Tradesman Insurance

Public liability is the practical minimum: most customers, main contractors and trade bodies will ask to see it, usually at £1m, £2m or £5m. Employers' liability is a legal requirement the moment you employ anyone, including labour-only subcontractors. After that it depends on how you work: tools cover if your kit lives in a van, contract works if you are responsible for the job until handover, professional indemnity if you design as well as install, and goods in transit if you carry materials.

Public liability is not a legal requirement, so trading without it is not illegal, but it leaves you personally liable for a customer's injury or damage, and most contracts and trade bodies insist on it anyway. Employers' liability is different: it is compulsory once you employ anyone, the fine can be up to £2,500 for each day you are uninsured, and labour-only subcontractors usually count as employees for this purpose even though they invoice you.

Across the trades policies we place, premiums start at around £50 a year and the middle of our book sits near £593, with three quarters under £1,520. The headline figures you see advertised, £43 or £55 a year, are bare public liability for a sole trader in a low-risk trade. Where you land depends on your trade, your turnover, how many people you employ, whether you work at height or use heat, and your claims record.

Often not, and this is the single most common shock in trades insurance. Most tools policies either exclude theft from an unattended vehicle overnight entirely, or only pay where there was forced entry and the van was locked, and many require tools to be removed overnight or kept in a locked, secured box. There is usually a single-item limit as well, so one expensive machine may not be fully covered even when the total sum insured looks generous. Read the conditions on your tools section before you need them, not after.

Public liability covers damage you cause to other people and their property. It does not pay to put right your own faulty workmanship, and it does not cover the job itself while you are building it. Damage to work in progress is contract works cover; the cost of redoing bad work is generally not insurable at all, though some policies include limited defective workmanship cover. If you are responsible for a job until practical completion, ask specifically about contract works.

Yes, and tell your insurer how you use them. Labour-only subcontractors (working under your supervision with your materials) normally count as employees, so they need to be in your employers' liability and included in your wage roll declaration. Bona fide subcontractors who work independently should carry their own public liability, and you should keep copies of their certificates. Getting this wrong is a common reason a claim is reduced or a policy is voided at renewal.