Working in the trades is a great way to make good money, and the United States is currently going through a severe shortage of tradies, regardless of whether you’re a roofer or a handyman. That being said, the trades can also create a risky work environment in which things can and do go wrong.

When people hear that, they often think the worst, including bodily injury and potentially even death, but this isn’t always the case. Something as simple as a job done wrong can land you in hot financial water, and it can put your entire business and/or career at risk if you don’t have tradesman insurance, also known as tradie insurance or tradesperson insurance.

Over the course of this guide, we’re going to take a look at everything you need to know about tradesman insurance. We’ll cover the various kinds of tradesman business insurance, and on top of that, we’ll go over how much you can expect to pay for each kind of insurance for tradies.

Tradesman Insurance Policy Types

There are many different kinds of tradesman and professional insurance available, and they are determined by the kind of policy that you get and exactly what those policies cover. The exact kind of tradesperson insurance coverage you get is linked to how much you pay for your policy, with cheap tradesman insurance typically featuring less coverage.

Public Liability Insurance for Tradesman

Public liability insurance tends to be some of the most affordable insurance for tradesmen because it’s relatively situational and unlikely that you’ll need to make a claim on it. As the name suggests, this kind of tradie insurance coverage only applies to the public who visit your place of business and may be injured or suffer some kind of damage as a result of your business operation.

Public can include delivery people, visitors who know your employees, or even customers who are visiting your offices or passengers on the street of your work location. Due to the limited coverage offered by this typr of insurance, you likely won’t have too much trouble getting a good rate on it, though it won’t protect you from some of the more significant risks involved in running a trades business.

General Liability Insurance for Tradesman

General liability insurance for tradesman is a little less situational than public liability insurance, so a tradesman insurance online quote for general liability will be a bit more pricey than PLI. In exchange for this higher price, this kind of policy will cover more than just damage caused to the public by your business activities.

For example, employees of the business, sellers, and even the owner of the business will be covered from the same range of occurrences. The cases covered by general liability insurance include both property damage and bodily injury coming from accidents that occur during the company’s operations.

An oft-unused part of general liability insurance is advertising injury coverage. This kind of coverage will pay out if you end up getting sued for your advertisements if they’re found to contain copyright, invasion of privacy, libel, or anything along those lines. Of course, this isn’t a free pass to get reckless with your ads.

Tradesman Tool Insurance

In most cases, if you’re trying to insure your personal tools, then you’ll likely have them covered under your homeowners insurance or your renters policy. However, the instant you start using your tools for business, they will be excluded from these two policies because they are automatically excluded.

If your insurance doesn’t cover your tools when you use them for business purposes, you’ll need to get tradesman tool insurance, which will let you make a claim if your tools are damaged or lost. You will also be able to get a payout if your tools end up getting stolen while you’re on the job.

Personal Accident Insurance

Personal accident insurance is a form of tradesman business insurance that protects the people working for the company. For example, if one of your workers ends up getting injured on the job, they will have access to a personal accident insurance payout to ensure that they are taken care of.

Personal accident insurance will pay out in the event of an injury on the job site or even accidental death. This kind of coverage will also pay out in case an employee ends up with permanent or total disability due to an accident that was sustained on the job. Some policies of this type are easier to pay for because of payroll deduction schemes.

Business Building Insurance Coverage

The next kind of tradesman and professional insurance you’ll want to consider is business building insurance. As the name suggests, this kind of coverage will apply to any buildings that are under the name of your trades business, but it can also apply to properties that you are renting or leasing.

If you own the building, this kind of coverage will apply to the structure itself as well as its contents. If you are leasing or renting the building, then the coverage will apply to the building’s contents that are yours, but it will also pay out if you have a problem with any of the additions that you’ve made to the building.

Tradesman Van Insurance

If you have a company van for your trades business that you would like to make sure is insured, you will have to get your hands on some commercial vehicle insurance.

You’ll want to avoid personal vehicle insurance, as the moment you use your personal vehicle for business, your insurance will no longer apply to it. As with personal vehicle insurance, commercial vehicle insurance includes property damage and personal injury liability components, as well as PIP in applicable states.

Tradesman Insurance Cost

Wondering how much does tradesman insurance cost? Please find the average tradesman insurance cost below for some of the most common policies required by tradespeople and we’ll give you a rundown of how much you can expect to pay per month and per year for them:

How To Get Cheap Tradesman Insurance

If you’re looking for the best tradesman insurance available, you’re likely looking for some cheap tradesman insurance that contains all of the coverage that your business needs from the best tradesman insurance companies. Fortunately, finding the right tradesman insurance policy is easier than ever with our tradesman insurance quotes comparison, which takes out the legwork from your side.