Aerial and Satellite Installer Insurance

Public liability first, and at a higher limit than the job values suggest: £2 million is the sensible floor and £5 million is normal for communal or commercial work. The reason is that the claim is a fall or a structural repair rather than anything proportionate to the invoice. The declared working height is the part that actually decides whether a claim pays, so it has to match the tallest property you work on. Employers' liability is compulsory from the first employee at a £5 million statutory minimum. Then tools and test kit, and personal accident, which is worth more here than in most trades because a sole trader who cannot climb has no income.

Potentially, and it is the characteristic dispute in this trade. A lashing kit puts tension on masonry that is often very old, so if the stack moves or sheds pots weeks later the householder's position will be that it was sound until you touched it. Insurers will not pay to put right a pre-existing defect, so the whole argument is about whether your fixing caused or accelerated it. Photograph the stack, the pointing and the pots before you strap to anything. Where a stack is visibly poor, say so in writing and offer a gable mount instead, because declining the fixing costs less than a structural repair.

Only if it says so, and ladder work is frequently treated separately from the general working height. Most liability policies state a maximum height and then deal with ladders, towers, roof access and powered access as distinct permissions, any of which can be restricted or excluded. Since a great deal of aerial work is genuinely done off a ladder, this is the first thing to check on a quote rather than the last. Expect conditions about footing, tying off and sometimes not working alone above a stated height, and treat them as conditions rather than advice.

It is a smaller market than general trades because the working at height exposure pushes it outside the appetite of some standard tradesman policies, and several of the insurers who do write it are reached through brokers rather than direct. More than one of the insurers we deal with names aerial and satellite erecting in their own appetite, which is why it can be placed properly rather than squeezed into a generic policy. What separates placements is the permitted height, whether ladder and roof access are allowed, and how damage to the structure you fix to is treated.

The same policy, with the work declared and usually a higher limit. Managing agents and housing associations typically require £5 million of public liability and sometimes £10 million, plus employers' liability evidence and a method statement for the roof work. The practical differences are that you are above occupied homes, so a badly sealed penetration means water into the top floor flats, and that going through a wall or ceiling raises a fire compartmentation question. Seal properly and photograph it, because that is what a surveyor comes back to.

It needs declaring rather than assuming, and it is the most common gap in this trade today. The work has moved faster than insurers' trade descriptions: satellite television is declining while low orbit broadband dishes, communal systems and camera brackets are growing. If your schedule says television aerials and half your week is something else, part of what you do was never priced. None of it is a harder risk than the original work, so it is usually a description change rather than a premium change. Tell us at renewal and it closes the gap.