It always amazes me just how many contractors trade happily, sometimes with, but more times without the knowledge that they are not adequately insured for the works they are carrying out. We are not talking about small contractors here with turnovers of 50-100k, but also large building contractors with turnovers of 3-4 million.
We had a great example this week of a building contractor with a 4 million pound turnover who was paying for just an expensive piece of paperHe approached us for a quote. And after going through his details and exctracting exactly what he did, what labour he used and the wage rolls involved, we presented him with a contractors all risk insurance quote that would cover all of his needs.
He was not happy and said he had a quote for a £2,000 less. We knew straight away that we had a case of an under insured building contractor on our hands and asked them to send across their policy and we would check it over, if it was correct would advise and would tell them to proceed with it.
So let’s bear in mind here, this contractor has a 4 million t/o, he works at 5 metre depths, does new builds, loft conversions, extensions and will occasionally be involved with basement works. He employs roofers, scaffolders plumbers and will carry out soft strip demolition works themselves.
Insurance Cover – Getting it Right!
The policy he sent us was a Public and Employers liability insurance for a trade description described by his current insurer as a general builder , which he was paying £1800.00 for. This policy was littered with endorsements not allowing use of heat, demolition or any works under 1 metre in depth.
We pointed all of this out to the contractor who in turn thanked us for potentially saving his company from being wound up. At Construction Insure we pride ourselves in getting the best policies for our clients and our prospects. As mentioned we thoroughly go into all aspects of business activity and extract any risks which we think need notifying to insurers. By doing this we have laid our cards on the table from the off, mitigating losses that could occur.
The fact is in this particular contract, is that if they had off carried on trading as they were they would never have been covered for works carried out on new builds or any works carried out outside of a structures original plans. A contractor carrying a Contractors All Risk Insurance, will be covered for the contract they are working on and the period of time that contract takes. Also included will be liability, plant, tools and if needed professional indemnity.