Builders Public Liability Insurance from £9.50/month

Builders public liability insurance covers injury to members of the public and damage to their property caused by your building work — from a passer-by hit by falling materials to a client's ceiling cracked by work above. Most builders carry £2m–£5m; the gap we see most is height and heat work not declared, which can void the policy exactly when you need it.

Cover this trade usually needs

Cover	Why it matters	Typical limit
Public liability	Injury to the public and damage to third-party property caused by your work	£2m–£5m typical; £10m for commercial sites
Employers' liability	Legal requirement if you employ anyone — including most labour-only subcontractors	£10m (legal minimum £5m)
Contract works	The part of the property you are physically working on — excluded from public liability	Matched to the largest contract value
Own and hired-in plant	Diggers, dumpers and mixers, owned or on CPA hire	Full plant list values

Key risks

• A member of the public is injured by falling materials, trip hazards or scaffolding near your site.
• You damage the client's property — drilling through a pipe, cracking a ceiling, breaking a window.
• Work at height or with heat is excluded or restricted because it was never declared.
• A labour-only subcontractor is injured and treated as an employee for employers' liability.

Regulations and licences

• Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 where anyone is employed.
• CDM Regulations 2015 duties on construction projects.
• CSCS card requirements on most sites.
• Contract insurance clauses — JCT contracts commonly specify £5m–£10m public liability.

What we check before quoting

• The trades you actually do — including any underpinning, demolition or roofing.
• Maximum height you work at and any heat work.
• Turnover split between labour and materials.
• Labour-only versus bona fide subcontractors.
• The limit your contracts or clients require.

Gaps we see most often

• Height restrictions (often 10–15m) or heat-work exclusions not spotted until a claim.
• Damage to the part being worked on — needs contract works, not public liability.
• Labour-only subcontractors not declared for employers' liability.
• Hired-in plant not covered under CPA hire conditions.

Limits clients and contracts usually ask for

• £1m for small domestic sole traders; £2m–£5m for most builders.
• £5m–£10m where councils, housing associations or principal contractors require it.
• Employers' liability £10m (the legal minimum is £5m).

Key facts and sources

• HSE's provisional figures record 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2025/26, with construction and agriculture together accounting for over a third, and falls from height the most common kind of fatal accident at around a quarter. HSE — Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2026
• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 place legal duties on clients, designers and contractors on construction projects in Great Britain, including domestic work. Domestic client duties normally transfer to the contractor or principal contractor. legislation.gov.uk — CDM Regulations 2015

Separate damage to existing property from completing the job

Before starting an alteration, create a condition record of the customer's existing rooms, neighbouring surfaces and access route. Mark which areas are handed over to you and which remain occupied. Attach the scope, drawings and signed variations to the same job file. This gives the broker practical evidence to distinguish damage allegedly caused by your operations from an existing defect, and to identify whether a complaint concerns retained property, temporary works or the new work itself.

Record who controls temporary weatherproofing, service isolation, protection of contents and public access while the job progresses. If another contractor removes your protection, retain the handover and instruction trail. A builder acting as principal contractor has a different coordination role from a subcontractor attending for one isolated task. Give the broker representative contract clauses allocating these responsibilities, especially where a homeowner remains in residence and expects you to protect property outside the immediate work area throughout the project.

When damage is alleged, obtain an itemised demand separating the original defective work, damage to other property, access costs and requests to improve the specification. Preserve photographs and relevant materials before destructive investigation where safe. Ask the broker about inspection and consent before agreeing a final settlement with the customer. A public liability enquiry should not be presented as a general guarantee to finish the contract, refund the build price or fund every item on a snagging list.

Revisit insurance when taking on occupied structural alterations, accepting broader design responsibility or agreeing responsibility for the whole site. HSE's construction administration source explains plans, assessments and reports in Great Britain; it does not allocate contractual damages or promise cover. Use it to identify the safety paperwork supporting the job chronology. Separately ask the broker to explain existing-structure treatment, defective-work provisions, contractual indemnities and how urgent protective expenditure should be documented and authorised if an incident occurs mid-project.

HSE: construction administration, plans and reports, Great Britain