Flooring and Tiling Contractors Insurance
Flooring claims divide neatly into two kinds. There are the ones where the floor fails, which are usually about the subfloor rather than the floor covering, and there are the ones where something is damaged during installation, which are usually about heat, water or a power tool going through something concealed.
Subfloor moisture causes the majority of failures. A screed that has not dried sufficiently, or a slab without an effective damp proof membrane, will lift vinyl, cup timber and debond tiles months after installation. Whether that is your problem depends on whether you tested and recorded, which is why moisture testing records are the most valuable piece of paper a flooring contractor holds.
We arrange cover for flooring, tiling and screeding contractors on domestic and commercial work, and the details that matter are whether you test subfloors, whether you use solvent products or floor sanding lacquers, and whether you work over underfloor heating.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Subfloor moisture
The dominant cause of flooring failure. Excess moisture in a screed or slab lifts adhesives, cups timber and pushes tiles off. The dispute is always whether the subfloor was tested and whether the result was recorded, because without a record the contractor who laid the floor carries it.
Damaging underfloor heating and services
Fixing down, drilling and cutting into a floor with heating pipes or cables in it is a routine way to cause a large claim. The pipe is trivial to repair; taking the floor up to reach it, and the water damage in the meantime, is not.
Lacquer and finish fire risk
Floor sanding and finishing with certain lacquers creates a well documented fire risk, both from vapour and from rags and sanding dust that can self heat. Fires in properties left after a floor was finished are a recognised loss pattern in this trade.
Silica dust from cutting and grinding
Cutting tiles and grinding screeds releases respirable crystalline silica. This is a long tail employers liability exposure and one where control measures such as water suppression and on tool extraction are the difference.
Manual handling
Flooring materials are heavy and awkward, and the work is carried out kneeling. Back injuries and knee conditions are the frequent employers liability claims, and the latter can be long term.
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 water damage from struck pipes and damage to adjacent finishes. £2m for domestic, £5m for commercial and main contractor sites.
- Water damage from struck heating pipes
- Damage to adjacent finishes and fittings
- Injury to occupants and other trades
- Limits typically £2m, £5m or £10m
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. Manual handling, kneeling related conditions and dust exposure are the long term claims.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Manual handling injuries
- Silica dust exposure
- Labour only subcontractors
Contract works
Covers your flooring work in progress and materials on site. Flooring materials are high value per pallet, easily damaged by water and frequently stolen from sites.
- Flooring work in progress
- Materials and adhesives on site
- Water and impact damage
- Theft from site
Tools and equipment
Floor grinders, sanders, tile saws, moisture meters and hand tools. Sanding and grinding equipment is high value and worth scheduling.
- Grinders, sanders and tile saws
- Moisture testing instruments
- Hand and power tools
- Vehicle conditions apply overnight
Professional indemnity
Worth considering where you advise on suitability of floor coverings, specify systems or produce moisture survey reports rather than laying to somebody else's specification.
- Specification and suitability advice
- Moisture survey reports
- Claims made basis
- Requested on some commercial contracts
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Turnover split between domestic, commercial and industrial flooring
- The types of flooring you install: timber, vinyl, carpet, tile, resin, screed
- Whether you test subfloor moisture, by what method, and whether results are recorded
- Whether you work over underfloor heating, and how services are located
- Whether you carry out floor sanding and finishing, and with which products
- Dust control measures for cutting and grinding
- Whether you apply resin or specialist industrial floor systems
- Whether you specify systems or lay to a given specification
- Five years of claims, including failures settled directly with customers
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
Commercial or domestic
Commercial flooring involves larger areas, higher value coverings and greater consequential loss if a floor has to come up in a trading building.
Whether you sand and finish
Floor sanding and lacquering introduces a genuine fire exposure that carpet and vinyl fitting does not, and is rated accordingly.
Moisture testing discipline
A contractor who tests and records subfloor moisture on every job is materially better protected and presents better, because the trade's most common failure becomes defensible rather than automatic.
Underfloor heating exposure
Working over heated floors raises the water damage exposure, and whether services are scanned before fixing is what mitigates it.
Dust controls
Water suppression and on tool extraction for cutting and grinding matter for the long tail employers liability exposure rather than for the property one.
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.
Efficacy and floor failure
Where a floor lifts, cups or debonds, the cost of taking it up and relaying it is a rectification cost, not an insured loss. Policies do not pay because a floor failed to perform, which covers most of what customers complain about in this trade.
Subfloor condition
You are not insuring the state of the subfloor you were given. Where the slab lacked a damp proof membrane, that is a pre existing condition. What determines whether you carry the loss is whether you tested and recorded before laying.
The cost of redoing your own work
Relaying tiles that debonded is your cost. Damage the failure caused to other property, such as water reaching a floor below, is a claim.
Fire from finishing products
Some wordings attach conditions to the use of solvent based lacquers and to disposal of sanding dust and rags, given the self heating risk. Breach of those conditions in a fire claim is serious.
Damage to concealed services
Where services were not located before fixing or drilling, cover for the resulting damage may be restricted. Scanning before fixing into a heated floor, and keeping the record, is the practical protection.
Common questions
A floor I laid has lifted. Will my insurance pay to replace it?
No. Taking up and relaying the floor is a rectification cost, and insurance does not pay because a floor failed to perform. That is an efficacy matter and it is excluded. What is covered is damage the failure caused to other property. In most flooring failures there is no such damage, which is why this is the most common disappointment in the trade. The real protection is not the policy but the moisture test record showing the subfloor was fit when you laid it.
Who is liable if the subfloor was too damp?
It usually comes down to whether you tested. The subfloor is not your work, and its condition is not your responsibility, but laying over a subfloor without checking it is. If you tested, recorded the result and either proceeded on an acceptable reading or raised the problem in writing, you have a defensible position and the liability sits with whoever provided the slab or screed. If you did not test, you will normally carry it, because the failure was foreseeable and checkable. A moisture record is the single most valuable document a flooring contractor keeps.
Am I covered if I drill into an underfloor heating pipe?
Usually yes under public liability, as damage to third party property, and the claim is larger than people expect because reaching the pipe means taking up the floor you just laid and the water may have already damaged the room below. The caution is that some wordings restrict cover where services were not located beforehand. Scanning before fixing into a heated floor, and keeping the record, both prevents the claim and protects it.
Is floor sanding and lacquering treated differently by insurers?
Yes, because it carries a genuine fire risk that fitting carpet or vinyl does not. Certain lacquers give off flammable vapour during application and curing, and sanding dust and rags can self heat and ignite without any external source, sometimes hours after the crew has left an empty property. Insurers may attach conditions about product use, ventilation and disposal of dust and rags. If you sand and finish floors, declare it rather than describing the business simply as flooring.
What insurance do tilers need?
Public liability at £2m for domestic and £5m for commercial work, employers liability at £10m where anyone works under your direction, contract works for materials on site, and tools cover including tile saws and grinders. Two things worth attention specifically for tiling: silica dust from cutting, which is a long tail employers liability exposure that water suppression and extraction address, and wet room tanking, where a failure lets water into the structure and becomes a much larger claim than the tiling itself.
Do flooring contractors need professional indemnity?
It depends whether you advise or simply install. Laying a floor covering that an architect or client specified is workmanship. Recommending which system suits a particular subfloor, environment or usage, or producing a moisture survey report somebody relies on, is professional advice. Where the advice turns out to be wrong, the loss is the cost of the wrong floor and the right one, and public liability does not respond to that. On commercial contracts it is increasingly asked for by name.
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.