Concrete Repair and Structural Remediation Insurance
Concrete repair is the trade where you are always working on something that is already going wrong, and that single fact shapes every claim.
Nobody Calls About A Sound Structure
Spalling concrete, corroding reinforcement, carbonation, chloride attack, a car park deck that is leaking, a bridge soffit dropping lumps, a balcony that has been condemned. Nobody calls a concrete repair contractor about a sound structure. So when something moves, cracks further or fails during or after your work, the question of whether you caused it is genuinely difficult, and the owner will have a strong view.
The second feature is that the repair is expected to last. A patch that fails in three years, or a cathodic protection system that stops working, puts you back on a structure that may have deteriorated further in the meantime.
What Concrete Repair Insurance Covers
Public liability
Injury and damage to other people's property, which here means the structure you are repairing, the vehicles and people below it, and the building it is part of. £5 million is a floor and £10 million routine on infrastructure and car park work.
Damage to the structure being repaired
The defining question in this trade. Whether the concrete you are breaking out counts as the thing you worked on or as third party property changes the outcome of most claims.
Falling material and work over occupied space
Breaking out concrete above a car park deck, a walkway or a road means material falling onto vehicles, plant and people.
Water and slurry from hydro-demolition
High pressure water removal produces large volumes of contaminated water that goes down through a structure and into drainage. Both a damage and a pollution exposure.
Employers' liability
Compulsory at a £5 million statutory minimum. Respirable silica from cutting and breaking, high pressure water, noise and vibration are recognised long tail exposures here.
Professional indemnity where you specify
Where you diagnose the deterioration mechanism and specify the repair rather than executing somebody else's design, a repair that fails is an advisory failure. Mechanics on our professional indemnity page.
Plant and hired-in plant
Hydro-demolition rigs, breakers, grit blasting and spraying equipment, much of it hired at substantial value.
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.
Pre-existing deterioration
You were called because the structure was failing. Establishing what was already loose, cracked or delaminated before you started is the whole of the subsequent argument, and only a record settles it.
Repair durability and defective workmanship
A patch that fails is your cost to redo. Damage the failure caused may be covered, and in a car park that can be vehicles and a deck rather than a patch.
Diagnosis against execution
If the repair was correctly executed but the wrong repair for the mechanism, the failure is a diagnosis failure. That is advisory and a different cover.
Silica and long tail health
Respirable crystalline silica from cutting and breaking concrete is a recognised exposure with claims arriving decades later. Water suppression, extraction and surveillance are expected.
Hydro-demolition water management
Contaminated water entering drainage or a watercourse is a pollution incident, and gradual seepage is excluded on many wordings while sudden release is covered.
Working over live traffic or occupied space
Car parks, bridges and walkways frequently stay in use, which brings traffic management and exclusion zone obligations alongside your own method.
Record What Was Already Broken
This trade shares its central problem with steeplejacking and soft strip: you arrive at something that is already failing and will be blamed for the state of it.
A car park deck with delamination across half of it, a balcony with exposed and corroding reinforcement, a soffit shedding material. You break out the loose concrete, and the extent of the damage revealed is always greater than the extent visible before. The owner sees a structure that looked patchy and now looks alarming, and the instinct is that the contractor made it worse.
So survey and record comprehensively before breaking out anything. Hammer tap or survey the full area and mark the delaminated zones, photograph with scale and position references, record reinforcement cover and condition where exposed, and agree the extent in writing with the client or the engineer before you start. Where the breakout reveals materially more than expected, stop and document it rather than carrying on, because a variation agreed at that point is a conversation and the same thing discovered at completion is a dispute.
Diagnosis And Repair Are Different Liabilities
Concrete deteriorates for several different reasons and the right repair depends entirely on which one it is, which puts a diagnostic judgement at the front of every job.
Carbonation, chloride attack from de-icing salt or seawater, alkali silica reaction, poor original cover, and simple mechanical damage all look like spalling concrete to a casual eye and all need different treatment. Patch repairing chloride contaminated concrete without addressing the chloride can accelerate corrosion around the patch rather than stopping it, which is a well known failure mode and one a client will not forgive.
If an engineer specified the repair and you executed it faithfully, your exposure is execution. If you diagnosed and specified, a repair that fails because it was the wrong repair is an advisory failure, which is professional indemnity rather than liability. Many contractors do both without the schedule distinguishing them, so establish it, keep the testing and diagnosis records, and where a client declines recommended investigation on cost grounds, record that you advised it.
Hydro-Demolition Sends Water Everywhere
High pressure water removal is the cleanest way to take out damaged concrete without harming the reinforcement, and it creates a water management problem on a scale other methods do not.
The volumes are substantial, the water is contaminated with cement fines and whatever was in the concrete, and gravity takes it down through the structure you are working on. In a multi storey car park that means water into the levels below, onto vehicles, into lift pits and service risers, and eventually into drainage. Discharging it to a surface water drain is a pollution question rather than a housekeeping one.
So the containment plan is part of the method rather than an afterthought: bunding, collection, settlement and a proper disposal route, plus warning and protection on the levels below. And check the policy wording on pollution, because the likely incident here is contaminated water finding a drain over a shift, which is closer to gradual than to sudden on many wordings.
The Structure Usually Stays In Use
Unlike most structural work, concrete repair frequently happens while the asset carries on being used, and that is where the public exposure comes from.
A car park stays open with vehicles parked on the deck below you. A bridge carries traffic while the soffit is repaired. A block of flats keeps its residents while balconies are remediated. So the exposure is not only the structure but everything underneath it and everyone who has to walk past the scaffolding to get home.
Which makes exclusion zones, debris protection and traffic management central rather than peripheral, and frequently negotiated with a party who does not want to close anything. Where a client will not close a deck level or divert a footpath, that is a point to resolve in writing before starting rather than to work around. Residents and car park users are not under your instruction, which is exactly why the physical protection has to do the work rather than the signage.
How To Choose A Broker For Concrete Repair
The structure you are repairing is the exposure, and how the wording treats it decides most claims. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not tell you we are the best choice. These are the questions that decide it.
How is the structure you are repairing treated?
Whether it counts as the thing you worked on or as third party property is the most consequential line in the wording on this trade. Ask before you need to know.
Is diagnosis separated from execution?
If you identify the deterioration mechanism and specify the repair, a repair that fails because it was the wrong one is advisory. Liability alone leaves that uncovered.
How is pollution treated for hydro-demolition water?
Contaminated water reaching a drain over a shift is closer to gradual than sudden on many wordings, and gradual is frequently excluded.
Has silica been discussed?
A long tail health exposure in a trade built on cutting and breaking concrete. A broker raising suppression, extraction and surveillance is thinking about claims arriving in twenty years.
Does the limit reflect working over occupied space?
£5 million is a floor and £10 million routine where you work above a live car park deck, a road or a walkway.
Are hired-in rigs covered with continuing hire?
Hydro-demolition and specialist rigs are usually hired at substantial value, with the agreement making you liable for replacement plus hire charges.
Factually, here is what we do against those questions. We establish how the structure you are repairing is treated in the wording before you need to find out, we separate diagnosis from execution so professional indemnity is a decision where you specify, we get the pollution position in detail for hydro-demolition water, and we raise silica and health surveillance rather than waiting to be asked. We are a broker, so it goes to several insurers rather than one.
We also insure drilling contractors, structural steel contractors and basement specialists, so structures that are already failing are familiar ground here rather than an exception.
What Moves The Price
Every policy is priced on the business behind it. These are the things that move the premium:
- How the wording treats the structure being repaired
- Whether you diagnose and specify or execute a given design
- Whether you use hydro-demolition, and the water management
- Working over occupied space, live decks or traffic
- Silica controls and health surveillance
- The limit of indemnity your contracts require
- Turnover, plant values and hired-in plant
- Claims history, including repairs that failed
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
- The repair methods you use, including hydro-demolition
- Whether you diagnose and specify or work to an engineer's design
- The structures you work on: car parks, bridges, balconies, buildings
- Whether structures stay in use during the work
- Water containment and disposal arrangements
- Silica controls and any health surveillance
- Plant owned and hired, with values
- Any claims in the last five years, including failed repairs
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Drilling and boring contractorsDiamond drilling and sawing in the same structures.
- Basement contractorsStructural work on buildings that are already moving.
- Structural steel contractorsStrengthening work alongside concrete remediation.
- Consulting engineersWho diagnoses the mechanism and specifies the repair.
- Plant coverHydro-demolition rigs and breakers, owned and hired.
- Talk to a brokerAsk how the wording treats the structure you repair.
Common questions
What insurance do concrete repair contractors need?+
Public liability at £5 million as a floor and £10 million routinely on infrastructure and car park work, with particular attention to how the wording treats the structure you are repairing, because that line decides most claims in this trade. Employers' liability at a £5 million statutory minimum, with silica now a live underwriting question. Then cover for falling material where you work above occupied space, water and pollution exposure if you use hydro-demolition, plant and hired-in rigs, and professional indemnity where you diagnose and specify rather than executing somebody else's design.
Am I blamed for damage that was already there?+
Frequently, and it is the central difficulty of the trade because you were called in precisely because the structure was failing. When you break out loose concrete the extent revealed is always greater than what was visible, and the owner sees something that looked patchy and now looks alarming. So survey and record comprehensively first: survey the full area and mark delaminated zones, photograph with scale and position references, record reinforcement condition where exposed, and agree the extent in writing before starting. Where breakout reveals materially more, stop and document it rather than carrying on.
Who is liable if a concrete repair fails?+
It depends on whether the repair was wrong or badly done, and the distinction is sharper here than in most trades. Concrete deteriorates from carbonation, chloride attack, alkali silica reaction, poor original cover or mechanical damage, and all of them look like spalling to a casual eye while needing different treatment. Patch repairing chloride contaminated concrete without addressing the chloride can accelerate corrosion around the patch. If an engineer specified and you executed faithfully, your exposure is execution. If you diagnosed and specified, a wrong repair is an advisory failure needing professional indemnity.
Does my insurance cover water damage from hydro-demolition?+
It should for sudden damage, and the pollution side needs checking carefully. High pressure water removal produces substantial volumes contaminated with cement fines, and gravity takes it down through the structure: into the levels below, onto vehicles, into lift pits and risers, and eventually into drainage. Discharging to a surface water drain is a pollution question rather than housekeeping, and water reaching a drain over a shift is closer to gradual than sudden on many wordings, where gradual is excluded. Containment, settlement and a proper disposal route are part of the method rather than an afterthought.
How do I manage working over a car park that stays open?+
With physical protection rather than signage, because the people below are not under your instruction. Concrete repair usually happens while the asset stays in use: a car park with vehicles parked on the deck beneath you, a bridge carrying traffic, a block of flats keeping its residents. So exclusion zones, debris protection and traffic management are central rather than peripheral, and frequently negotiated with a client who does not want to close anything. Where a client will not close a deck level or divert a footpath, resolve it in writing before starting rather than working around it.
Who insures concrete repair and remediation contractors in the UK?+
It is placed as specialist construction rather than general trades, because the structure being repaired, the hydro-demolition water and the advisory element of diagnosis all sit outside an ordinary tradesman policy. What separates placements is how the wording treats the structure you are working on, whether diagnosis has been separated from execution, how pollution is handled for contaminated water, and whether the limit reflects working above live decks and traffic. Silica controls and health surveillance now form part of the submission as well.
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