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 carpenter 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.
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 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 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.
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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 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.
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.
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.
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:
| Policy | Cost per month | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|
| General liability insurance | $60 | $720 |
| Professional indemnity insurance | $87 | $1044 |
| Public liability insurance | $63 | $756 |
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.
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1 / 5
Use anyone except Employers. Period. They are non-transparent and shameful. After I complained long enough to warrant a call from a supervisor, the supervisor called back from a PRIVATE NUMBER (no caller ID), left a message that they are not reversing their decision (without any communication with me), and failed to leave a phone number for me to call back. She was hiding! They also fact find via email and phone calls, which is terrific for speed and communication. However, after setting a precedence of email or phone calls, they send time sensitive information via email, without any heads up... they are hoping you miss it and forfeit via expiration. Evil policies. Go elsewhere.
1 / 5
This place is an absolute joke of a company and should be ashamed of the way they conduct business. I was hurt on the job at the end of July and it took them just shy of 7 weeks to issue out a paycheck to me. Yes the amount was back dated but still. Not many have the luxury of not receiving a paycheck for almost 2 months. To top it all off, the original adjuster marked me down for the wrong state which caused a problem from the get go, I've had 3 different adjusters now since each one can't seem to figure out the simplicity of my claim. All my paperwork which includes, my job, house, and drs visits all are from the same state and city but yet some how I have been filed under a completely different state 1500 miles away. They do not answer your phone calls or emails no matter how many you leave. I've had to escalate my frustrations to the supervisors of each of these individuals in order to even get some kind of response. I've had more communication and information given to me about my claim from the customer service representatives then the actual adjusters.......... please tell me how that works?! A serious overhaul needs to happen here in order to serve your clients the way they deserve to be taken care of. 10/10 do not recommend this company to a single soul on earth
1 / 5
I have never had the displeasure of working with a more incompetent and disrespectful person in my life. I’m an injured worker and the adjuster that was assigned to my case was named Carrie Furgeson. In the past 6 weeks that I’ve been injured and out of work I have only been able to get ahold of her twice, not for lack of trying. I have left countless voicemails, countless emails, and she ignores them all. When I am finally able to get ahold of her I’m greeted with terrible customer service. She is rude, she talks over me and I’m hardly able to get a word in edgewise. She spelled my name wrong on my documents even after I spelled it for her properly countless times, this caused a whole new issue with my bank. I have bill collectors from the hospital calling me demanding payment and Carrie Furgeson won’t do a single thing to help, or to get them paid. All of my documentation is in Colorado, my job is in Colorado, my address is in Colorado, all my Dr offices and appointments have been in Colorado and Carrie still managed to hold my claim because she wasn’t sure what state she needed to file it under. It’s been 6 weeks since my Injury and my company still hasn’t received the wage paperwork to fill out so they can get me my correct wages. When she’s not ignoring me she’s answering my questions with “I don’t know” well I don’t know how she got this job, because apparently she doesn’t know anything about it. She is a disgusting morose individual inside and out and I genuinely wish her the worst in all of her future endeavors. I highly recommend you don’t use this company. Please if you are a business owner and your looking into this company please don’t use them. I’m sure they have the cheapest payment and that’s why companies use them in the first place, but you will be doing your employees a grave disservice by forcing them to venture into this absolute dumpster fire of a company. I would rate 0/5 if possible but 1 was the lowest I was allowed.
5 / 5
Their general liability insurance purchase process is simply the best online experience I've ever had in my life!
5 / 5
As long as they cover your line of business, you're literally covered! best rates, best coverage, best online experience, best professionals, can't be happier that I chose them!
Not all those who wander are lost.
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