Construction liability insurance for Irish trades

Cover starts from €21.84 per month, including taxes, on a construction policy. Your own premium depends on the trades you declare, your annual turnover and the excess you pick, so two roofers on the same street can pay different amounts. A higher excess lowers the monthly premium, because you carry more of a small claim yourself. Two optional extras change the price as well: employers' liability for your own crew, and faulty craftsmanship cover for putting defective finished work right. You see your own price before you buy, and you can cancel anytime.

It covers what you owe other people, so it does not pay for your own things. Contract works in progress, plant, tools, materials, stock and vehicles are not covered by this policy, and neither is the profit you lose when a job goes wrong. Some specific work is excluded for particular trades: asphalting, pouring concrete and cement floors, façade cleaning and sandblasting, chimneys and fireplaces, pools and saunas, solar panels, and tree work above 3 metres are examples, and the full list is on this page with the trades each one applies to. Work you did not declare at quote stage is not covered either, which is the easiest one to avoid. If you need cover for the works themselves rather than for your liability to others, that is a different product and we do not sell it.

No. Liability cover is not required by law in Ireland, and neither is employers' liability, which is different from the position in the UK. On site it is close to unavoidable: principal contractors and main contractors ask for a certificate before you set foot on the job, local authorities ask for one with permits and road openings, and public tenders set their own minimum limit. Domestic clients ask more often than they used to, especially for work in an occupied home. So the law does not oblige you, but the people who give you work usually do.

Only if you add faulty craftsmanship cover, which is an optional add-on and exists only on construction cover. It pays the cost of the additional work needed to put defective finished work right, up to €25,000 per claim if you work on your own and €50,000 if you have staff, with a fixed excess of €500 on that part of the policy. For example, a floor that lifts within weeks has to be taken up and relaid: the labour and materials for redoing it are what this add-on is for. Without it, your policy still answers injury and damage you cause to other people and their property, but not the cost of redoing your own work. It is the single difference that matters most between a construction policy and a general one, so it is worth a hard look at quote stage.

No law says a sole trader must hold liability cover in Ireland. The practical answer is different: as a sole trader you are personally exposed, because there is no company between you and a claim, and one ceiling brought down by water can cost more than a year of profit. Most contractors and site operators will not take you on without a certificate, and many domestic clients now ask for one too. Cover starts from €21.84 per month, and the objects and parts of the site in your care are covered to €25,000 per claim while you work on your own, rising to €50,000 once you have staff. If you take someone on, employers' liability is worth adding at the same time.

Every construction policy carries €2.5 million per claim and €5 million per year, and on construction cover that limit is fixed rather than chosen, so every trade on this page holds the same figure. That is what lets you answer a principal contractor or a tender document before you price the job instead of after. Employers' liability, if you add it, carries its own €13 million per claim, which is the figure public sector tenders usually name. The objects and parts of the site in your care sit at €25,000 per claim on your own and €50,000 with staff. If a contract asks for a limit higher than €2.5 million, tell us before you sign.

The excess is the share of every claim you pay yourself before cover starts. Say a client claims €4,000 because you damaged a fitted kitchen, and your excess is €500: you pay the €500 and Insify covers the remaining €3,500. If your annual revenue is €500,000 or less you can choose €0, €250, €500, €1,000 or €2,500, and €500 is the default. Above €500,000 the choice is €500, €1,000 or €2,500, with €1,000 as the default. A higher excess means a lower monthly premium, so the question is how much of a small claim you would rather absorb. Faulty craftsmanship cover keeps its own €500 excess whatever you choose.

Only if you add employers' liability, which is optional on a construction policy and pays up to €13 million per claim. It answers claims brought by the people who work for you for injury or illness connected to their work, which the main cover does not: that is for people outside your business. Employers' liability is not compulsory in Ireland, unlike the UK, but contractors and site operators often require it before they let a crew on site. If you take on your first employee, or use labour-only subcontractors, this is the point to add it. Terms, conditions and underwriting criteria may apply.

Roofing, paving, bricklaying and pointing, plastering, carpentry, floor laying, tiling, painting, electrical work, fibre optic installation, plumbing and sanitary fitting, heating and air-conditioning installation, shutters, blinds and awnings, handyman services, gardening and landscaping, and interior fit-out. Each trade brings its own list of covered work and its own exclusions, which is why the cover lists on this page name the trades beside each item. You declare your trades at quote stage and your cover is built around them. If your work spans several of these, declare all of them: undeclared work is the most common reason a claim is refused.