Groundworks Insurance
Groundworks is rated on one question before any other: what is underneath. A cable, a gas main, a water main or a fibre trunk struck by an excavator turns a routine day into a claim out of all proportion to the job, and it is the loss insurers price this trade around.
The Claim This Trade Is Rated On
The second question is what is next to you. Digging alongside a building can take away the support it relies on, and that is a separate exclusion on many policies from the service strike itself.
How Much Is Groundworks Insurance?
Groundworks premiums depend on how deep you dig, whether you pile or underpin, the plant you run and the size of the jobs you take on. A small drainage firm and a contractor digging foundations on commercial sites are priced very differently.
We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a quote.
What Groundworks Insurance Covers
Groundworks Public Liability Insurance
Injury and damage to other people's property, including underground services. The limit has to match the contract, and on commercial and utility work £5m or £10m is normal.
Employers' Liability Insurance
Required by law and included in every package we place. Trench collapse and plant movements are what shape it, and labour-only gangs working under your direction usually count as employees for it.
Removal Or Weakening Of Support
Damage to neighbouring buildings, walls and roads caused by digging beside them. Commonly excluded or limited unless declared, and worth checking on any excavation near a structure.
Plant, Owned And Hired In
Excavators, dumpers, rollers and breakers. Hire terms usually make you responsible for the machine and for continuing hire charges while it is repaired or replaced.
Contract Works
The work in progress: drainage runs, foundations and slabs before handover, which can be undone by a flood or a collapse before anyone has signed them off.
Service Strikes, And What Insurers Expect You To Have Done
Public liability is the policy that responds to a service strike, but every insurer expects to see that reasonable steps came first. Service plans obtained before you dig. A cable avoidance tool and signal generator used by somebody trained to use them. Trial holes dug by hand near anything the plans show.
Those steps are cheap, and they are the difference between an accident and negligence when the utility company comes looking for its costs. Keep the plans and the scan records with the job file. After a strike they are the first thing anyone asks for.
Depth, Piling And Underpinning
Insurers ask how deep you dig because the risk changes with it, both for the people in the trench and for the structures around it. A policy rated for shallow drainage work may restrict or exclude deeper excavation, piling and underpinning unless they are declared.
If your work has moved from driveways and drainage into foundations, basements or piling, that is the moment to tell us. It is also the moment where a design element tends to creep in, and professional indemnity is the cover that answers for a design that was wrong.
Plant On The Road Is A Motor Question
An excavator tracking between plots is plant. The same excavator driven along a public road, or a dumper crossing one, is generally treated as a vehicle, and needs motor cover rather than the plant section of a contractors' policy.
Tippers and trailers fall into the same gap. A fleet policy is usually the cleanest way to bring them together once you run more than a couple.
Groundworkers With A Strike On The Record
One service strike can follow a groundworks firm for years, especially when an online system reads it as a number rather than an event. We would rather show an underwriter what happened and what changed: new scanning equipment, training, a permit to dig system, or a change in who you take work from.
If a strike has pushed your renewal up or got you declined, call 02382 000820 before you accept a price.
What We Need To Quote
- Turnover, and how it splits between domestic, commercial and utility work
- Your deepest excavation, and whether you pile or underpin
- How you locate services before you dig
- Plant you own and plant you hire in, with the most expensive machine
- Whether any work involves design, such as drainage or foundations
- Labour-only and bona fide subcontractors, paid separately
- Five years of claims, including any service strikes
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Landscaping insuranceGardens, paving and planting, where the digging is shallower.
- Plant insuranceOwned and hired-in machinery, and the hire charges that keep running.
- Contractors all riskCover for the job itself while it is in progress, before it is handed over.
- Motor fleet insuranceOnce you run more than a couple of vans, one policy and one renewal date.
Common questions
What happens if I hit a buried cable or pipe?+
Public liability is the cover that responds, and the claim can be far larger than the job: injury from an electricity cable, evacuation for a gas main, flooding from a water main, or lost service claims from a fibre strike. Insurers expect you to have taken reasonable steps first, meaning service plans, a cable avoidance tool used properly, and hand dug trial holes near known services.
How much is groundworks insurance?+
It depends on how deep you dig, whether you pile or underpin, the plant you run and the size of your contracts. A small drainage firm and a contractor digging foundations on commercial sites are priced very differently. Call 02382 000820 for a quote.
Does groundworks insurance cover damage to neighbouring buildings?+
Damage from removing or weakening support, or from vibration, is commonly excluded or restricted on contractors' liability policies. It can usually be added where you declare the work, sometimes with conditions such as a survey of the adjoining structure. If you dig beside buildings, check it is on your policy.
Is hired-in plant covered?+
Only if your policy includes hired-in plant cover. Hire agreements commonly make you responsible for the machine from delivery and for the hire charges that keep running while it is repaired or replaced. Set the limit against the most expensive machine you are likely to have, not a typical one.
Do I need contract works cover for groundworks?+
If you are responsible for the works until handover, yes. Drainage, foundations and slabs can be damaged by flood, collapse or vandalism before they are signed off, and putting them right is not something public liability is designed to pay for.
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