Cladding and Insulation Contractors Insurance
Cladding is the hardest construction trade in the UK to insure, and it is worth being direct about why. Following Grenfell and the regulatory reform that came after it, insurers have taken very large losses on external wall systems, and the market response has been widespread exclusions for combustible materials, restrictions on building height, and professional indemnity that either excludes cladding entirely or carries an aggregate limit with a large excess.
That does not mean cover is unavailable. It means the placement has to be built rather than bought, and that what you actually install matters enormously. A contractor fitting non combustible rainscreen systems on low rise commercial buildings is a very different proposition from one whose history includes ACM or high pressure laminate on residential blocks, and being able to evidence the distinction is the whole conversation.
We arrange cover for cladding, rainscreen, external wall insulation and insulation contractors, and the process is longer than for other trades because the underwriting is genuinely detailed. Being ready with the material specifications and the historic project list shortens it considerably.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Fire performance of the external wall
The defining exposure of the trade. An external wall system that does not perform as intended in a fire can spread flame across a facade, and the resulting loss involves the building, its occupants and potentially very large remediation costs across a portfolio. This is why the market treats the class separately from ordinary construction.
Historic work and retrospective liability
Professional indemnity is written on a claims made basis, meaning today's policy responds to claims about work done years ago. Where a contractor has previously installed systems now regarded as non compliant, that history is the risk being underwritten, whatever the firm installs today.
Fire stopping and cavity barriers
The cavity behind a rainscreen needs barriers at the correct positions to stop fire spreading vertically. Missing, incorrectly fitted or incorrectly specified cavity barriers are among the most common defects found in surveys, and remediation means taking the facade off.
Working at height on facades
Facade work is carried out from scaffold, mast climbers or suspended access, often on tall buildings above occupied areas. Dropped panels and components are a serious third party exposure, and the access equipment itself introduces its own risks.
Specification and substitution
Where a specified product is substituted for a cheaper or more available alternative, even with apparently equivalent performance, the compliance chain can break. Records of what was specified, what was approved and what was actually installed are the difference between a defensible position and an indefensible one.
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 property damage, including damage from dropped panels and components. Limits are usually set by the main contractor, commonly £5m or £10m. Note that fire spread arising from the installed system is a different question and is often addressed separately.
- Injury and third party property damage
- Dropped panels and components
- Limits typically £5m or £10m
- Contractual liability where available
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. Facade work is worked at height throughout, so access equipment, harness use and competence are central to the underwriting.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Work at height and access equipment
- Labour only subcontractors
- Occupational illness including fibre exposure
Professional indemnity
The difficult cover in this trade, and the necessary one wherever you design, specify, substitute or advise. Expect a specialist placement, potentially with a cladding sub limit, an aggregate limit and a significant excess. Continuity matters more than in any other class because the basis is claims made.
- Design, specification and substitution advice
- Often written with a cladding sub limit
- Claims made basis, continuity essential
- Run off cover when you stop trading
Contract works
Covers the facade works in progress, including panels and insulation delivered and stored on site. Facade materials are bulky, high value and exposed to weather and theft while awaiting installation.
- Facade works in progress
- Panels and insulation stored on site
- Storm and impact damage
- Materials in transit
Tools, plant and access
Covers fixing equipment, cutting tools and any access equipment you own. Where mast climbers or suspended platforms are hired, the hired in plant liability and continuing hire charges need to be in place.
- Fixing and cutting equipment
- Owned access equipment
- Hired in access, and hire charges
- Theft from site and vehicles
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- A full list of the systems and materials you install, by manufacturer and product
- Whether you have ever installed aluminium composite or high pressure laminate panels, and on what buildings
- Building heights worked on, historically and currently
- Whether any work has been on residential buildings, and of what height
- Whether you carry out fire stopping and cavity barrier installation
- Whether you design, specify or only install to somebody else's specification
- Your process where a specified product is substituted
- Certification, third party accreditation and installer approvals held
- A project history going back several years, not just the current year
- Any notifications, surveys or remediation involving your past work
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
What you install now
Non combustible systems on low rise buildings sit in a very different bracket from anything involving combustible panels or tall residential buildings. A precise, evidenced material list is the most valuable document in the submission.
Your historic project list
Because professional indemnity is claims made, your past is being underwritten alongside your present. A clean, documented history on compliant systems is worth a great deal.
Building heights and use
Height and whether buildings are residential are primary rating factors, and both carry hard thresholds rather than gradual rating.
Design responsibility
Installing strictly to a specification produced and approved by others is materially better received than taking design or substitution decisions yourself.
Accreditation and records
Manufacturer approvals, third party certification and a documented process for recording what was installed where all count, because in this class the underwriter's main fear is what they cannot see.
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.
Combustible cladding materials
Most markets exclude aluminium composite material, high pressure laminate and other combustible panel types outright. Some exclude any external wall system on buildings above a stated height regardless of material. These are broad exclusions rather than negotiable details, and knowing exactly which apply to your policy is essential.
Building height thresholds
Cover is frequently restricted above a stated building height, with residential buildings treated more strictly than commercial. Work above the threshold may be excluded rather than merely rated, so the threshold needs to match the work you actually take.
Fire safety and remediation costs
The cost of removing and replacing a non compliant facade is generally not covered, even where liability for the specification is established. Policies respond to damage and to legal liability, not to the cost of bringing a building up to a standard.
Retrospective and known circumstances
Professional indemnity excludes claims and circumstances known at inception. Where a building you worked on is already subject to survey or investigation, that must be disclosed, and it will normally be excluded from any new policy.
Fitness for purpose
Contracts that guarantee a facade will achieve a stated fire performance, rather than that it was designed with reasonable skill and care, create an obligation professional indemnity does not cover. In this trade those clauses are common and consequential.
Common questions
Why is cladding insurance so difficult to get?
Because insurers have paid very large losses on external wall systems since Grenfell, and because professional indemnity is written on a claims made basis, which means today's insurer inherits liability for work done years ago. The market response has been broad exclusions for combustible materials, restrictions above certain building heights, and cladding sub limits with large excesses. Cover is still available for contractors installing non combustible systems who can evidence what they have installed historically, but it is a specialist placement rather than a package purchase.
Can I get professional indemnity as a cladding contractor?
Usually yes, but expect it to look different from ordinary construction professional indemnity. It commonly comes with a specific cladding sub limit lower than the main limit, an aggregate limit rather than any one claim, and a substantial excess. Some policies exclude cladding entirely, which is worth checking rather than assuming, since a policy that appears to cover you may carry an exclusion precisely where your exposure is. What improves the outcome is a detailed and honest project history.
Does my policy cover work on buildings over 18 metres?
Often not without specific agreement. Height thresholds appear in many cladding wordings, and residential buildings are usually treated more strictly than commercial ones. These are typically hard exclusions rather than rating adjustments, so work above the threshold may fall outside the policy entirely. If your work includes taller buildings, the threshold in your wording needs to match that reality before you take the contract, not after.
Am I covered for cladding I installed years ago?
That depends entirely on your professional indemnity history. Because it is claims made, the policy that responds is the one in force when the claim is made, not when the work was done. So a claim today about a 2016 facade goes to today's insurer, subject to the exclusions on today's policy and to whether the circumstances were known and disclosed. This is why continuity of cover matters so much in this trade, and why a gap in cover, or a switch to a policy with a cladding exclusion, can leave historic work unprotected.
Is fire stopping and cavity barrier work insured separately?
It is usually part of the same conversation rather than a separate policy, but it needs declaring because it is a distinct exposure. Cavity barriers control vertical fire spread behind a rainscreen, and missing or incorrectly installed barriers are among the most commonly found defects on surveyed buildings. Where you install them, underwriters will want to know whether you work to a fire engineer's specification and how installation is recorded and inspected.
What records should a cladding contractor keep?
More than most trades, and for far longer. Keep the specification you were given, evidence of who approved it, the actual product data sheets and certificates for what was installed, records of any substitution and who authorised it, and installation and inspection records including photographs of cavity barriers before they were covered. Because liability in this trade surfaces years later, these records are frequently the only thing standing between a defensible position and an assumed one.
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.