Heating and Gas Engineers Insurance

Across the 45 plumbing and heating policies on our book, most fall between £395 and £1,448 a year, with the middle sitting around £778. We quote the range rather than the cheapest policy we have ever placed, because the very lowest is always an outlier and tells you nothing about your own business. These are premiums arranged for other firms, not a quote for yours.

What moves the price is the same in every trade: turnover, how many people work under your direction, the work you take on, and your claims record. We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a realistic figure.

Carbon monoxide claims are not decided on whether you are a good engineer. They are decided on what you can produce from the visit two years ago. Analyser readings, the commissioning record, what you noted about ventilation and the flue route.

Engineers who keep that properly are in a completely different position from engineers who remember doing the job. It costs nothing at the time and it is the only thing standing between you and a claim that is argued entirely on the other side's evidence. If you do nothing else after reading this page, sort out where those records go.

A landlord safety record is relied on by the landlord for compliance, filed by the agent, and given to the tenant. If something happens afterwards and the inspection is found wanting, all three look at the signature.

Because that is reliance on a document rather than damage caused by your hands, public liability does not reach it. Professional indemnity does. Any engineer doing rounds of certification for letting agents should be carrying it, and most are not.

Cover assumes you are working within what you are registered for. Commercial catering, industrial plant and certain appliance types sit outside a standard domestic registration, and stepping over that line is a regulatory problem and a coverage problem in the same moment.

If the business is moving into commercial kitchens or heat pumps, tell us before the first job rather than at renewal. Heat pumps in particular bring refrigerant, outdoor units at height and design decisions that a policy written for domestic boilers never had in mind.

This is a trade where one incident can make renewal genuinely difficult, and where the standard market response is to stop returning calls. That is not the same as being uninsurable.

What we need is the full story rather than the summary: what happened, what the investigation concluded, and what changed in how you work afterwards. Underwriters who write gas are used to reading that, and a documented change of procedure carries real weight with them. A gap in cover does not, so do not let one open while you shop around.

If you are mid-renewal and the numbers have moved sharply, ring 02382 000820 and talk it through before you sign anything.