Public liability insurance for plasterers

In case someone else experiences injury or property damage as a result of your plastering business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• accidents that happen because of your plastering work, or because of your employee’s plastering work (keep in mind, if you employ people, you’re legally required to have employers’ liability insurance)
• damage caused by you or your employee to someone else’s property
• injury caused to someone else by you or your employee

For example:

• you’re plastering a customer’s bathroom ceiling, and you accidentally scratch some newly fitted tiles with your trowel in the process
• your apprentice is trying to cover up the sash windows in the living room so the plastering can begin, but they lose their balance, cracking one of the glass panes

What you’ll need additional cover for

• any other work you do that isn’t specifically plastering, such as painting, building, rendering – you’d need to insure this as a separate trade in your policy

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to your employee while they’re working for your plastering business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee (including casual and temporary workers) falling ill as a result of being employed by you, and suing you for damages
• an employee getting injured while carrying out work for you

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• your apprentice is plastering the ceiling and they fall off the ladder and break their back
• your employee suffers chronic migraines after breathing in solvent fumes in a badly ventilated house that’s being redecorated

Tools insurance

In case something happens to your plastering tools.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• theft of your plastering tools, either on site or stored at your business premises
• flood, fire, and accidental damage to your plastering tools

For example:

• your plastering trowel and your steel taping knife are stolen from your parked van while you’re working inside a customer’s house
• you accidentally drop your taping knife as you’re plastering a wall and the knife breaks, so you need to buy a new one

What you’ll need additional cover for

• your plastering tools while locked in a vehicle overnight – to add in this protection, you’d need to select tools overnight cover as an optional extra

Read more about tools insurance

Contract works insurance

In case your plastering work in progress is destroyed or disrupted.

What’s typically covered by contract works insurance?

• damage to your ongoing plastering work on a commercial or domestic premises
• damage or theft to the plastering tools and equipment left on site that are needed to complete a job

For example:

• you’re working at a construction site and vandals set fire to the building you’re plastering, which sets back the completion date of the contract
• there’s a flood at a customer’s house where you’ve been doing the plastering – it damages the tools and materials you’ve been storing there to finish the job, causing a delay to the completion date

Read more about contract works insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to your business and office equipment.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• theft or loss of the equipment you use to run your business (i.e. operational equipment, rather than plastering tools) while stored at your business premises
• flood, fire, or accidental damage to your equipment

For example:

• you knock your laptop off the table while you’re creating an invoice for a recent dot and dab plasterboard project, breaking the screen
• the desktop computer you use for your plastering business is stolen from your premises

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs as the owner of your plastering business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs that crop up in the day-to-day running of your company
• the cost of claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• the cost of resolving disputes, whether to do with tax and compliance or your employees
• a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis communications support to help you protect the reputation of your plastering business

For example:

• you fired your trainee plasterer after discovering that they were stealing drywall materials from you, but they’re denying it and accusing you of unfair dismissal, so you need to defend your legal rights
• your plastering company is being looked into by HMRC, and you (and any other directors) need help responding to HMRC’s enquiries

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death at work or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you’re working on a plastering job and the wind slams the heavy front door shut on your hand, so two of your fingers have to be amputated
• your casual labourer suffers a slipped disc lifting weights at the gym

Read more about personal accident insurance

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tools cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does plasterers insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider builders insurance or painter and decorator insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Tradesman insurance
• Handyman insurance
• Plumbers insurance
• Carpenter insurance
• Joinery insurance
• Electrical contractors insurance
• Labourer insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.