Tradesman public liability is the most widely sold small business policy in the United Kingdom, and the most widely misunderstood. It is not a warranty on your work, it is not a policy for your tools, and it is not one product with one price. It is a promise to pay for the harm your work does to other people and their property, and its value is decided by the limit you chose and the conditions you kept.
What a tradesman's liability policy answers for
The policy responds where a third party suffers injury or property damage in connection with your business, and it pays compensation and the cost of defending the claim up to the limit. In a trade context that means the customer who trips over your extension lead, the neighbour's car under the dropped scaffold board, the ceiling below the bathroom you were plumbing. The claim can arrive long after the job, and the policy that answers is normally the one in force when the damage happened rather than when the claim arrived.
Choosing a limit, in a market that quotes three
One, two and five million pounds are the limits on offer, and the gap between them in premium is much smaller than the gap in what they buy. Domestic customers rarely specify anything; letting agents and housing associations usually want two million; main contractors, local authorities and managed sites routinely want five. The practical advice is to buy the limit that keeps every job you want open to you, because the alternative is finding out at the gate on a Monday morning.
What is not in it, however cheap it looked
Public liability will not pay to redo your own defective work, will not replace your stolen tools, will not cover a partly finished installation, and will not answer for injury to your own employees. Those are, in order, a workmanship extension or professional indemnity, a tools section, contract works cover and employers' liability. The cheapest trade policy on the market is cheap partly because it is only the first of those five things.
Conditions that decide claims
Trade wordings carry conditions that matter more than the limit on a day to day basis: a hot works condition for anybody using a torch, working at height requirements, a condition about leaving a site secure, and tool cover conditions about locked vans and overnight parking. None of them is unreasonable, all of them are in the schedule rather than the sales page, and a claim is assessed against them.
Questions people ask about tradesman public liability insurance
How much does tradesman public liability insurance cost?
The record on this site shows what each UK insurer prints as a starting price, and the lowest printed figures describe a single low risk tradesperson on a modest limit with no employees. Trade, turnover, staff, the limit and claims history all move the real quote, which is why several insurers print no starting figure at all.
What limit do most tradesmen need?
Two million pounds covers most domestic and light commercial work. Five million is the usual requirement on managed construction sites and for main contractor, housing association and local authority work, and it is worth buying if that work is in your plans.
Does it cover damage to the thing I was working on?
Usually not. General public liability commonly excludes property in your care, custody or control, which is the item you were working on. Where that matters, look for a specific extension rather than assuming the main limit reaches it.
Is tradesman insurance the same as public liability?
Tradesman insurance is normally a package with public liability at its core plus tools, employers' liability and sometimes contract works and personal accident. Public liability on its own is one section of that package, and it is the section the certificate refers to.