Shopfitters and Commercial Fit-Out Insurance
Shopfitting takes every difficult feature of construction insurance and puts them on one job. You are inside somebody else's building, surrounded by stock that is not yours, working nights to a date that is already advertised, with a landlord who has rules and a tenant losing money for every day you run over.
And you spend a good part of the job switching off the building's fire protection so your work does not trip it.
That last one is where the serious losses come from, and it is entirely within your control. It is also the reason shopfitting is rated on what surrounds you rather than on what you are installing, which is why two firms with the same turnover can be priced very differently depending on whether they work in occupied centres or empty units.
How Much Is Shopfitters Insurance?
Shopfitting cover starts at around £200 a year for a small firm. Our own book runs well above that, because our shopfitting clients are large fit out contractors working nights in trading centres and those policies run into four figures. Most of the gap is simply turnover and how much of your work is in occupied premises. Tell us yours and what you actually take on and you will get a number that means something.
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.
What Shopfitters Insurance Covers
Public Liability Insurance
Injury and damage to property belonging to other people, which on a fit out means the landlord's finishes, the neighbouring units and their stock. £5m is the least most centres accept, £10m is common.
Employers' Liability Insurance
Required by law and included as standard. Night working, access equipment and a high proportion of subcontracted labour are what underwriters weigh.
Contract Works Cover
The fit out in progress, plus joinery, fixtures and equipment delivered ahead of installation. The value concentrates sharply in the last fortnight, which is exactly when a loss hurts most.
Delay In Start Up
What answers when a fire or flood pushes the opening past the date and liquidated damages start. Worth pricing on any contract with a fixed trading date attached.
Professional Indemnity
Where design sits with you, which on design and build fit out it usually does. Retail clients increasingly ask for it by name and set the limit.
The Isolation Sheet Is The Most Important Paper On The Job
Working above a ceiling means isolating detection or sprinklers, and there is no way around it. The risk is not the isolation, it is the shift that ends with somebody assuming it was put back.
A unit full of timber, packaging and part-fitted joinery, with no detection and no suppression, overnight, in a building attached to fifty other shops. That is how a small ignition becomes a centre-wide loss, and most policies make reinstatement a condition, some a condition precedent, which means breaching it can defeat a fire claim outright rather than reduce it.
The only thing that reliably works is a signed sheet at the end of every shift naming who put what back. It takes a minute and it is the difference between a claim and a catastrophe.
You Are Liable For The Route As Well As The Unit
Getting materials in means going through the mall, past other tenants, in lifts that belong to the landlord. Scratched flooring, damaged wall finishes and marked lift interiors all get charged back, and centre management are practised at it.
Photograph the route and the unit before you start. It takes five minutes and it is the only thing that separates damage you caused from damage that was already there, which otherwise all becomes yours by default.
Damage Is One Bill, A Late Opening Is Another
Contract works puts the physical damage right and stops there. If the store cannot open on the advertised date, the liquidated damages in the contract are a separate loss and often the larger one.
Delay in start up is what covers it, and it has to be bought on purpose with a realistic period. Ask how long it would genuinely take to reinstate the unit and get trades back, not how long you would like it to take.
Fit-Out Firms After A Fire Or Flood
A fire in a trading centre is the loss that changes a shopfitter's insurance for years, and the first question every underwriter asks afterwards is about isolation procedure.
So that is the thing to have an answer for. A permit system, a named person per shift, a signed reinstatement sheet, and a rule about hot works stopping an hour before the site closes. Firms that introduced those after an incident are treated very differently from firms who did not, and it is worth having somebody explain that on your behalf.
If you are heading into a renewal with a loss behind you, start early. Call 02382 000820.
What We Need To Quote
- Turnover across retail, leisure, office and hospitality fit out
- Whether you work in shopping centres and what their permit regime requires
- How often you work nights or out of hours
- Your procedure for isolating and reinstating fire systems
- Hot works procedure including the fire watch after work stops
- Whether design sits with you on any contracts
- Largest contract taken and planned
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Carpenters and joinersIf you make the joinery as well as fit it, the workshop is a separate risk again.
- Air conditioning and ventilationIt goes in on your programme, above your ceilings and through your fire compartments.
- 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
How much is shopfitters insurance?+
Around £200 a year is the realistic starting point for a small shopfitting firm. Our own book runs well above that, because our shopfitting clients are large fit out contractors working nights in trading centres, and those policies run into four figures. Both are true and they describe different businesses. What decides where you land is turnover, how much of the work is in occupied trading premises, whether you work nights, and your claims record. Ring 02382 000820.
What if we isolate a sprinkler and forget to put it back?+
It is the worst realistic outcome in fit out and it is a coverage problem as well as a fire one. Most policies make reinstatement a condition and some a condition precedent, which means a breach can defeat a fire claim entirely rather than reduce it. A unit full of materials with no detection overnight in an attached building is how a small ignition becomes a centre-wide loss. A signed sheet at the end of every shift is the only control that holds up.
Am I liable for damage to the mall or the landlord's shopfront?+
Yes, and it is charged back regularly. Moving materials through a centre at night marks flooring, wall finishes and lifts, and centre management are well practised at pursuing it. Public liability answers for third party damage, but the unit you are working in and the landlord's fixtures within it may sit outside it. Photograph the route and the unit before you start.
Does my insurance cover a late opening?+
Not under contract works, which pays for the physical damage and nothing else. If a fire or flood delays the opening and the contract attaches liquidated damages to the trading date, that needs delay in start up bought separately. On retail work where the date is advertised, that figure regularly exceeds the cost of the damage.
Can I get cover after a fire on a fit out?+
Yes, though it is a harder conversation and the first question will be about isolation procedure. What changes the reception is showing what you introduced afterwards: a permit system, a named person per shift, signed reinstatement, hot works stopping before site closes. Bring that detail and start the renewal early rather than in the last fortnight. 02382 000820.
Other trades we cover
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