Construction business insurance

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