Tradesman Insurance

Need flexible, affordable, tradesman insurance? Let Fortify Insurance compare our markets to find you quality cover. Our 4.9/5 Google-rated team can find you the right cover at the right price for your needs.

Affordable, Quality Protection For All Trades

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Tradesman insurance has been designed to give tradespeople – a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, a builder or a painter and decorator – a package of protection on a single policy.  Whether its public liability as you’re working in a public place, employers’ liability as you have employees, product liability as you use or recommend products, tools or even all-risks cover, this policy gives you the peace of mind you need to continue to safely ply your trade.

Thanks to our close relationships with a range of leading insurers – household names including Aviva, RSA, and Axa – the Fortify team can offer you affordable, flexible high-quality cover that’s tailored to your needs.  If you’d to know or would like to get a tradesman’s insurance quote, then please call us on 01733 301520.

We can offer to a wide range of professionals, including:

  • Electricians
  • Builders
  • Gardeners
  • Plumbers
  • Machinists
  • Carpenters
  • Maintenance contractors
  • Tilers
  • Glaziers
  • Pipe layers
  • Sheet metal workers
  • Painters and decorators
  • Riggers
  • Welders
  • Carpet layers

The type of work you do, where you do it, and whether you employ people or not will determine the cover you need, but as a guide a typical policy can provide cover for the following:
  • Public liability – a vital cover for most tradespeople, public liability can insure you against a number of risks you face on daily basis. For example, if your work causes a member of the public to become ill or they are injured and they decide to sue you, public liability cover will be there to assist you with any legal action and compensation claims.   Whether you are undertaking building works on someone’s house, landscape gardening for the local council refitting a shop, or redeveloping an office, the threat of an accidental injury to a member of the public is always at hand.  Equally, should someone have their property damaged in the course of your work, you will also be covered against any claims for compensation.  Public liability will most likely form the foundation of your tradesman’s policy, regardless of your specific line of work
  • Employers’ liability – if you’re not a sole trader, you’ll be legally required to have employers’ liability cover. Irrespective of whether your staff are temporary, contracted, part-time or full time, if you have employees, you’ll need employers’ liability – it’s the law.  It will protect you against legal costs if an employee sues you for unsafe working conditions or if an employee falls ill or is injured due to your business’s actions
  • Tools cover – could you keep working if you lost your tools? And if you were unlucky enough to lose them or have them stolen could you easily afford to replace them in a hurry?  This is where tools cover comes in.  Insuring your tools against accidental damage, loss, or theft means that if the worst does happen, then you’ll be able to repair or replace them quickly and so incur minimal disruption to your business
  • Personal accident cover – working in a trade usually means being self-employed, and being self-employed means if you can’t work, you can’t earn. So, what would happen if you were to be injured while on the job?  Adding personal accident protection to your policy can protect your income, ensuring that even though you can’t work, you can still have money coming in

  • Construction plant – if you have or use plant machinery such as diggers, cherry pickers, cranes or forklifts, be they your own or hired-in, then construction plant cover can protect you against the costs of repair or replacing your equipment should something go wrong. As bills for this type of kit can easily run into thousands, the modest premiums of construction plant insurance as part of your tradesman cover could be a wise investment

  • Owned plant equipment –helps protects against damage to your plant and equipment while in your possession or while hired out. For example: scaffolding, temporary buildings, site office contents and site welfare facilities

  • Contractor all-risks – if you store materials and have tradespeople that work under contracts, then this policy is for you. It will protect you against costs of theft or damage to your materials, and assist with costs for legal action if a contract is terminated and you’re left to foot an unpaid bill

  • Legal expenses – covers the legal costs of providing lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems such as disputes with suppliers or clients

  • Professional indemnity insurance (or PI insurance as it’s also known) – offers financial protection should you or your business be sued by a client if you make a mistake in a piece of work or do something that causes them financial or reputational loss. For many businesses this is an important cover, and thanks to our close relationships with a range of leading insurers – household names including Aviva, RSA, and Axa – we can offer you affordable, flexible high-quality PI protection.

  • Stock and materials – many trades require materials, and you can cover things such as bricks, paint, cables, nails, pipes etc. These can be protected while they are being stored between jobs, while on the move, and even while left on-site (until they are installed).  Cover can be arranged for eventualities such as damage, theft, loss, fire or flood

Frequently Asked Questions

Tradesman insurance can be complicated given the number of risks that even small business owners and solo contractors face.  To help you get the protection you need, here are a selection of frequently asked questions about tradesman’s policies:
No, but some employers – local authorities and charities, for example – may insist on a certain level of public liability cover.  If you have any employees, then employees’ liability insurance is a legal requirement.

That will depend on factors such as the size of your business, the work you do, where you do it, and whether you have staff. 
If you’d like to know or would like to get a Tradesman insurance quote, then please call us on 01733 777789.

No, for that you’ll need a separate van or commercial vehicle insurance policy. 
Don’t worry though, at Fortify we can help you get that cover too, so please call us on 01733 777789.

Certain high-risk professions such as scaffolders, roofers or steeplejacks will need specific high-risk insurance.

There are, common ones include:

  • Damage to property belonging to the policyholder or under the custody or control of the policyholder
  • The costs associated with remedying defects in land or buildings, or structures disposed of by the policyholder
  • Work on gasholders, towers, steeples, bridges, shafts, dams or tunnels, and mines
  • Work involving excavations exceeding three metres in depth
  • Work at a height greater than 10m from the ground
  • Demolition of any kind unless such work forms part of a contract for the erection, reconstruction, alteration or repair of buildings or structures and provided that such demolition is by handheld tools only
  • The use of explosives, water diversion, quarrying, tunnelling or working under water
  • The felling or lopping of trees, work in or on power stations, nuclear installations, refineries, bulk storage tanks, oil gas or chemical works, aircraft, hovercraft, watercraft, wharves, piers or jetties, railways, railway stations or airports (airside)
  • Stand-alone roofing contracts, so those not forming part of a contract for the erection, reconstruction, alteration or repair of buildings or structures

If you’d like an affordable, flexible tradesman insurance, then call Fortify on 01733 777789 or click here to start your quote. Our team of specialists will search our markets to find you the right policy at the right price to keep your business protected.