Kitchen and Bathroom Installers Insurance
Kitchen and bathroom fitting is a multi trade job carried out inside somebody's home while they are living in it. In one installation you will do carpentry, plumbing, tiling, electrical connection and sometimes gas, and each of those carries its own exposure and, for the regulated parts, its own competence requirement. It is the trade where the question of what you do yourself and what you subcontract matters most.
The claims are dominated by water, which is unsurprising given that both rooms exist to carry it. A failed connection under a new kitchen, or a wet room floor that was not properly tanked, causes damage that spreads into the ceiling below and keeps going. The other significant loss is breakage of stone worktops, which are heavy, brittle, template made and impossible to replace quickly.
We arrange cover for kitchen and bathroom installation businesses, and the first thing to establish is which regulated trades you carry out yourself and which you subcontract, because it determines both what you need and what you are liable for.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Escape of water
The most frequent and most expensive claim. Connections under sinks and behind units fail quietly, and the first sign is often a stain on the ceiling below. In flats it becomes a claim from the neighbour downstairs rather than your customer, which changes both the size and the tone of it.
Wet room and shower tanking failure
A wet room relies entirely on the waterproofing beneath the tiles. If it fails, water goes into the floor structure and the ceiling below, and putting it right means removing the entire installation. It is the single largest rectification cost in bathroom fitting.
Stone and composite worktops
Templated stone worktops are heavy, brittle and made to fit one kitchen. Breaking one during handling means weeks of delay and a replacement that has to be templated again, and it is a loss most fitters carry personally because of how the cover is structured.
Working in occupied homes
Customers live in the house throughout. Damage to flooring, decoration and possessions in adjoining rooms is common, dust travels, and the relationship is close enough that minor damage becomes a dispute rather than a claim.
Regulated work by unregistered people
Kitchens and bathrooms involve electrical connection and sometimes gas. Where that work is carried out without the appropriate registration, or by a subcontractor whose registration is not verified, the exposure is both regulatory and insurance related.
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, dominated by water damage to the customer's home and to neighbouring properties in flats. £2m for domestic work and £5m where you work in flats or on commercial contracts.
- Water damage to the property and below
- Damage to flooring and possessions
- Injury to occupants
- Limits typically £2m or £5m
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. Fitters, mates and labour only subcontractors working under your direction all count, which in this trade is most of the people on the job.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Fitters and labour only subcontractors
- Manual handling of units and worktops
- Cuts and power tool injuries
Contract works and goods in transit
Covers the installation in progress and the goods before they are fitted. Worktops, appliances and units are valuable, easily damaged and stored in the customer's garage or hallway for days.
- Installation work in progress
- Units and appliances awaiting fitting
- Worktops in transit and handling
- Goods stored at customer premises
Tools and equipment
Power tools, jigs, tile cutters, levels and hand tools, subject to vehicle conditions. Kitchen fitting jigs and specialist tools are worth listing.
- Power tools and fitting jigs
- Tile cutting equipment
- Cover on site and in transit
- Vehicle conditions apply overnight
Professional indemnity
Relevant where you design the kitchen or bathroom rather than fitting to somebody else's plan. Design errors that only appear once units are made are expensive because everything is bespoke to the drawing.
- Kitchen and bathroom design
- Specification and suitability advice
- Claims made basis
- Useful where you design and supply
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Turnover split between kitchens, bathrooms and wet rooms
- Whether you design, supply and fit, or fit only
- Which regulated work you carry out yourself: electrical, gas, unvented systems
- Whether regulated work is subcontracted, and how registration is verified
- Whether you install wet rooms, and your tanking method
- Whether you work in flats and apartment blocks
- How stone worktops are handled, and by whom
- Whether customer deposits are taken, and how they are held
- Five years of claims, particularly escape of water
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
What you do yourself
A fitter who subcontracts all electrical and gas work presents differently from one carrying it out personally. Neither is wrong, but the cover needed differs and it should be described accurately.
Wet rooms
Wet room installation is the highest rectification exposure in this trade, because a tanking failure means removing everything. Whether you install them, and how you tank, matters.
Flats and apartments
Working above other homes converts a modest water leak into a third party claim from a neighbour, and often a claim from a block insurer as well.
Design responsibility
Designing and supplying, rather than fitting to a supplied plan, adds a professional exposure since everything is manufactured to the drawing.
Water claims history
Frequency driven, and the most common claim in the trade. Pressure testing and checking under units before completion is what reduces it.
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.
Breakage of goods in your care
A worktop you break while fitting is property in your care, custody and control and is excluded from public liability. It needs to sit under contract works or goods in transit, and many fitters find out which only when it happens.
The cost of redoing your own work
Re tanking a wet room, refitting units or replacing a failed connection is your cost. The water damage caused to the property and to the flat below is the claim.
Regulated work without competence
Gas work without registration, or unvented hot water installation without the qualification, creates a position insurers may decline. Where you subcontract these, verify and keep the certificate.
Gradual water damage
A connection that has been seeping slowly behind units for months, causing rot and mould, may fall outside cover where the policy responds only to sudden and accidental damage. Concealed pipework makes this more likely in this trade than most.
Customer deposits
Money taken from customers in advance is not covered by a liability policy. If the business fails before the kitchen is fitted, the customer is an unsecured creditor, which is what deposit protection schemes exist to address.
Common questions
What insurance do kitchen fitters need?
Public liability at £2m for domestic work and £5m if you work in flats or commercially, since escape of water into a neighbouring flat is the realistic worst case. Employers liability at £10m wherever a fitter, mate or labour only subcontractor works under your direction, which is a legal requirement. Contract works and goods in transit for units, appliances and worktops before they are fitted. Tools cover. Professional indemnity if you design as well as fit.
Am I covered if I break a stone worktop?
Not under public liability, because the worktop is property in your care, custody and control while you are fitting it, and that is a standard exclusion. It needs to fall under contract works or goods in transit instead, and many fitters do not have either. Given that a templated stone worktop is expensive, made for that kitchen alone, and takes weeks to replace, this is worth confirming rather than discovering. Some fitters carry it deliberately with a higher excess.
What happens if a leak damages the flat below?
That is a public liability claim from a third party rather than a dispute with your customer, and it is usually larger than expected. The downstairs owner claims for their ceilings, decoration, flooring and possessions, their insurer may pursue you directly, and if the block insurer becomes involved the claim can include common parts. This is the main reason £2m is thin if you regularly work in flats, and why pressure testing and checking connections before you leave matters so much.
Who is liable if my subcontractor does the electrics?
Your customer will look to you, because you hold the contract and engaged the subcontractor. Your public liability normally covers subcontractors working for you, so you would be protected against the claim, but insurers will usually pursue the subcontractor's own insurer afterwards. The risk is where the subcontractor's cover has lapsed or where they were not appropriately registered for the work, in which case the loss effectively stays with you. Verify the certificate and the registration on each job, and keep a copy.
Does my insurance cover a wet room that leaks?
It covers the damage, not the wet room. If the tanking fails and water gets into the floor structure and the ceiling below, that damage is a public liability claim. Stripping out the tiles, the tray and the fittings and re tanking the room is your own cost, and it is substantial because everything above the waterproofing has to come out. Since a slow tanking failure may also be treated as gradual rather than sudden damage, this is one of the more exposed jobs in the trade and worth getting right first time.
Are customer deposits protected by my insurance?
No. Liability insurance covers injury and damage, not money held. If you take a deposit for a kitchen and the business cannot complete, the customer is an unsecured creditor and your policy does nothing for them. That is what deposit protection and insurance backed guarantee schemes exist for, and some retailer and trade association memberships include them. If you take substantial deposits before ordering, it is worth looking at separately rather than assuming the trade policy covers it.
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.