Public liability insurance for painters and decorators

How this applies to the work

Your invoices and diary will usually describe the business more accurately than a broad label. They show the tasks, sites and customers that the policy has to accommodate.

A public liability policy is concerned with certain claims from people outside the business. Your own tools, an employee’s injury or the cost of redoing poor work can fall elsewhere.

The day-to-day exposure is easier to judge through examples. For this subject, look at: paint damages flooring or furniture; a member of the public trips over sheets; and a ladder or tool causes damage. Each example can involve different facts and exclusions. Mention it if it forms part of the work you undertake.

Do not rely on memory if you can check: maximum working height; exterior work and spraying; and use of heat, solvents or subcontractors. Read the answer back as though you were checking somebody else’s form.

Set the certificate beside the full policy documents. The certificate confirms useful basics, but it cannot show every condition. An unexplained clause is a reason to ask a question, not to guess.

Points to think through

The following examples are worth discussing if they occur in your work:

• Paint damages flooring or furniture
• A member of the public trips over sheets
• A ladder or tool causes damage

The cause, timing and people involved can all change the outcome. Keep that in mind when reading the wording.

Use “a member of the public trips over sheets” as a test case. Picture the actual premises and the people moving through them. Then check whether the activity, location and possible damage all fit the description you plan to submit.

Compare it with “paint damages flooring or furniture”. One may concern injury and the other property damage, yet both could arise from the same working area.

If the policy provider would be surprised to hear about the example, the original description probably needs another look.

What to check before starting the form

A hurried estimate can cause confusion later. Check:

• Maximum working height
• Exterior work and spraying
• Use of heat, solvents or subcontractors

Check “maximum working height”, “exterior work and spraying” and “use of heat, solvents or subcontractors” against recent invoices and the work diary. The description should cover ordinary jobs as well as the less frequent tasks that customers still ask you to do.

Do not send sensitive records merely to prove a simple figure unless the provider asks for them through a suitable route. Usually the answer itself is enough at quotation stage.

Two reminders from this page are “use clean dust sheets and agreed storage areas” and “check height restrictions”; keep them beside the documents when you check the quotation. If the policy takes a different approach to “maximum working height”, ask about it before the cover is needed and retain any written reply.

If the provider asks for an estimate, make a fair one and note how you arrived at it.

Look closely at these points

• Use clean dust sheets and agreed storage areas
• Check height restrictions
• The finish you must redo is not the same as resulting damage

Pay attention to instructions that use words such as “must” or “always”. Ask what happens if a condition cannot be followed on a particular job.

One last read-through

Keep the quotation answers, schedule, wording, endorsements and certificate together. They are parts of the same record.

If the business changes during the policy period, ask whether the provider needs to be told rather than waiting for renewal.

Put the renewal date somewhere it will be noticed before any long-running contract passes through it. A customer may need an updated certificate, and the renewed policy may not use exactly the same terms.

Keep one further reminder with the quotation: the finish you must redo is not the same as resulting damage; check how this affects the jobs you accept and ask for clarification if the policy takes a different approach.