Insurance for Building Industry Contractors

Click here for more information on Construction Insurance with S.A. Faughnan

Building Industry Contractors work can be diverse and constantly changing and Combined Liability and Contractors All Risks are two main types of insurance which can ensure you to have the right cover you need no matter what job you are on. Details of all covers to be considered for Building Industry Contractors are explained below:

 

• Public Liability
• Products Liability
• Employers Liability
• Contractors All Risks which can include cover for Tools & Equipment, Own Plant & Hired in Plant
• Personal Accident for Sole Traders/Manual Working Directors
• Efficacy Cover extension
• Professional Indemnity (Design & Build)
• Motor Fleet

 

Public Liability Insurance
This cover will protect you from any liabilities from a Third Party (other than your employees) for bodily injury or damage to their property which arise during the course of your business activities due to your negligence/lack of care.

 

Products Liability Insurance

This cover will provide legal liability for accidental bodily injury or accidental damage to property caused by products sold or supplied or work or services which you have undertaken in connection with your business/trade.

 

Employers Liability Insurance
If your business employs any staff including part time staff, trainees/apprentices /work experience/ agency staff, self-employed persons and sub-contractors, this cover will protect you from any liability arising in the course of their employment with you and provides cover if any of your employees suffer physical bodily injury or death, and it is proven that as an employer you acted negligently and subsequently could have prevented their loss.

 

Contractors All Risks

This insurance (also known as Contract Works insurance) is designed to provide cover for contractors (primarily builders, plumbers and electricians ) working on a contract site on new construction projects including buildings in the course of Construction, Alteration or Refurbishment. The main part of the contractors all risks insurance is the contract works section which provides cover for the property being worked on (e.g. new house, etc.). However, cover for the existing property is excluded (e.g. the existing structure when building an extension) and must continue to be insured under its own insurance cover.

 

 

Tools, Plant and Equipment
Even if you don’t own a business premises, you can insure your tools and equipment against loss, damage or destruction whilst on a contract site including hired-in plant and equipment.

 

 

Personal Accident Insurance

This insurance will protect most self-employed persons for loss of weekly income and capital benefits in the event of illness or injury preventing you from working. This insurance is highly recommended for a sole trader, business partners and company directors as a combined liability policy does not cover any injury caused to a sole trader/business partner as it is extremely difficult for a company director to sue his/her own company, particularly if that individual is responsible for health & safety on site.

 

 

Efficacy Insurance (extension of Public/Products Liability)

This insurance is designed to cover the failure of an item to perform its intended function.

 

 

It is commonly required by businesses involved in the manufacture, service, supply or installation of performance critical products such as fire alarms, intruder alarms, emergency lighting, fire extinguishers etc.  Trades involved with fire, security or electrical contracting will often have to prove they have Public Liability and Products Liability which includes Efficacy cover before they are granted a contract.

 

 

Efficacy cover is normally a standard exclusion applied to Product Liability insurance policies in respect of failure of a product to perform its intended function. Product Liability is there to cover injury or property damage caused by the product, not if it has failed to deliver the results.

 

 

Products Liability is not intended to be a “Manufacturers Guarantee”, it is intended to cover negligence caused to third parties for bodily injury or property damage, but not contractual liabilities, such as a warranty that a product will perform.

 

 

Where the key risk of a product is non-performance, such as failure to prevent injury or damage, it is highly advisable to check how the policy provides efficacy cover for its intention should still to be able to cover injury or property damage caused to another party.

 

 

Efficacy insurance is usually purchased as an extension to Products Liability or Public Liability insurance as it provides cover against the legal liability for injury to third parties or damage to third party property arising from a product or service failing to perform its intended function. A manufactures guarantee will normally not provide this cover as the guarantee is there to only repair or replace the product if something goes wrong with it within a set amount of time after it has been purchased. Efficacy cover is not a substitute for professional indemnity cover.

 

 

Design & Build Professional Indemnity

 

In recent years it has become commonplace for contractors to incur a design liability, either by offering a design service as part of an overall building package or through a design and build contract where the design work is sub-contracted.

 

When you undertake contracts on a Design & Construct basis, you will almost certainly be the client’s first port of call in the event of a design related problem. Even if a claim is ultimately the responsibility of another party, the costs of redirecting liability can be high and success is far from guaranteed.

 

Insurers want to cover only professional exposures and do not want to end up paying for poor workmanship on under-priced contracts. So, cover is normally limited to design or specification, feasibility study, technical information calculation, surveying undertaken only by or under the direction and direct control of a properly qualified architect, engineer or surveyor.

 

Supervision cover will normally be limited to situations where the insured is not supervising their own or their sub-contractors’ workmen in their contractor capacity. Other professional activities that are intended to be covered will normally need to be endorsed separately.

 

Usually the limit of indemnity for contractors will be ‘aggregate’ with legal costs inclusive within the limit of indemnity. However, it is not unknown for ‘any one claim’ limits to be available with legal costs in addition. The excess will normally apply to insurers’ costs and expenses (see costs in addition and costs inclusive).

 

As cover is not normally provided for on a ‘civil liability’ basis, additional cover for liability for lost documents and libel and slander will usually need to be added, so comparisons between wordings being offered by different insurers is needed.

 

 

 

Motor Fleet

 

A Motor Fleet Insurance policy has huge benefits to any business. When you are running your business you need to have peace of mind that your vehicles and drivers are protected and a motor fleet policy can give you security and flexibility, leaving you with more time to run your business. Motor fleet insurance suits businesses that have 3 or more vehicles and cover all vehicles types of fleets including cars, vans , trucks, lorries, a mixture of all types or even Special Type vehicles such as diggers, dumpers, forklifts and teleporters. You can opt to have open driving or named drivers only under a motor fleet policy however the drivers age is usually restricted to 25-70yrs and is subject to each driver having as clean full driving licence. The cover options available range from Third Party only, Third Party including Working Risk, Third Party Fire & Theft, and Accidental Damage Fire & Theft to fully Comprehensive. In addition, you can also opt to include cover for Goods in Transit and Property and Liability insurance.

 

REMEMBER – At S.A Faughnan (Brokers) Ltd. <www.safaughnan.ie> we can assist you in arranging the correct package to cover your construction trade business including the completion of all insurance forms issued by SEAI, Local Authorities and more. We are insurance professionals and we deal ONLY with A-Rated (financially secure) Insurers at competitive prices.

Click here for more information on Construction Insurance with S.A. Faughnan