If you are a self employed builder, you will want to buy liability insurance to protect your livelihood, during the course of your work, you will visit building sites and peoples homes and on occasions and incident may happen which leads to someone, seeking compensation from you for damages. Perhaps you are working in someone’s home and manage to damage some contents, or drop a tool or piece of equipment and it injures someone. Public liability Insurance will cover your legal liability to pay damages and the associated legal costs for accidental injury, damage to material property, nuisance or wrongful arrest in connection with the business.
Homeowners can be very wary of whom they allow to enter their homes, and by being able to show that you have purchased liability insurance, will help to demonstrate to them you are a bona fide company. If you are a builder that works on commercial premises, you may find that certain companies you tender for work from, will require you to have a higher limited of indemnity.
Often a builder will use plant (either owned or hired in) where insurance is not required under the provisions of the Road Traffic Acts, liability in these circumstances is included. Other inclusive extensions include Legal Liability for leased or rented premises, where there is no responsibility to have fire & perils insurance. Liability arising under the Data Protection Act, 1988 and legal liability arising under section 3 of the Defective Premises Act 1972.
The employers liability protection act is wide in it’s definition of employees and if you are a builder, you may believe that people working with you are not your responsibility. This needs some careful thought to establish if there is a master servant relationship, to ensure that you have the necessary insurance in force.
