Construction Insurance

There are a huge number of professionals who form the construction industry. This fundamental industry incorporates the aspirations of architects, planners and engineering consultants through to the craftsmen who reshape, repurpose and create our country’s infrastructure.

The demands of the construction industry requires the understanding of contract law and subsequently the requirements of a modern-day contractor. Bluestone assist our contractors with all the conventional insurances along with professional indemnity, collateral warranty checks, bonds, latent defects and liquidated damages cover.

Contractors All Risks

This comprises of three distinct sections:-

a) Contract Works. Subject to the contract terms you may find yourself responsible for the works. This section covers your materials and labour invested into a contract up to the point at which you sign off or handover that completed contract. An example would be a site is partially completed awaiting a second fix; overnight thieves break into the site and rip out the copper pipework. The insurance would cover the labour and reinstatement costs to bring the site back to the position it was in prior to the theft. This may be more costly than the first installation due to associated works.

b) Employers Liability as required by law. As an employer, you are required to provide a safe working environment for your staff. This becomes subject to more legislation in the construction industry due to the high-risk nature of the work. Failure to do so will result in a claim against your business.

c) Public Liability. For those not employed by you, this cover provides indemnity for third party injury and third party property damage.

Excess Liability (excess layer)

Your public liability policy or professional indemnity policy will have a set level of indemnity. E.g.: £2m. You may however require the indemnity limit to be higher than your insurer is providing. It is possible to approach another insurer to provide a “layer” on top of your “primary” indemnity limit. E.g.; You require £5m indemnity and only hold £2m. A layer would be purchased for the additional £3m to “lay” on top of the original £2m. The wording of the first insurer is adopted by the layer insurer. It is therefore important to insure your primary layer with an insurer others feel comfortable following.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

This used to be called “errors and omissions” which probably more aptly describes the cover which provides indemnity for a financial loss suffered by a third party due to your professional negligence. The crucial element to this cover is that it is written on a “claims made” basis which means that when the claim is first intimated to you or any of your company representatives, cover must be in force.

Many think cover needs to be in place at the time the error was made, however this is where the importance of the retro-active date becomes apparent. This is the date at which your first professional indemnity policy started with continuous cover. The insurer places this date on the policy to mark a point in time, prior to which it will exclude cover. E.g.; If you are advised today of a loss and your policy has been running for six months but the initial error was made prior to your retro-active date the claim would not be covered by the policy.

Note: If you are a member of a professional body there may be specific wordings required in your insurance contract, we can ensure that your policy is compliant.

Directors & Officers Insurance

This policy covers the principals of a business, those who make the important decision within the company or organisation. It differs from other policies as it defends against actions taken against the principals directly and not just those made against the business entity. It became more important following successful prosecutions under the Corporate Manslaughter Act. The construction industry by its nature is high risk and commands exceptional health & safety. Defence against such claims on an individual principal can have a catastrophic effect on the personal wealth of that individual. This cover therefore should be an essential to anyone in this industry.

Construction Insurance