Flooring Contractor Insurance

Learn about the exclusions & costs to be fully informed.
Get the right cover & more importantly peace of mind.

Flooring Contractor Insurance – Common Complaints

Vast Majority of the tradespeople including flooring contractors complain about:

• Confusing, technical jargon used by the insurance industry
  • creating uncertainty about what insurance is required
  • which insurer is right for their trade – they all add slightly different conditions and exclusions
• High cost of insurance – Is the price charged a good deal, average or rip-off?

No need to worry…

We have helped many tradespeople get the right cover with full understanding and savings of course.

Getting the right cover is a simple exercise in understanding what risks are you exposed to and what insurance options are available to manage those risks.

Not every person needs every insurance policy.

The complexity and size of your business determines whether you need just a public liability insurance or a full insurance program with many different types of policies.

Liability Insurance For Carpet Installers

Public Liability Insurance

The fundamental insurance that you should have as a small business operator whether trading as a sole trader or as a company.

Most likely people and other businesses you work with will ask for a certificate of currency for your insurance policy.

This insurance protects you from financial losses should someone make a claim against you for damaging their property or causing someone an injury or someone’s death.

For example: you’re replacing floor boards at a granny’s home and her inquisitive nature gets her checking out your craftsmanship, tripping over your tool box and breaking her fragile and brittle elbow. Her scary son now wants compensation.

Public Liability Insurance comes good here.

Key Exclusions & Conditions for Flooring Contractors

Fortunately, the Flooring contractors don’t have a lot of exclusions usually and the ones that are there are not that harsh. Lets look at them:

Every insurance policy comes with certain exclusions and conditions. A very important component of a properly set up insurance policy because left unchecked, these conditions could be the difference between a successful or an unsuccessful claim scenario for an insured customer.

Labour Hire/Subcontractors Endorsement

Would you be utilising the services of subbies? For you it might be not that important a question but for insurers it is. There are reasons behind why insurers pay a huge importance to this. To avoid personal injury claims to subcontracted labour, insurers tend to put a very high excess.

Common area exclusion – high foot traffic settings like malls, shopping centres etc.

As you can imagine, personal injuries to members of general public are easy in a shopping centre setting where people in their relaxed mindset mayn’t be paying much attention to the risks and hazards.

There could be little kids running around crazy, unsupervised whilst their mum & dad have got their attention hooked onto shops and cafes.

Insurers don’t like that and often put an exclusion. If you are going to be doing such work, then this is important.

Silica or Dust Exclusion

As you can imagine, the severity of claims that arise out of issues caused by inhalation of silica are huge as such some Insurers don’t really want to take on any risk of claims that arise due to that.

Flooring Installer Insurance Cost

Whether you are just starting out or an established business it pays to know whether the price being offered to you is a good deal, a rip-off or somewhere in the middle.

Some Basic Pricing

If you are just starting out, you might be after some basic coverage like $5 Million limit on your General Liability Insurance to save on costs.

Fortunately there are some good bargains to be taken.

We’ve observed that a startup Flooring Contractor business with a turnover estimate of $100,000 can expect to pay between $430 – $475 depending on which state you are in.

Need a higher limit?

Not everyone takes up the lowest limit of $5 million. There are some who need more, many take up the $10 million limit and if you work as a subcontractor to another business, most likely you will be asked for a $20 million limit.

This is because your head contractor’s policy conditions will most likely require all sub-contractors maintain an equivalent limit Public Liability Insurance.

How does that compare to other trades?

Among the common trades, flooring contractors are in the mid range when it comes to insurers pricing them. High risk trades tend to get charged higher.

Business Growing Fast?

When your business grows, so does the risk. Insurers know that and they increase the price of insurance. The chart below shows what prices could look like as your business increases in turnover and staff.

Long story short, you want someone who understands the trades insurance so that your policy can be set up properly that is suitable for you and also at a price point that doesn’t break the bank. Give us a call!