Contractors’ All Risks Insurance

No. No UK law requires it. What does require it is the building contract you work under, and often a lender or warranty provider as a condition of funding. Employers liability, once you employ anyone, and motor cover for vehicles on the road are the only insurances UK law requires of a contractor.

Whoever the contract names. On new build work it is commonly the main contractor, and on work to an existing building it is often the employer or developer instead. Read the insurance section of your contract before you buy, because contractors regularly assume the duty is always theirs when it is not.

In UK practice they mean the same cover. Contract works is usually the section name inside a combined commercial policy, and contractors all risks is the name of the standalone product. Some policies split the works, plant, tools and hired-in plant into separate sections with separate sums insured, so read the schedule rather than the title.

Usually, yes. Most UK contractors all risks policies are sold as a package with public liability, so damage to the job and injury or damage to other people are dealt with in one arrangement. Employers liability is normally added alongside. Check your schedule, because a standalone works-only policy does exist.

Normally yes, under their own section with their own sums insured. Owned and hired-in plant is usually covered on site and in transit, and hand and power tools carry a per-item limit. Many policies apply a lower limit, or no cover at all, for tools left in a vehicle overnight.

No. Redoing the work that was done badly is your cost. What most policies do cover is the damage that faulty work causes to the rest of the job, which is often far the bigger number. The wording differs between insurers, so it is worth reading your own exclusion.

Not as standard. Cover applies to the works you are carrying out, and the structure that was already there is excluded unless you add it. On refurbishment and fit-out work that is an important gap to close, and who arranges it usually depends on what the contract says.

Usually, subject to the security conditions in your policy. Insurers commonly ask for materials and plant to be stored securely, for keys to be removed and for immobilisers to be used. Meeting those conditions is what keeps the cover live, and not meeting them is a common reason claims are argued about.

Cover normally runs until the job is completed or handed over, then continues for a limited period while you carry out snagging. That period varies between policies. Check it against the rectification period in your contracts, because if the contract runs longer than the policy the difference is uninsured.

An annual policy suits a contractor running a steady flow of work, because every job is covered without arranging cover each time. A single contract policy suits one project that is much larger, longer or more unusual than the rest of your book. Many contractors hold an annual policy and buy single cover for outliers.

Annual policies limit the size and length of contract they will accept, and going over that limit can leave the job uninsured rather than merely underinsured. It is one of the most common gaps in contracting insurance. Check the limit before you price a large job and tell your broker if you expect to exceed it.

The full value of the contract, including materials and labour rather than just your own element, plus an allowance for professional fees and for clearing debris after a loss. Setting it too low can reduce what a claim pays, and on many policies it is applied proportionately, so a shortfall becomes a shortfall in the settlement.

Yes, and they are easy to miss. Materials the client supplies for you to install still sit at risk on your site, and policies treat them differently: some include their value in the contract value, others expressly leave it out. Ask which yours does and make sure the figure reflects the answer.

If you are genuinely named as a joint insured, you have real protection. But being required by your subcontract to carry your own cover is not the same as being named on theirs, and contractors often assume it is. Ask which position you are in before you sign, because it decides who can pursue you after a loss.

No. Penalties for finishing late, lost profit and other knock-on losses are excluded, even where the delay was caused by damage the policy did pay for. That is a contractual risk to manage in the contract itself rather than an insurable one, and it is worth pricing when you agree damages for delay.

A design that is simply wrong, where nothing has been physically damaged, is not a contract works claim. That is what professional indemnity insurance is for. Where a design error causes something to fail physically, your contract works policy deals with the resulting damage on whatever basis your exclusion sets.

There is no standard price and we publish no examples, because no UK body collects and publishes pricing for this cover. What moves your premium is the type of work you do, your turnover and largest contract, the sums insured for the works and plant, the limits you need and your claims record.