Construction insurance
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Construction insurance – why is it important?
Construction companies have a unique set of risks and challenges that make it important to consider a comprehensive business insurance policy. The good news? Whether you use expensive equipment or employ staff, business insurance is there to protect you against unexpected costs.
- liability insurance for construction businesses, including public and employee risks
- optional personal accident cover for your own injuries, or anyone on the policy
- UK-based claims team, award-winning and available 24/7
What does construction insurance cover?
Most businesses usually start with public liability insurance when building a policy. It protects your business against injury, illness, and property damage claims from members of the public. Beyond that, you can tailor your policy to cover the different risks your business faces.
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 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 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 construction public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, caused by your business activities
- illness or injuries as a result of your business
- employees causing accidental damage or injuries
For example:
- while hosting a meeting, you leave a cable running across the open office floor and your client trips, spraining their ankle
- you serve a client sandwiches with a trace of sesame seeds, causing an allergic reaction
- your employee drops heavy equipment on your client’s floor, causing extensive damage
**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 business.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- injuries to staff (including casual labourers and contractors) that are caused as a result of your business
- illness suffered by an employee (including temps and casual workers) caused by 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 office manager breaks their finger while trying to close a faulty window at your business premises
- your receptionist trips over a cable running across the floor of your office, breaking their ankle
- a temp worker scratches their arm on one of your tools, and the injury becomes infected
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.
What’s typically covered by business contents insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage and destruction caused by flood, fire, vandalism, or theft
- cover for your contents and the equipment needed to run your business
For example:
- a flood spreads to your office floor and means you need to replace several desk chairs
- your photocopier and fax machine are badly damaged during a break-in
- four business smartphones are stolen from your premises
Read more about busines contents insurance
Business legal insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your business.
What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- unpaid invoices
- contracts for the purchase, hire, sale, or provision of goods or services provided to you
- an alleged breach of statutory rights with an employee
For example:
- you need to recover debt after a client refused to pay their invoice, caused by a contractual dispute
- you’re facing legal costs as a client is disputing whether you met your contractual obligations with your hire agreement
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 death or injury, whether it happens at work or elsewhere, for anyone you’ve chosen to cover on your policy
- lost income, plus medical costs and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- an employee you’ve covered on the policy slips on ice while commuting to the office, injuring their lower back
- you’re tidying the office and an old printer falls onto your shoulder, causing a serious injury
- your business partner bumps their head after a fall, causing ongoing health complications which stop them from working
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:
- the cost of replacing the stock you use to run your business
- stock that ’s been destroyed, lost, stolen, or damaged
- stock includes food and drink products as well as branded materials and sellable items
For example :
- your stockroom gets vandalised – products you need to operate are stolen and damaged
- a fire caused by faulty electrics spreads to your stockroom and destroys sellable items
- a leaking pipe floods your business premises, destroying stock that you intend to sell
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:
- accidental damage to your construction tools and equipment
- theft of the tools you use for your business
- loss of your business tools
For example:
- your tools are stolen from your car or van
- you lose some expensive equipment on the way to a job
- a flood causes irreparable damage to your construction tools
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:
- repair and rebuild costs after damage caused by a storm, fire, or vandalism
- fittings and fixtures that get damaged
- underground pipes and cables, if you’re responsible for them
For example:
- someone tries to force entry into your shop, damaging the door, which needs replacing
- a burst pipe causes water damage to floorboards and walls – they need to be replaced
- equipment catches fire and damages your building, which will need to be completely rebuilt
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:
- replacement of own plant machinery should yours be damaged or stolen
- water damage to your own plant machinery
- accidentally injuring someone else while you’re working, or afterwards as a result of the work you’ve done
For example :
- an excavator is stolen during an overnight break-in at your works site
- you drill through a water pipe while working on a construction site, causing extensive damage
- your storage unit is flooded, damaging your cement mixer and generator beyond repair
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:
- replacing hired-in plant machinery should it be damaged or stolen
- water damage to hired-in plant machinery
- accidentally injuring someone else while you’re working, or afterwards as a result of the work you’ve done
For example :
- there’s an overnight break-in at your work site and an excavator is stolen
- you cause damage to a water pipe by drilling through it while working on site
- a flood damages a hired cement mixer and generator beyond repair
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:
- repair costs for work that's been damaged or destroyed while on the job
- labour, materials and tools that'll get your work back to the stage it was in before the damage
- damage caused by fires, floods, storms, vandalism, or theft
For example :
- there's a fire at your place of work, setting back the completion date of the job
- a flood destroys your specialist construction equipment
- someone breaks into your site and steals your tools
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 :
- strong winds cause severe damage to the roof of your property – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
- a guest accidentally breaks a television during their stay at your property and thanks to your excess insurance, you don’t need to pay excess on the claim
- a guest’s child trips on a loose carpet and breaks their arm – they claim compensation and you don’t pay excess due to your excess 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 construction public liability 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 the construction industry?
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 insurance FAQs
Whether you’re new to buying construction insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about insurance for construction businesses. 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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