Public Liability Insurance Vs Contractor All Risk Insurance: What Is The Difference?

Trade Insurance can quickly become a minefield. Insurance jargon, terms and conditions and different levels of cover can all turn you off quite quickly. Let's look at the differences between Public Liability Insurance and Contractors All Risk Insurance and break these policies down into something more accessible and concise. What are both insurance policies for? What are the main differences? And do we really need just one or the other, or can we have a combined trade insurance policy with the two of them?

What is Public Liability Insurance?

Put simply. Public Liability Insurance refers to when you, as a tradesman or woman, is working on a customer's or third parties' property. If, whilst conducting the work, you happen to cause damage to the property, injury to a member of the public, or worse, kill them, you and your business could be held liable. Even if it is a complete accident, Public Liability Insurance helps protect you and your business. For a relatively simple and cost-effective piece of cover, your business will have that vital piece of Insurance to protect you should the proverbial hit the fan. 

Some in the trade game refer to it as 'not worth leaving the house without it' Insurance. Want to find out more about Public Liability Insurance? This article highlights the reasons why Public Liability Insurance is important.

What is Contractors All Risk Insurance?

More often than not, Contractors All Risks Insurance is purchased by tradesmen working in construction or as a building contractor who typically work with larger contracts, with more extensive machinery and staff who store possessions on site whilst they work. 

We have worked with thousands of tradesmen for many years and aim to give you the proper protection at the best price. Contractor's All Risk Insurance is a popular add-on to our aforementioned Public Liability Insurance (and our Employers' Liability Insurance). 

Interested in more information? Read all about Contractor's All Risks Insurance for tradesmen now. 

What are the risks for tradesmen on the job, and which insurance covers it?

Let's take you down the path of what happens when something goes wrong on site. Here are a handful of scenarios where Public Liability Insurance and Contractors All Risks Insurance will effectively 'save the day' or 'save your bacon' when specific claims are made. 

Having an accident on-site

Imagine you are working as a painter and decorator. On occasions, you will need to work at certain heights and up ladders. This time, you cut a few corners and balance some tools and paint cans on a piece of wood laid on two separate ladders. Feeling a bit tired in the afternoon, you somehow knock the paint off, and it lands on a customer, causing much distress and them looking like something off Art Attack. As this is your fault, having the right level of cover on your Public Liability Insurance will be enough to protect you from a claim. They may require compensation or cover for medical bills. All are included in your trade insurance. 

Causing some level of damage

Whilst working in the customer's home, you somehow also spilt an entire 2.5 litres of paint all over the customer's brand-new Tapi carpet. It's ruined. Your day is becoming something like a Monty Python sketch. Now mistakes always happen, and as a tradesman, you live and breathe hazards and risks all around you. That's why your Public Liability Insurance will protect you in this instance. You would have been expected to leave the house in the same standard you arrived in. So a compensation claim would be made to cover the costs of repair that would come from your insurance policy. 

What if you slip or trip

Final one. The paint you dropped earlier from height was in the hallway on tiled flooring to add insult to injury. The husband slips over the spilt paint dropped on his wife in typical cartoon style. What a day this is turning out to be, eh? A tradesman will be covered for slips and trips with any Rhino Trade Insurance Public Liability policy. 

After all that, it may be worth trying a new profession… But of course, this scenario is made up for effect, but each case is possible for any trade. Don't avoid putting off your Public Liability Insurance. Call us on 0116 243 7904 now and get an instant (and quite frankly cracking) quote for your business. 

So what does Contractor's All Risks Insurance cover me for?

We have probably exhausted that decorator story, so we'll focus on the building and construction trade this time. A whole manner of trades can benefit from having Contractor's All Risks Insurance - Plumbers, Builders and Electricians being the most popular. 

This type of policy will provide cover for the loss or damage to many scenarios on-site, for example:

• Let's assume we have been contracted to work on a private family home building an extension. Contractor's All Risks Insurance will cover you for any machinery, plant or equipment you have on-site (even if it's hired). Let's say that machinery suddenly disappears or breaks down. This policy will have you protected. 
• It also helps you cover the 'contract value' of the build. So if something happens to go wrong on-site and only half of the work is complete, you will be covered to put whatever is wrong right so that the customer doesn't have to foot the bill. In the policy, this is the 'in-progress' part and covers the build, temporary structures or materials on-site during the build. 
• The icing on the cake for this trade insurance policy is that it also covers any employees' possessions or equipment. We can provide a 'material value' limited to £500 per employee - better than a kick in the teeth if something bad happened to their stuff on the site. 

Are we missing anything?

Rhino has worked extremely hard to create trade-specific policies for almost every trade around. What's more, we have also lobbied our bosses to give you the best insurance at the best possible prices. 

For our Public Liability Insurance, it all depends on the amount of cover you need for your business - our cover levels start from £1 million quid and go all the way to £5 million (on request). And our prices start at just £6.07 a month, which is about the cost of an extra foamy cappuccino these days!

On top of that, our Contractor's All Risks Insurance is calculated depending on your trade and the type of work you undertake. The vital factor is that this trade insurance starts at just £11.20 a month (which is a proper bargain if we do say). 

Whether you are a building contractor, plumber, electrician, carpenter, gas engineer, or anything else, let us know your needs, and we will sort out some fantastic cover for you. Drop our lovely UK-based team a message on our contact page.