Whether you’re laying carpet, vinyl, floating timber or other flooring types, it’s important to have the right protection in place.
At Trade Risk we specialise in business insurance for the building and construction industry, and flooring contractors are an important part of this.
We can assist businesses from any size, from a start-up sole trader to a national company turning over millions per year.
Are you a tiler? Follow this link to our dedicated tilers insurance section.
In this guide we’re going to look at the most common forms of business insurance for flooring contractors and installers.
Given that we specialise in business insurance the guide will focus on cover for the self-employed, which includes contractors, subcontractors, sole-traders and company owners.
If you’d simply like a quote or to speak with one of our specialists, please click here or call us on 1800 808 800.
What Business Activities Are Covered?
The description ‘flooring contractor’ is quite broad, so it’s important to understand exactly what business activities are covered under this term.
As insurance brokers, we deal with a wide variety of insurance companies and underwriters, and exactly what each of them classes as a flooring contractor can differ.
For now we’ll focus on the policies available to purchase directly through our website via our online quote system.
This particular policy specifically mentions the following business activities for a flooring contractor:
- Carpet laying
- Vinyl flooring
- Floating timber flooring
- Timber floor sanding and polishing
- Epoxy flooring
This doesn’t mean other types of flooring installation are not covered, but it would be safest to get in touch with one of our specialists first before purchasing a policy online.
Also affecting the cover is the types of locations you are working in. Residential and light commercial works are never going to be an issue, but other certain locations can be.
For example if you are working on flooring within an airport or a power station, you would need to speak with one of our specialists first who could recommend the right policy.
As always with business insurance, if you have any doubt about the coverage you should speak with one of our qualified insurance experts first.
Now we’ll take a look at some of the specific policies that are popular with flooring contractors.
Public Liability Insurance
The most commonly required form of business insurance for a flooring contractor will be public liability insurance.
Your public liability policy will respond in the event that your negligence has resulted in property damage or personal injury to a third party.
An example of a claim could be where you’ve laid the flooring incorrectly, and as a result someone has tripped on it and suffered an injury.
Or it could be something as simple as breaking a window in a customer’s home whilst carrying timber flooring through the house.
These are the types of events that could trigger a claim on your public liability insurance.
Claims can vary from a few hundred dollars for a minor claim (keeping in mind there will be a policy excess) through to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a serious personal injury claim.
With policies ranging in cover from $5 million to $20 million, you should have no problem finding the level of cover you need.
Pricing for a single worker business starts from under $400 per year for $5 million cover.
Get instant quote for flooring contractors public liability insurance here.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
A flooring contractor will not typically require professional indemnity insurance, but it is something that we can assist with.
Broadly speaking, it is only required where you are providing professional advice to a client, and generally only when that advice is being provided in return for a fee.
If would like advice on this type of cover please get in touch with us and one of our insurance brokers will be able to assist.
Tool Insurance
For any self-employed tradie, their tools and their gear is absolutely vital to them in making a living.
Power tools are hot property when it comes to thieves, and sometimes the only way to truly protect them is to insure them.
Tool insurance can cover your gear for a range of risks, including fire damage, damage caused in a vehicle rollover and theft following forced entry.
Commercial Motor
No flooring contractor can work without a suitable ute, van or truck.
Whilst any insurance company will be able to assist with insuring your vehicle, there are benefits to having a trade specialist such as Trade Risk look after it for you.
If you are using a normal car insurance company, it’s imperative that you let them know the vehicle is being used for business use.
If you have your ute or van insured as a personal vehicle and need to claim, there is a possibility that the insurer will deny the claim due to a breach of your duty of disclosure.
By letting Trade Risk look after you vehicle, we can ensure that it is properly insured for the business activities you are undertaking.
We can also insure you under a proper commercial motor insurance policy, which may be more suitable than a standard policy through the big name insurers.
For more information about commercial motor insurance please get in touch with us.
Income Protection
Whilst we don’t deal with income protection at Trade Risk, we strongly recommend it to all self-employed tradies.
As a self-employed contractor, you generally won’t have access to sick leave, and potentially workers compensation depending on which Australian state you operate within.
Income protection may be the only thing that’s going to keep you out of financial strife if you cannot earn a little for a period of time due to injury or illness.
Whilst we don’t specifically deal with income protection, you can request an income protection quote via our website which will be passed on to our referral partner.
Business Pack
If you’ve taken the next step in your business and have your own premises, along with stock and machinery, you may need to consider a business package.
A business pack can cover a wide range of risks that go beyond a standard public liability policy.
This can include the following:
- Public liability
- Business premises (if owned)
- Glass cover
- Contents and stock
- Business interruption
- Machinery breakdown
- And more
Once you get to this level we recommend speaking with one of our account managers. As qualified insurance brokers they can speak with you about your business and provide specialist advice.
Next Steps
The next steps depend on what you need.
If you only require public liability and/or tool insurance, we can provide you with an instant quote via our website. Simply click here to get started.
Alternatively you can call our team during business hours on 1800 808 800.
If you have more complex insurance requirements, or would like some advice, you can complete our comprehensive quote request form.
Or of course you can just call us, as we love speaking with tradespeople about their businesses!
We do consider ourselves to be specialists when it comes to business insurance for flooring contractors, so please get in touch to see how we can help you and your business.
