Most trades have one thing in common, hands-on work. This may include building a house, running heavy machinery, rewiring a building or various other tasks that require you to get into the thick of the action. However, with these types of duties, numerous things can go wrong, and one mistake could cost you significantly.
Having business insurance can help your business and livelihood if things go wrong at work.
It depends on what trade you’re working in. Different industries will have varying insurance needs. Most tradies consider public liability insurance as it covers instances where your business activities cause personal injury to the general public or third party property damage.
While it’s not a statutory requirement for working in Australia, tradies in some industries might require public liability insurance to be licensed operators. Without this form of cover, you might find it difficult to secure contracts or jobs.
Along with public liability insurance, here are some other forms of insurance cover tradespeople can consider.
They don’t call them tools of the trade for nothing. In a lot of cases, you can’t do your job without them. So, what would happen if your tools were damaged or stolen and needed to be replaced? Without insurance, this would mean money out of your pocket, and some of those tools can be expensive!
Portable equipment can financially safeguard your tools if they’re lost or damaged in cases of:
Trades provide important services for many Australians, which vary from unclogging sink pipes to installing air-conditioners, and most of this work involves manual labour. However, there are some trades which provide professional advice as part of their service, in this case, a tradie may want to consider Professional Indemnity insurance.
Professional indemnity provides cover in cases where you’re found in breach of your professional duty. It will assist with the costs for legal action taken against you as a result of actual or even alleged negligent acts or omissions that result from you providing your professional service.
You can take every precaution in the world – by wearing a hard hat, dust mask, steel-capped boots and other protective equipment – and you could still get sick or injured. And sometimes one accident is all it takes for you to be out of work for an extended period.
Personal accident insurance can provide a weekly benefit for an insured period if you have an illness or are injured as a result of an accident. So, you can have the peace of mind knowing that you can both recover and keep up with your household expenses.
There’s no singular figure for how much tradies pay for business insurance because everyone’s personal circumstances are different. Premiums may vary depending on your:
Are you covered? Through our free business insurance comparison service, you can compare policies from a range of providers. It only takes a few minutes and you could end up with a great deal. So, why not see what policies we have available for you?
Looking for more insurance information for your trade? Find out more about the following occupations:
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