Insurance for florists

Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. What makes it effectively necessary is commercial: landlords and shopping centres ask for it before granting a lease or a licence, hotels and event venues require it before you install, and market operators normally want to see it before allocating a pitch. If you welcome customers into a shop or work on someone else's premises, expect to be asked for evidence of cover. Having it in place is often what lets you sign the agreement.

Public liability cover starts from €7.55 per month with Insify. What you actually pay depends on the activities you declare, your turnover, the cover limit you choose and the excess you accept. A sole trader running one small shop sits at the lower end. A florist with staff, higher turnover, regular event work and a €6.5 million limit sits higher. You see your own price before you buy, and there is no long-term commitment: you can cancel any day.

It covers injury to other people and damage to their property caused by your business. A customer slipping on water around the conditioning buckets, a passer-by struck by a display blowing over, a venue floor scratched while you carry in an installation. It pays your defence costs and any compensation due, up to the cover limit you choose and after your excess. It responds whether the incident happens in your shop, at a customer's home or at a venue you are dressing.

No. Insify's cover in Ireland is liability cover, not property cover, so your own flowers, plants, stock, tools, chillers and fittings are not covered against damage or loss. What it does cover is your liability to other people: injury to a customer, or damage to property that belongs to someone else. If you want protection for a venue's or a customer's belongings while they are in your care, that is the optional Third-party objects and sites cover, which pays up to €5,000 per claim and €10,000 per year.

Yes. Public liability follows the work rather than the address, so it responds to injury or third-party property damage caused while you are delivering or installing, not only to incidents inside your shop. A toppled arrangement that damages a customer's floor, or a stand that marks a hotel wall, are the kinds of claim it answers. Declare delivery and event installation when you apply so the policy matches what you do. Claims arising from driving are a separate matter and sit with your motor policy.

You can choose €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, with twice that amount available per year. Base the choice on what your contracts demand rather than on instinct: lease agreements, venue terms and market licences frequently name a minimum, and the higher tiers exist because those requirements exist. If you are unsure, the middle tier is the default and you can review it when a venue or a landlord asks for more.

The excess is the amount you pay yourself towards a claim. Depending on your turnover, it runs from €0 up to €2,500. If a claim settles at €3,000 and your excess is €250, you pay €250 and Insify covers €2,750. A higher excess lowers your premium and raises what you carry when something goes wrong, so match it to what you could absorb without difficulty rather than to the lowest monthly figure.

List every service you actually provide, not just the shop counter. Trade from your shop and online in plants, flowers, seeds and horticultural supplies is covered, and so is making flower arrangements and bouquets, along with business trips and the use of premises for the insured activity. Some adjacent work sits outside this policy: designing, constructing or manufacturing products, trade in articles for agricultural or business use, and goods left with you under supervision for repair work. If part of your work falls into one of those, say so at the quote stage so it can be assessed rather than discovered at claim time.