Specialist Construction Contractors Insurance
Some contractors do not fit the boxes. A firm restoring church spires, installing bespoke architectural metalwork, carrying out confined space work in sewers, or doing something genuinely unusual will find that the standard online trade lists have no entry for it, and that the nearest match prices the work either far too cheaply or not at all.
The problem is rarely that the risk is uninsurable. It is that the risk is unfamiliar, and an underwriter presented with an unfamiliar risk and no information will either decline it or load it heavily. A specialist contractor who can describe the work precisely, evidence competence and demonstrate procedure will usually find a market. One who ticks the closest available box and hopes will find the claim disputed on non disclosure.
We arrange cover for specialist construction contractors whose work needs explaining rather than categorising, and most of the value is in presenting the risk properly to underwriters who write this kind of work rather than pushing it through a system that was not designed for it.
What actually goes wrong
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Being placed in the wrong trade category
The most damaging thing that happens to specialist contractors. A risk written as general building when the work is actually facade retention, or as maintenance when it is confined space entry, produces a policy that appears valid and fails at the point of claim. Non disclosure and misdescription are the two most common reasons a construction claim is refused.
High hazard operations
Work at significant height, in confined spaces, over water, with hot works, or involving lifting operations each carries its own conditions and its own market. A contractor doing several of them needs a policy assembled deliberately rather than a package designed for a general builder.
Heritage and irreplaceable structures
Working on listed buildings, monuments and historic fabric means the value at risk bears no relation to the contract value. Reinstatement must use original materials and methods where it is possible at all, and a fire in a historic structure produces losses that cannot be made good in any real sense.
Bespoke and one off installations
Where an element is designed and fabricated specifically for a project, failure produces both a design liability and a long lead replacement. Product liability, professional indemnity and contract works can all be engaged by the same event, and gaps between them are where the loss sits.
Working for principal contractors with strict requirements
Specialist packages are usually let by main contractors whose contracts impose specific limits, specific extensions and specific evidence. A specialist who cannot meet the insurance schedule loses the work regardless of technical ability.
The cover we arrange
Policies are put together around how you work. Employers liability is included as standard wherever you employ anyone.
Public liability written for the actual work
The core cover, but underwritten against a proper description of the operations rather than a category. Limits are usually driven by the main contractors you work for, commonly £5m or £10m, with higher limits available where a contract demands.
- Third party injury and property damage
- Written against a full activity description
- Limits typically £5m or £10m
- Extensions for the specific hazards involved
Employers liability
Legally required and included as standard at £10m. On high hazard specialist work, underwriters will look closely at training, certification and supervision, since competence is the main control on the exposure.
- Legally required, £10m as standard
- Training and certification records considered
- Confined space and height working
- Occupational illness and long tail exposure
Contract works
Covers the works in progress. On bespoke work the sum insured needs to reflect fabrication and lead times rather than only material value, because replacing a one off element takes far longer than replacing a standard one.
- Works in progress and bespoke elements
- Off site fabrication and storage
- Materials in transit
- Lead time reflected in the sum insured
Professional indemnity
Needed wherever you specify, design or advise, which most specialist contractors do by definition, since the client is buying your expertise. Written on a claims made basis and usually required by name in specialist subcontracts.
- Design and specification liability
- Advice given to main contractors and clients
- Claims made basis, continuity essential
- Run off cover when you stop trading
Plant, tools and specialist equipment
Specialist trades often own equipment with no ready replacement market: bespoke access rigs, restoration tooling, testing and survey instruments. Scheduling high value items individually avoids arguments about value after a loss.
- High value items scheduled individually
- Specialist access and lifting equipment
- Survey and testing instruments
- Cover in transit and at temporary premises
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- A precise description of what you actually do, in your own words rather than a category
- Turnover split across the different types of work you undertake
- Any high hazard operations: height, confined space, over water, hot works, lifting
- Certifications, accreditations and trade body memberships held by the business and by individuals
- Whether you design, specify or advise, and whether that is documented
- The main contractors and clients you work for, and their insurance requirements
- Off site fabrication, storage and transit arrangements
- Method statements and risk assessments for the unusual elements
- Five years of claims and incidents, with explanation rather than just figures
What moves the premium
Where the price actually comes from, and which parts of it you can change.
How well the risk is presented
More than any other class, this one is priced on information. A clear description, method statements and a competence record can be the difference between a workable quote and a decline, on identical work.
The hazard mix
It is the combination that rates, not any single activity. Height plus hot works plus confined space in one business needs a market comfortable with all three, and finding that market matters more than negotiating the rate.
Certification and accreditation
Trade body membership, individual certification and recognised accreditation schemes carry real weight where the work is unusual, because they substitute for the underwriter's familiarity with it.
Client and contract profile
Working for established main contractors under standard forms reads better than a mix of direct clients on bespoke terms, largely because the contractual obligations are known quantities.
Claims narrative
On unusual risks, the explanation behind a claim matters as much as the amount. A single large loss with a documented change of procedure afterwards is treated very differently from an unexplained 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.
Activities outside the description
The most important exclusion on a specialist policy is the one created by your own proposal. Cover attaches to the business described. Taking on an adjacent type of work without telling anybody, particularly a higher hazard one, can leave that work outside the policy entirely.
Specified high hazard operations
Confined space entry, work over water, diving, use of explosives and work above stated heights are commonly excluded unless specifically written in. Each is insurable, but each needs asking for.
Efficacy and performance
Where you guarantee that a treatment, coating or system will perform to a stated standard, that guarantee is usually excluded. Policies cover negligence and resulting damage, not the failure of a product or method to achieve a promised result.
Professional fees within liability cover
Public liability does not fund the redesign, re specification or re survey that follows a failure. Where the value you sell is expertise, professional indemnity is not an optional add on but the main cover.
Hot works and height conditions
Where they apply, they apply strictly. Permit systems, fire watches and access equipment requirements are conditions precedent on many wordings, which means a breach can defeat a claim rather than merely reduce it.
Common questions
My trade is not on any insurer's list. Can I still get cover?
Almost always, yes. Unusual work is rarely uninsurable; it is unfamiliar, which is a different problem. The route through is a proper description of the operations, evidence of competence and certification, and method statements for the unusual elements, presented to underwriters who write specialist construction rather than pushed through an online trade list. Choosing the nearest available category and hoping is the approach that causes claims to fail.
What happens if my policy describes my business wrongly?
It creates the single biggest exposure a specialist contractor has. Cover attaches to the business as described in the proposal. If the description says general building and the work is facade retention, an insurer can decline a claim for misdescription or non disclosure, and the policy will have looked perfectly valid until that moment. If what you do has changed or broadened, tell your broker mid term rather than waiting for renewal.
Do specialist contractors need professional indemnity as well as public liability?
Usually yes, and often it is the more important of the two. Clients engage a specialist for expertise, which means you are advising, specifying or designing whether or not you describe it that way. Public liability pays for injury and damage. It does not pay for the consequences of expert advice being wrong, which is exactly the claim a specialist is most likely to face.
Is work at height or in confined spaces covered as standard?
Not usually. Work above a stated height, confined space entry, work over water and use of explosives are typically excluded from standard wordings unless specifically included. All are insurable, and none is unusual in specialist construction, but each has to be declared and written in. An assumption that a general contractors policy covers them is a common and expensive mistake.
What insurance do main contractors require from specialist subcontractors?
It varies by contract, but a typical specialist subcontract package specifies employers liability at £10m, public liability at £5m or £10m, and professional indemnity where any design responsibility is passed down, often at £1m or £2m and maintained for a period after practical completion. Contracts increasingly ask for evidence before access to site is granted, so the certificate needs to match the requirement exactly rather than approximately.
How is heritage and listed building work insured differently?
The cover types are the same but the sums insured and conditions differ substantially. Reinstatement of historic fabric requires original materials and traditional methods, so costs far exceed equivalent modern construction, and some damage cannot be made good at all. Expect closer attention to hot works procedures in particular, since fire in a historic structure is effectively irrecoverable, and expect insurers to ask about the listing grade and the specific conservation methods being used.
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.