What’s Included with Plumbers’ Insurance?

You might not be aware that as a plumber, you need to have different insurance than an electrician or a joiner. So what does specialist plumbers’ insurance cover?

When you buy plumbers’ insurance, it will cover you for all the risks you face day to day in your line of work. Plumbing can be dangerous and tools and materials can be expensive, so it’s important to have the proper insurance for your business.

Plumber’s insurance also includes third party liability, which will protect your clients as well as members of the public.

Read on to find the answers to these questions:

• What’s included with plumber’s insurance?
• Do I need public liability insurance?
• Will plumbers’ insurance cover equipment?

Before you start work as a tradesman, it’s best to have the necessary cover in place.

What’s included with plumber’s insurance?

Handymen, plumbers, joiners and all other tradesmen all need to protect themselves while working. Having the right kind of insurance will permit them to work in others’ homes securely, and will take care of expensive and disruptive repairs if anything goes wrong. This applies not only to their customers’ property, but anything else that is included on the policy.

The sort of work you take on as a plumber specifically implies you need different cover than a builder or carpenter would. For example, as a plumber, you’re often required to work on central heating which may involve gas, which requires certain licenses and training and which is highly dangerous to work with. Always check your policy carefully, as in some cases working with heat may be excluded – which isn’t ideal for a plumber.

Plumbing work may also mean you come into contact with hazardous waste which, if it leaks, could cause serious environmental damage. This is why having insurance, just in case things go wrong, is in your clients’ – and your own – best interest.

Do I need public liability insurance?

Yes. Luckily, public liability insurance comes as standard with any plumbers’ policy. Public liability is a vital part of commercial insurance, as it protects your clients – or any member of the public – in the event that a claim should arise and you are responsible.

If you accidentally damage your client’s property while working on the site, your public liability insurance will cover the cost of the labour and materials involved in fixing what’s gone wrong. It will also cover hospital bills, emergency services costs, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Plumbers’ all risks is a type of insurance which covers almost anything that could happen. All risks insurance includes cover for contract works, such as damage to the project being worked on, own plant, hired-in plant and employee’s tools.

Your insurance provider might also offer you additional cover, such as professional indemnity insurance. This would cover your legal liability for the advice and design that you provide. Whereas other insurance covers what you do and use, professional indemnity covers what you say.

Do you employ others? You’ll need employers’ insurance if you have other people working for you, as you’ll be liable for their risks. However, if you use subcontractors, you’ll need to ensure they have their own insurance before they start working for you. If they don’t and something goes wrong, you’ll be left out of pocket.

Will plumbers’ insurance cover equipment?

Only if you make sure you add this cover to your policy. Products liability will cover you in the event of a claim relating to parts and materials you install, so if you’ve purchased a faulty toilet cistern and the job suffers delays as a result, this is the insurance you would claim on.

In these types of cases, your insurance provider will pursue the manufacturers. As long as the part turns out to be defective, it wasn’t your own fault and you installed the materials correctly, the manufacturer will be liable.

As for your equipment, it should be covered by your plumbers’ insurance as long as you have additional cover besides third party liability.

Talk to our plumber’s insurance experts

If you need plumbers’ insurance and want to find the very best cover for your business, call us right now for a quote.