Bricklayers and Masonry Contractors Insurance
Bricklaying gangs sit in an awkward position for insurance. Most work as labour only subcontractors for a main contractor or a developer, which means they carry liability without holding the contract, and it means their own employment status is frequently unclear to everybody including them. A gang of four self employed bricklayers working under one man's direction is, for insurance purposes, usually four employees.
The claims are not dramatic but they are consistent. Newly built walls blown over before the mortar has gained strength, mortar splashes and dropped bricks damaging finished work below, cement burns, and long term claims for silica dust from cutting. Add persistent tool theft and you have the loss picture for the trade.
We arrange cover for bricklaying and masonry contractors, from two man gangs through to firms running multiple sites, and the first thing worth getting right is who counts as an employee, because that determines whether your legally required cover actually exists.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Newly built walls collapsing
Freshly laid masonry has very little resistance to lateral load until the mortar has cured, and a gable or free standing wall built to height without temporary restraint can be blown over by a single gust. The resulting claim usually involves damage to scaffolding, adjacent work and occasionally people, and it is entirely foreseeable, which affects how it is treated.
Damage to finished work below
Working at height above completed sections means mortar droppings, dropped bricks and spilled water landing on new windows, cills, roofing and finished floors. Individually small, these claims are frequent, and frequency is what drives renewal terms.
Being treated as labour only
Where you supply labour and work under someone else's direction, you are usually covered by their public liability but are still expected to hold your own employers liability for your gang. Where you supply materials and control the method, you look more like a bona fide subcontractor and need your own public liability too. Most bricklayers do not know which they are on any given job.
Silica dust
Cutting brick and block releases respirable crystalline silica, and the resulting disease claims can emerge many years later. Employers liability responds on the basis of the policy in force at the time of exposure, so continuity of cover across years matters far more than it does for property claims.
Falls from scaffolding you did not erect
Bricklayers spend their working life on scaffolding erected and inspected by somebody else. When it fails, liability is contested between the scaffolder, the main contractor and you, and having your own cover in place is what stops that argument becoming your problem.
The cover we arrange
Policies are put together around how you work. Employers liability is included as standard wherever you employ anyone.
Public liability
Third party injury and damage to property that is not yours. £2m appears on smaller domestic work but £5m has become the standard requirement for developers and main contractors, and is worth carrying by default to avoid losing work over a certificate.
- Third party injury and property damage
- Damage to other trades' finished work
- Legal defence costs
- Limits typically £2m, £5m or £10m
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. This is the cover bricklaying gangs most often get wrong, because self employed gang members working under your direction almost always count as employees regardless of how they are paid.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Covers gang members working under your direction
- Long tail dust and vibration claims
- Legal representation at inquest
Contract works
Covers your masonry in progress: work built but not handed over, materials on site and temporary propping. Storm damage to unfinished walls is the classic claim and the reason the section matters for this trade.
- Masonry work in progress
- Bricks, blocks and materials on site
- Storm damage to unfinished work
- Temporary restraint and propping
Tools and equipment
Mixers, saws, levels, profiles and hand tools, covered on site, in transit and in vehicles subject to the policy conditions. The vehicle conditions are the part that decides most claims.
- Hand tools and power tools
- Mixers, saws and cutting equipment
- Cover on site and in transit
- Vehicle conditions apply overnight
Personal accident
Optional, and more relevant here than in many trades because the work is physical and self employed gang members have no sick pay. Provides a benefit if injury stops you working, whether or not anybody was at fault.
- Benefit following injury
- No need to prove fault
- Relevant for self employed gangs
- Can include temporary disablement
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Turnover, and the split between new build, extensions and restoration
- Number of people in the gang, and how they are engaged and paid
- Wageroll, split between direct employees and labour only subcontractors
- The maximum height you work to
- Whether you erect any of your own access equipment or scaffolding
- Whether you cut brick and block on site, and what dust controls are used
- Whether you undertake structural masonry, chimneys or restoration work
- Tool values and where tools are kept overnight
- Five years of claims, including any dust or vibration claims
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
Wageroll and gang size
The primary rating factor for employers liability, and the figure most often understated because self employed gang members are left out of it. Declaring them correctly costs premium now and prevents a much larger problem later.
Working height
Standard two storey housing work rates differently from tall gable and chimney work. Restoration on churches, mills and listed structures sits higher again.
Dust controls
On site cutting with water suppression or on tool extraction is viewed differently from dry cutting, because silica claims are long tail and expensive. It is one of the few controls that affects employers liability rating directly.
Type of work
Standard new build masonry is the most straightforward. Structural masonry, restoration and heritage work carry higher rectification costs and more scrutiny.
Tool claims history
Repeated tool theft claims are priced hard because they are frequent and predictable. Secure overnight storage away from the van is the fix insurers reward.
Conditions and exclusions that catch this trade out
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Faulty workmanship
The cost of taking down and rebuilding masonry that was badly built is your cost, not an insured one. What is insured is damage that the defect causes to other property. On this trade the distinction comes up often, since rebuilding a wall is a rectification cost and the roof it damaged when it fell is a claim.
Height restrictions
Standard wordings frequently restrict work above a stated height. Most bricklaying sits comfortably below it, but chimney work, gables on tall properties and restoration on churches or mills can exceed it, and those need declaring.
Tools in unattended vehicles
Tool cover carries vehicle warranties requiring the vehicle to be locked and often alarmed, and commonly excludes tools left in a vehicle overnight between stated hours. Van theft is the most frequent tool claim in the trade and the one most often declined for breach of these conditions.
Scaffolding you erected yourself
If your gang erects its own towers or scaffolding rather than using a scaffolding contractor, that is a different activity with its own exposures and often falls outside a straightforward bricklaying description. It needs declaring rather than assuming.
Property in your care
Where you are working on an existing building, the part of it in your care may fall outside public liability. On extension and restoration work this is worth checking, since the wall you are working on is not third party property in the ordinary sense.
Common questions
Do self employed bricklayers need employers liability insurance?
If you work genuinely alone, with nobody working under your direction, then no. The moment you have a labourer, an apprentice, or other bricklayers working under your direction and using your equipment, they are almost certainly employees for the purposes of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act, regardless of whether they invoice you or are paid through CIS. Trading without it where it is required risks a fine of up to £2,500 for each day you were uninsured.
What public liability limit do bricklayers need?
It depends who you work for. £1m or £2m still appears on domestic work, but most developers and main contractors now specify £5m as a minimum before they will let you on site, and some require £10m. Since the cost difference between £2m and £5m is usually modest, carrying £5m by default avoids losing a job over a certificate that does not match the requirement.
Am I covered if a wall I built blows over?
It depends what it damaged. Rebuilding the wall itself is normally your cost, because insurance does not pay to redo defective or unfinished work. Damage the falling wall caused to scaffolding, to a neighbouring property, to a vehicle or to a person is a public liability claim. Because collapse of unrestrained new masonry in wind is foreseeable, insurers will ask what temporary restraint was in place, so it is worth being able to answer.
Do I need my own insurance if I only work as labour only for one contractor?
Usually yes, for two reasons. Their public liability generally covers your work while you are working for them, but it does not cover your liability to your own gang, which is what employers liability is for and which is a legal requirement. And if the arrangement ends, or you take a job direct, you have no cover at all in the gap. Most contractors also now ask for evidence of your own cover before granting site access.
Does bricklayers insurance cover silica dust claims?
Employers liability responds to disease claims from employees, including respiratory disease from silica exposure. The important feature is that these claims are long tail: symptoms can appear many years after exposure, and the policy that responds is the one that was in force when the exposure happened, not the one in force when the claim arrives. That makes continuity of cover across your trading life genuinely important, and it makes retaining old policy documents worthwhile.
Who is liable if I fall from scaffolding somebody else erected?
Liability usually sits with whoever erected and inspected the scaffold and with the contractor controlling the site, but that is decided after the fact and often disputed between several parties and their insurers. What your own cover does is protect your business while that argument runs, and cover your liability to your own employees if one of them is hurt. Scaffold inspection records are what the argument turns on, so it is worth knowing whether they exist on the sites you work.
Talk to somebody who knows the trade
Tell us what you actually do and we will come back to you with cover options built around it.