left permanently disabled
- you fall down some stairs at home and lose the use of your right arm
- an employee you’ve covered is playing squash at the weekend and hits their head on the wall, causing concussion and a hospital stay
Read more about personal accident insurance
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your products and consumables.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to (and loss of) stock, following fires, floods, or vandalism
- theft of stock following a break-in
- costs involved with replacing the stock you need to operate
For example :
- flooding in your storage unit destroys your stock
- you make a big Christmas packaging order that’s stolen while you’re speaking with a supplier
- someone drives into your shop, smashing the windows and destroying a week’s worth of stock
Read more about stock insurance
Tool insurance
In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.
What’s typically covered by tool insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to the tools you use for work
- loss of your business tools or specialist equipment
- theft of your construction tools and equipment
For example:
- your work laptop is damaged accidentally and it stops working
- you lose your work phone while you're out and about
- someone steals your tools from your locked van
Read more about tool insurance
Buildings insurance
In case something happens to your business premises.
What’s typically covered by business building insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- the cost of structural repair (or rebuilding from scratch) following damage to your building
- damage to fixtures and fittings
- underground pipes and cables that you’re responsible for
For example:
- someone vandalises your shop with graffiti, which you need removing ASAP
- your shop’s non-slip rubber flooring gets damaged during a refurb and needs replacing
- a non-supporting wall in your building has been damaged and needs replacing
Read more about business buildings 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?
Claims against your business for:
- damaging someone else’s property while working on a development site, or afterwards as a result of your work
- damage or destruction caused by vandalism
- damage or loss to your plant machinery, like a digger
For example :
- your forklift damages a van parked nearby, while you’re manoeuvring on site
- you’re building an extension for a customer and someone breaks into your works site, vandalising the premises and causing substantial damage
- you’re parked up outside a service station and thieves steal a generator from your trailer
Read more about plant machinery 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?
Claims against your business for:
- expensive costs and charges, if hired equipment gets damaged, lost, or stolen
- equipment that’s on-site or in transit
- causing injury or property damage while you’re working, or afterwards following your work
For example :
- thieves steal a generator from your trailer while you’re taking a break at a service station
- you accidentally drive a digger through someone’s fence while working on site
- a hired cement mixer and generator are made unusable following a flood
Read more about plant machinery 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?
Claims against your business for:
- work in progress on domestic and commercial sites
- on-site damage to your tools that you need to complete the job
For example :
- a storm causes damage to your place of work, setting back the project
- a fire destroys your tools that you left at work
- your work is damaged after a break-in, meaning you'll have to start from scratch
Read more about contract works insurance
Excess insurance
In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.
What's typically covered by excess insurance?
Claims made by you for:
- when you make a claim on a cover included in your business insurance policy, you won’t need to pay excess
For example :
- after a heavy storm you need to make a claim on your building cover – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
- a leak in the bathroom causes a guest to slip and injure themselves and thanks to excess cover, there’s no excess to pay on the claim
- a tenant’s suitcase scratches the wooden flooring in your hallway – you won't have to pay any excess on your accidental damage claim
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 construction business 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
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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.
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 | No excess | £750 |
Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
Contents | £200 | £4,000 |
Stock | £200 | £4,000 |
Main building | £200 | £400 |
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.
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How do insurance claims work for construction businesses?
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.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
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.
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
We started out as a team of 5 back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 900,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their insurance.
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,717 reviews
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Construction business 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 off licences. 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 0146 683 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 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.
Make sure you’re covered for the services you provide:
- View all business insurance covers
The types of businesses we insure:
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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© Copyright 2023 Simply Business. All Rights Reserved. Simply Business is a trading name of Xbridge Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Registration No: 313348). Xbridge Limited (No: 3967717) has its registered office at 6th Floor, 99 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NG.