Painters and Decorators Insurance
Decorating produces one claim type that is almost unique to the trade, and it is expensive out of all proportion to the job. Overspray drifts. A spray job on a commercial exterior on a breezy day puts a fine mist of paint over every car in the adjacent car park, and a hundred vehicles needing professional paint correction is a very large claim from a very small contract.
The rest of the risk is more familiar: damage to the furnishings, floors and finishes you are working around, falls from ladders and towers, and solvent related fire. Older buildings add lead paint, which is a health exposure rather than a property one and is treated seriously where sanding or burning off is involved.
We arrange cover for painting and decorating contractors on domestic, commercial and industrial work, and the questions worth answering precisely are whether you spray, at what height you work, and whether you work in occupied premises.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Overspray
The signature claim of the trade. Spray applied coatings drift much further than expected, and vehicles, windows, neighbouring buildings and stock all pick up a fine deposit that requires professional removal. A single incident affecting a car park can produce a claim many times the contract value.
Damage to furnishings and finishes
Decorating happens in finished spaces full of carpets, furniture, curtains and fittings. Spilled paint, dragged ladders and splashes onto floors and joinery are the frequent claims, and in high specification interiors they are not small.
Falls from ladders and towers
Decorating remains a trade where a great deal of work is done from ladders and hop ups. Falls are the dominant employers liability claim, and stairwells and high ceilings are where the serious ones happen.
Solvent and material fire
Solvent based paints, thinners and the rags used with them are a fire risk. Oil soaked rags left bundled can self heat, and stored solvents in an occupied building are a hazard other trades do not bring with them.
Lead paint and dust
Buildings decorated before the 1990s may contain lead based paint, and sanding or burning off releases it. This is a health exposure for your own people and for occupants, and it requires controlled methods rather than ordinary preparation.
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 overspray and damage to furnishings. £2m for domestic work, £5m for commercial, and the higher limit is worth serious thought if you spray externally.
- Overspray damage to vehicles and property
- Damage to furnishings, floors and fittings
- Injury to occupants and passers by
- Limits typically £2m, £5m or £10m
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. Work at height, particularly from ladders, is the focus, along with exposure to solvents, dust and lead.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Falls from ladders and towers
- Solvent and dust exposure
- Labour only subcontractors
Contract works
Covers work in progress and materials on site. Paint stock on a large commercial contract carries real value, and is portable and easily stolen.
- Decorating work in progress
- Paint and materials on site
- Theft from site
- Damage before handover
Tools and equipment
Spray equipment, towers, ladders, steamers, sanders and hand tools. Airless spray units are worth listing separately given their value.
- Airless and HVLP spray equipment
- Towers, ladders and hop ups
- Sanders, steamers and hand tools
- Vehicle conditions apply overnight
Personal accident
Optional and well suited to a trade with a high proportion of self employed operatives and a significant fall exposure. Pays a benefit on injury regardless of fault.
- Benefit following injury
- No fault needs to be proved
- Suits self employed decorators
- Temporary and permanent disablement
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 work
- Whether you spray, and whether internally, externally or both
- Your procedure for masking and protecting adjacent property when spraying
- The maximum height you work to, and whether from ladders, towers or scaffolding
- Whether you work in occupied premises
- Whether you work on pre 1990s buildings where lead paint may be present
- How solvents and oily rags are stored and disposed of
- Whether any work involves specialist coatings or industrial finishes
- Five years of claims, particularly overspray and damage to property
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
Whether you spray
The largest single factor. Brush and roller work is a modest risk; external spraying near car parks and public areas is where the large claims come from, and masking procedure is what mitigates it.
Working height and access
Ladder based work at height rates differently from tower or scaffold based work. Firms that have moved away from ladders for anything substantial present better.
Occupied premises
Working around furnishings, stock and people raises the damage exposure considerably compared with painting an empty new build.
Building age
Pre 1990s buildings introduce lead paint and, in textured coatings, potential asbestos. Both matter to how the risk is assessed.
Overspray claims history
Priced very hard, because a single incident can be severe and it usually indicates a procedural failure rather than bad luck. Documented masking procedure genuinely helps.
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.
Overspray conditions
Some wordings restrict overspray cover, or apply conditions about masking, sheeting and weather. Given that overspray is the trade's signature claim, whether it is covered and on what terms is the most important thing to confirm on the policy.
The surface you are working on
The wall, joinery or vehicle you are painting is in your care, custody and control and may be excluded from public liability. Repainting a job that went wrong is your cost in any event.
Faulty workmanship
Redecorating a room where the finish failed, or where the wrong colour was applied, is not insured. The damage a failure caused to other property is.
Lead and hazardous substances
Exposure claims arising from lead paint may be restricted, and asbestos, which appears in textured coatings on older ceilings, is excluded almost universally. Textured coating removal is worth raising specifically.
Height restrictions
Standard wordings may restrict work above a stated height. External decorating of tall buildings, and any use of rope access or suspended cradles, needs declaring.
Common questions
Am I covered if overspray damages cars in a car park?
Usually yes under public liability, and it is the claim this trade needs to be most careful about. Overspray drifts much further than people expect, and a hundred vehicles each needing professional paint correction produces a claim that dwarfs the contract. Two cautions: some wordings restrict overspray or attach conditions about masking, sheeting and working in wind, so check yours. And a history of overspray claims is priced hard, because it points to procedure rather than luck.
What public liability limit do decorators need?
£2m is generally enough for domestic brush and roller work. £5m is expected on commercial contracts and main contractor sites. If you spray externally, £5m should be treated as the floor regardless of who is asking, because the realistic worst case is not damage to the building you are painting but to everything parked and standing near it, and that is not related to the size of your contract.
Does my insurance cover paint spilled on a customer's carpet?
Damage to a customer's carpet, furniture or fittings is normally a public liability claim, subject to the excess and to the care, custody and control position on the specific area you are working in. In practice many decorators absorb small spill claims rather than claiming, because frequency affects renewal terms more than a single larger loss would. Dust sheeting properly and photographing the room before starting is worth the five minutes it takes.
What about asbestos in textured ceiling coatings?
This is a real exposure in older properties and it is excluded on almost every policy. Textured decorative coatings applied before the mid 1980s may contain asbestos, and sanding or scraping them releases fibres. The exclusion applies whether or not the work needed a licence. The practical protection is procedural: on pre 2000 properties, do not disturb textured coatings without knowing what they are, and where there is doubt, have them tested first.
Am I covered working from ladders?
Employers liability responds to injury claims from your employees, including falls, and public liability to injury to others. Ladder work is not excluded, but it is scrutinised, because falls from ladders remain one of the most common causes of serious injury in this trade and the expectation is that ladders are used only where a tower or platform is not reasonably practicable. Firms that use towers as standard for anything sustained present better and, more to the point, have fewer claims.
How should I store solvents and rags?
With more care than most people apply, because it is a genuine fire cause rather than a technicality. Rags soaked in oil based products can self heat and ignite without any external source, so they should not be left bundled in a corner or in a van overnight. Solvents should be stored in closed containers away from heat sources and in limited quantities on site. Where you work in occupied buildings, you are bringing the only significant fire load in the building with you, and insurers may attach conditions about 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.