Public liability insurance for bricklayers

In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• property damage, caused by your work
• injuries caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• you drop a brick from three storeys up, damaging your client’s car
• a member of the public trips and falls over machinery you’ve left on the pavement, injuring their wrist

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee, including a temp or casual labourer, suing you after falling ill because of working for your bricklaying business, or
• making a claim for an injury they’ve had while working 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:

• you fail to provide a trolley for your contractor to move bricks around the site – as a result, they injure their back carrying the bricks around
• a casual labourer falls off a ladder while working for you, injuring their back and shoulder – they need an operation, time off work and ongoing physio

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.

Tools insurance

In case your bricklaying tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for bricklayers?

• loss, damage or theft of your hand tools, power tools and specialist bricklaying equipment

For example:

• your tools are stolen from an alarmed garage while you’re on holiday and need replacing
• a contractor drives over your toolbox while on site, damaging some of your kit

What you’ll need additional cover for

• larger plant items you use to carry out your work – you’ll need to add our specific plant cover for these

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case materials you’re responsible for, like bricks, are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance for bricklayers?

• loss, damage or theft of your work materials, or items you’re planning to sell

For example:

• you’re in a minor road accident while driving back from the wholesaler’s and some of your stock gets damaged
• the bricks you’ve ordered for a new contract are stolen from your locked garage

Read more about stock insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.

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

• theft, flood, fire or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your bricklaying business
• operational equipment like your laptop, rather than the trade tools you take out and about

For example:

• you spill water from the kettle onto your laptop at lunchtime, damaging the keyboard
• the printer and expensive ergonomic chair you’ve bought are stolen in a break-in at your home office

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case your rented plant machinery, like a cement mixer, is lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like diggers and mortar-making machines which you’ve hired in

For example:

• a cement mixer you’ve hired gets damaged while you’re moving it onto your your works site
• you’ve hired an extra mixer for a bigger job and it gets stolen during a site break-in

What you’ll need additional cover for

• tools and plant machinery which you own yourself – you’ll need to add our specific own plant insurance or tools cover for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Own plant insurance

In case your own plant, like a mortar-making machine, is lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like your own brick-making or dry mortar machine

For example:

• vandals break into your works site and put dirt and soil in your cement mixer, causing serious damage
• your small digger is stolen from the client’s driveway

What you’ll need additional cover for

• plant machinery you’ve rented – you’ll need to add our specific hired-in plant cover for this

Read more about own plant insurance

Contract works insurance

In case your bricklaying gets damaged by disasters like fire, flood or vandalism.

What’s typically covered by contract works insurance for bricklayers?

• repair costs for the bricklaying you’re doing, if it’s destroyed or damaged
• labour, materials and tools to get the job back to the stage it was at before it was damaged or destroyed
• damage caused by things like fire, flood, storm, vandalism or theft

For example:

• while you’re laying bricks for a new house, an electrician working on the same site makes a mistake resulting in a fire – your work is destroyed and the project gets delayed by a month

Read more about contract works insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your bricklaying business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day business activities, like disputes with employees
• the cost of legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance issues
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a trusted tradesperson

For example:

• your customer is refusing to pay an invoice, disputing your work on his extension which ran over deadline by two weeks
• an employee raises a dispute with you over his contracted hours and breaks

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on your bricklaying policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you’re away with friends at the weekend and slip in a bar, spraining your ankle and forcing you to take three weeks off work
• your casual labourer drops a brick on their foot while working, breaking a toe

Read more about personal accident insurance

Is public liability enough for third party property damage?

In some situations you may need more than public liability to cover certain kinds of property damage. Learn about Gardening insurance and Plasterers 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 tool 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 groundworkers 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 groundworkers insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

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

• Handyman insurance
• Bathroom fitter insurance
• Glazier insurance
• Carpet fitter insurance
• Flooring contractors insurance
• Painter and decorator insurance
• Plasterers insurance
• Tilers insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant 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.