Skip to main content

Why You Need Owner Builder Public Liability


Article on Why you need owner builder public liability by adam

Adam Weaver adam@allrisk.com.au
01-01-2018

Why you need owner builder public liability

Recently someone asked us:
Why do I need owner builder insurance when I already have home insurance?
and occasionally people say:
I don't need public liability insurance because I already have it.
The answer to both of these is the same: Your existing insurance probably doesn't cover what you think it does.

Insurance 101

Just about every type of insurance you buy includes a public liability component. That's a good thing. 
But you have to remember that the public liability cover is restricted to the type of risk you're insuring! 
  • Home and contents public liability cover you as a homeowner and occupier only, not as an owner builder.
  • Motor vehicle public liability covers you as a vehicle owner and driver, not as an owner builder
  • Landlord public liability covers you as a property owner, not as an owner builder
  • Trades insurance public liability covers you as a tradesman, not as the principal of your own construction site (i.e. an owner builder).
So even though these insurances (and more) include public liability, that's not at all the same thing as owner builder public liability insurance.

If you're a builder, you're responsible for the site

No professional builder would work without public liability insurance, and we strongly recommend the same for owner builders. Whatever happens (or goes wrong) on the site, you're going to be involved as the principal. Even if you had nothing to do with the injury or the damage, as the builder the aggrieved party is almost guaranteed to involve you in the complaint.

What about damage to the project?

My home insurer said I don't need separate public liability insurance, because my project is so small.
That might be correct (but please read your policy wording to be sure; direct market insurers don't generally give blanket assurances like that), but are your building materials insured? Raw construction materials aren't always considered "home contents", and they may not be considered "home buildings" either. 
Owner builder insurance covers the raw materials on the site against damage or theft; whereas home insurance may not.
For that reason, we encourage all owner builders to get an insurance quote from us. Our online form takes around 90 seconds to complete, and will instantly e-mail you the quote and policy wording for you to read. Why not see how easy it can be today?

For more information about Why You Need Owner Builder Public Liability, visit our website.
Table of Contents Main Site
Social Platforms
Insights
Table of Contents



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Choose Your Builder Carefully

Adam Weaver  adam@allrisk.com.au 25-03-2018 Talk to your builder It sounds obvious, but not all builders are the same; most are highly skilled, experienced, and competent, and some are ... not . Sadly, in insurance, we hear horror stories more often than not; usually when it's too late to do anything about the choice of builder. Ask questions Are you a licensed builder? Quite a few "builders" are actually carpenters and other trades, and whilst they may have loads of experience in the particular trade, are  less  experienced in budgeting and time management skills. For how long have you had your license ?  Do you have any completed projects we can view? Any client references? Don't be embarrassed to ask, you'd think that a good builder would be proud of his past work and his past clients would give him a good review. What other work do you have on the go? Realistically, most builders will be working on more than one job at any ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Much Does Owner Builder Insurance Cost Victoria

In most owner builder insurance, the exact area to be covered or secured depends on what kind of package or product you take out. It is necessary to specify them with proper assistance from the company’s expert. It is also important to choose the right company for your property protection. The first thing you must do is learn about their terms and policies through checking their websites or calling them through the phone. In some places of Australia, companies provide service but with hidden charges. This is not the case all the time but it happens even here in Victoria. This is a very deceiving trick.  And for most of us who has goals, this is very obstructive too. You should be aware because it will extract a lot of money out of your pocket, leaving you with more financial troubles in the end. Australians should stop supporting this type of company. It is very important to spread awareness so that these companies will stop this kind of deception to their customers. If ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Owner Builder Insurance Cost

In some parts of Australia, you can never totally rely on a certain insurance company. In choosing the right one, you would really need to dig deep for its background first before you should decide to work with it. This is tough for  owner builders   because it could consume a lot of time and they have no other option but to do this. In many cases, companies hire incompetent tradespeople who fail to deliver a decent service. Some of them cannot even secure insurance because of lack of legitimacy. That is why sometimes,  the license  becomes meaningless. It cannot assure credibility anymore. It is unfortunate but many Australians have ignored this fact. This has been happening in the insurance industry for how many decades. Until now, you can still find corrupt companies trying to take advantage of other people’s weakness and vulnerability. It is now time we should address this issue for the sake of other future clients. In Australia, thousands of builder...
Post a Comment
Read more