Picture Framer and Gallery Insurance
Picture framing is a small trade with an outsized exposure, because the valuable thing in the workshop almost never belongs to the business.
The Valuable Thing Is Not Yours
A framer holds original artwork, limited edition prints, photographs of people who have died, children's first drawings, military medals, degree certificates, signed memorabilia and occasionally pieces worth a great deal of money. Some of it has a market value and most of it has a value to its owner that no market reflects. Damage it, lose it, or have it stolen, and there is frequently no replacement available at any price.
The physical risks are ordinary: glass, cutting equipment, adhesives and a workshop. The claims are about other people's property and about work done to it that cannot be undone.
What Picture Framer Insurance Covers
Customers' property in your care
The central cover. Artwork and items in your custody, insured at a realistic value rather than at your framing charge.
Irreplaceable and sentimental items
Much of what you hold has no market replacement. How the policy values such items is a question to settle before a loss, not after.
Damage during work
Trimming, mounting, dry mounting, glazing and handling, where a mistake is permanent and the item cannot be made again.
Stock, mouldings and glass
Lengths of moulding, mount board, glass and acrylic, which are bulky, fragile and easily written off by a knock or a flood.
Public liability
Customers in a shop, and hanging work in homes, offices and galleries. £5 million is usual.
Goods in transit and by post
Work sent in by customers, collected, or delivered and hung, where damage in transit is a frequent loss.
Employers' liability
Compulsory at a £5 million statutory minimum. Glass handling, cutting equipment and lifting large frames.
Where The Cover Stops
Wordings differ between insurers, so treat these as the usual position rather than as universal fact. Where one of them matters to you, it is worth checking on your own schedule before you need to.
Customers' goods limits set too low
The usual fault. A limit based on typical jobs leaves nothing for the week somebody brings in a collection.
Single article limits
One valuable piece can exceed a single article limit on its own, capping a claim regardless of the overall figure.
Valuation of irreplaceable items
A photograph of a deceased relative has no market value and total value to the owner, and policies handle that inconsistently.
Damage during process
A trim that went wrong or dry mounting that cannot be reversed is damage in the course of work, which some wordings treat separately.
Items left uncollected
Framed work waiting months for collection is still somebody's property and still your responsibility.
Hanging in other people's buildings
Fixing into a wall in a home or office risks services, plaster and the item itself if a fixing fails.
Set The Limit On The Worst Week
Almost every framer is underinsured for customers' property, because the limit was set against a typical job rather than against what is physically in the building.
Think about the realistic peak: a run of commission work, a gallery's exhibition in for framing, a probate job where a family brings in everything at once, plus the shelf of finished work waiting for collection and the pieces that have been there since last year. Value it at what it would take to settle with those owners rather than at what you charged to frame it, because the two are unrelated: a few hundred pounds of framing work can be sitting around a piece worth many thousands.
Then look at the single article limit separately, because it caps individual items regardless of the total. One original, one signed piece, one antique map or one collection can exceed a modest single article figure alone. If you accept high value work at all, the limit needs to reflect the most valuable thing you would take in, and where something exceptional arrives it is worth telling your broker at the time rather than hoping. Equally, it is reasonable to decline items above a value you can carry.
Sentimental Value Is The Hard Part
This is the exposure that makes framing different from other trades holding customers' goods, and it needs discussing before a loss rather than after.
A great deal of what a framer holds has no market value and total value to its owner: the only photograph of a parent, a child's drawing, a grandfather's medals with his name on them, a wedding order of service, a letter. An insurer settles on a basis, and no basis reimburses an irreplaceable object. The customer's expectation is not money; it is the item, and when it cannot be returned the dispute is not really about the sum.
So handle it in process rather than in policy. Ask at intake whether an item is irreplaceable and record the answer, because that changes how it should be stored and handled. Keep irreplaceable work separate from general stock and away from the busiest part of the workshop. Photograph items on arrival, which at least means a digital record exists of a photograph that is otherwise gone. And be honest with customers at the counter about what a loss would mean, because a customer who was told is in a different position from one who assumed you were insured for everything.
Some Mistakes Cannot Be Undone
Framing involves irreversible operations on other people's property, which is unusual for a trade of this size.
A print trimmed to fit a mount cannot be untrimmed. Dry mounting is permanent and destroys the value of a limited edition. An adhesive or tape that is not conservation grade will mark a work over time. A mount cut slightly wrong on a one off piece wastes the board, but a work trimmed wrongly wastes the work. Glazing can scratch a surface, and a frame assembled with the glass dirty means reopening it and risking the piece again.
Which makes confirmation the discipline. Confirm in writing, on the order, what is being done to the item where it is irreversible: trimming, dry mounting, removal from an existing mount, cleaning. Ask about provenance and edition before anything permanent, because a customer may not volunteer that a print is one of fifty. Use conservation materials as a default on anything that might matter rather than only when asked. And where a customer instructs something you would advise against, record the advice and the instruction.
Glass, Transit And Hanging
The ordinary claims in framing are physical, and they happen at the three points where the work moves or is held up.
Glass is the workshop risk: cutting, handling large sheets, and the injury exposure for staff, which is the main employers' liability concern alongside cutting equipment. Transit is the next: work arriving by post from customers, being collected, or being delivered finished, where glass breaks, corners are knocked and a courier's handling is outside your control. Check how goods in transit is covered, including items sent to you by customers, because a damaged piece arriving is still a dispute even if you did not cause it.
Hanging is the third and it happens in somebody else's building. Fixing into a wall risks a cable or a pipe, the plaster around the fixing, and the item itself if the fixing fails later and a heavy frame comes off a wall onto a floor or a person. Use fixings rated for the weight rather than what is in the bag, check for services before drilling, and on anything heavy or in a public space, think about what happens if it is knocked. A frame falling in a busy office is a liability claim rather than a framing one.
How To Choose A Broker For A Framing Business
Two numbers matter: the customers' goods limit and the single article limit. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not tell you we are the best choice. These are the questions that decide it.
Is the customers' goods limit set on a bad week?
A commission run, a gallery job and the uncollected shelf together are a far larger figure than a typical job.
What is the single article limit?
One original or one collection can exceed it alone, capping a claim regardless of the total.
How are irreplaceable items treated?
Much of what you hold has no market value and total value to its owner, and policies handle that inconsistently.
Is damage during the framing process covered?
Trimming, dry mounting and glazing are irreversible, and some wordings treat damage during work separately.
Are goods in transit and by post covered?
Work arriving from customers and finished pieces going out are where glass breaks and corners get knocked.
Is hanging in client premises included?
Fixing into somebody's wall risks services, plaster and a heavy frame coming down later.
Factually, here is what we do against those questions. We set the customers' goods limit against a realistic worst week including the uncollected shelf, we check the single article limit separately because it caps a claim on its own, we establish how irreplaceable items are treated and tell you plainly where a policy cannot answer that, and we confirm transit and on site hanging are inside the cover. We are a broker, so it goes to several insurers rather than one.
We also insure antique dealers, jewellers and dry cleaners, so customers' property held on premises and single article limits are familiar ground here.
What Moves The Price
Every policy is priced on the business behind it. These are the things that move the premium:
- The customers' goods limit and the single article limit
- Whether high value or fine art work is accepted
- Whether damage during the framing process is covered
- Stock values of moulding, board and glass
- Whether work is received or sent by post or courier
- Whether on site hanging is carried out
- Premises security and whether there is a gallery area
- Claims history, including damage to customers' work
We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a quote.
What We Need To Quote
- Peak value of customers' property on the premises
- The most valuable single item you would accept
- Whether fine art or conservation framing is undertaken
- Stock values of moulding, board and glass
- Whether work arrives or leaves by post or courier
- Whether you hang work in client premises
- Your intake record and irreplaceable item procedure
- Any claims in five years, including damage in process
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Antique dealersIrreplaceable items and single article limits.
- JewellersCustomers' items left for work, at high value.
- Dry cleanersThe same customers' goods exposure in another trade.
- Interior designersWho specifies and commissions framed work.
- All retail coverThe rest of our premises based pages.
- Talk to a brokerAsk us what your single article limit is.
Common questions
What insurance does a picture framer need?+
Customers' property in your care as the central cover, set at realistic values rather than at your framing charge, with the single article limit checked separately. Then cover for damage occurring during the framing process, since trimming, dry mounting and glazing are irreversible. Stock cover for moulding, board and glass, goods in transit including work sent in by customers, public liability at £5 million covering shops and on site hanging, and employers' liability at a £5 million statutory minimum.
How much customers' goods cover do I need?+
Enough for a realistic worst week rather than a typical job, and the two are very different. Picture the peak: a commission run, a gallery's exhibition in for framing, a probate job where a family brings everything at once, plus the shelf of finished work awaiting collection and pieces that have been there since last year. Value it at what it would take to settle with those owners, because a few hundred pounds of framing can surround a piece worth thousands. Then check the single article limit, since one original can exceed it alone.
What happens if I damage something irreplaceable?+
No policy fully answers it, which is why this needs handling in process rather than in cover. A great deal of what a framer holds has no market value and total value to its owner: the only photograph of a parent, a child's drawing, a grandfather's named medals. An insurer settles on a basis and no basis returns the object. So ask at intake whether an item is irreplaceable and record it, store such work separately and away from the busiest part of the workshop, photograph everything on arrival, and be honest at the counter about what a loss would mean.
Am I liable if a print is trimmed wrongly?+
Yes, and it cannot be undone, which is the particular risk in this trade. A trimmed print cannot be untrimmed, dry mounting is permanent and destroys the value of a limited edition, non-conservation tape marks a work over time, and a wrongly cut mount wastes board while a wrongly trimmed work wastes the work. So confirm in writing on the order what irreversible operations are being carried out, ask about provenance and edition before anything permanent, default to conservation materials, and record any advice a customer instructed you against.
Is work damaged in the post covered?+
Check the goods in transit position both ways, because it is a frequent loss and an awkward dispute. Work arriving by post from customers, being collected, or going out finished all travels with glass in it, and a courier's handling is outside your control. A damaged piece arriving is still an argument with the customer even if you did not cause it, so establish whether items sent to you are covered as well as items you send. Packing properly, using acrylic rather than glass for anything travelling, and photographing condition on receipt all help.
Who insures picture framers in the UK?+
Usually written as a combined commercial policy for a shop with a workshop rather than a retail package, because customers' property in your care and damage during the framing process both sit outside a standard shop product. It is placed mostly through brokers. What separates placements is whether the customers' goods limit reflects a realistic worst week, what the single article limit is, whether damage during the process is covered, and whether transit and on site hanging are included.
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