Contract works
Contractors All Risk
The policy that covers the thing you are building, while you are building it. Storm, fire, flood, theft and accidental damage to the contract works, the materials and the temporary works, plus a third party liability section for injury and damage caused on site.
Single project, or annual across the contracts you declare. Send us the contract and we will tell you what its insurance clause requires. Subject to underwriting.
The works while you are building them
Project or annual declared contracts
Liability section usually included
Sums insured underinsurance costs you
What it covers
The works, while they are still works
Contractors All Risk covers physical loss or damage to the contract works while the job is running: the permanent work, the temporary works, and the materials on site for them. Storm, flood, fire, collapse, impact and accidental damage are the everyday claims, and professional fees and debris removal are normally part of putting it right.
Most policies also carry a third party liability section for injury and damage caused on site. That section is usually tied to this site and to the period of the works, which is why a contractor who needs a higher limit, more parties named, or cover that runs on afterwards looks at construction liability as well.
Cover normally runs from the start on site to practical completion, and a maintenance or defects liability period can extend it past handover while you are still going back to fix things. Check what your contract requires against what your schedule actually gives you, because the two are not always the same.
The short version
A summary only. Your policy wording and schedule decide what applies.
Start the CAR quoteIn and out
What is in, and what is not
The insured section is broad. What catches contractors out is usually not an uninsurable peril, it is a condition on their own schedule that was never met.
The contract works
The permanent and temporary works and the materials for them, against sudden physical loss or damage. Professional fees and debris removal are normally included in putting the loss right.
Third party liability
Injury to other people and damage to their property arising from the works, up to the limit on your schedule and usually only for the period of the works.
Wear, tear and bad practice
Gradual deterioration and rust, and damage from deliberate acts or poor housekeeping. Faulty workmanship itself is treated differently from the damage that flows from it, so read the wording rather than assume either way.
Late completion penalties
Liquidated damages and penalties for running late are not covered, and the cover most often suggested for them does something else entirely. See the question below before you rely on it.
Where it fits
Five covers, five different claims
A construction site usually needs more than one policy, and each one answers a different kind of loss. This is the whole set, with this page’s cover marked.
| Cover | Pays for | A claim looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Contractors All RiskYou are reading about this one | Damage to the works you are building, and the materials for them | Storm, fire, theft or collapse during construction |
| Public liability | Injury to other people, and damage to property that is not yours | A passerby is injured, a neighbour’s wall cracks |
| Professional indemnity | Financial loss caused by your advice, design or documentation | A design error that costs the employer money |
| Design and construct | A defect in the works that traces back to the design | It was built correctly, but it was designed wrong |
| COIDA | Injury to your own employees | A worker is hurt on site |
A claim usually fits one of these and not the others, and a claim is sometimes declined on one policy because the loss actually belonged on another. If you are not sure which policy a situation belongs to, call us straight away. Notify your insurer within the time your policy requires, and we will help you get it to the right place.
Insure for the full value, or you share the loss. If the sum insured is less than the true value at risk, the average condition applies and the insurer pays only the proportion you insured, on a partial claim as well as a total one. The number has to carry the full contract value, free issue materials, temporary works, professional fees, debris removal and an allowance for escalation and variations. Underinsurance is the most common and the most expensive mistake on a construction policy.
Quick answers
Contractors All Risk questions
The ones contractors ask us most often.
What extensions are worth asking about?
- SASRIA for strikes, riots and civil commotion, which an ordinary policy does not cover
- Existing structures, for refurbishment or extension work on a building that is already there
- Surrounding property and lateral support, where you are excavating next to somebody else
- Plant and equipment, which normally sits on its own Plant All Risk policy rather than here
- Transit, for materials on the way to site
- Veldfire, and maintenance or defects liability cover that runs on past handover
Which of these a job needs depends on the work and on what the contract requires, so send us the contract rather than work from a list.
Does it cover the building I am working on, or only the new work?
Only the new work, unless the existing structures extension is added and the value of that structure is declared. On a refurbishment or an extension this is the gap that matters most: without it the new work is insured and the building around it is not.
Are materials the employer supplied to me covered?
Yes, provided you declare them in the sum insured. Free issue materials are still at risk on your site, and leaving them out of the number does more than exclude them: it understates the sum insured, which can reduce a claim on everything else through the average condition.
What about theft from site?
Theft cover normally turns on two things: evidence of forcible entry, and whether you met the security conditions on your schedule, which can include fencing, lighting, locked containers and guards. Read those conditions before the job starts. They are the ones most often discovered after a loss rather than before one.
Are penalties for finishing late covered?
No. Liquidated damages and late completion penalties are not covered by Contractors All Risk. Advance loss of profits cover, also called delay in start up, is often mentioned in the same breath, but it does something different: it insures the employer or the project financier for the revenue they lose when an insured event delays the project, and it is taken out by the party that carries that loss. It does not answer a contractor’s penalties.
Single project or annual?
A single project policy is written for one contract with a defined start and end. An annual policy covers the contracts you declare through the year, usually with larger projects noted separately. Which works out better depends on how many jobs you run and how big they are, so ask us to compare the two against your actual workload rather than assume either way.
CivilSure is an insurance broker. Cover is arranged with, and underwritten by, an insurer, which is named on your policy schedule. This page is a plain language summary. What applies to you is set out in the policy wording and the schedule issued to you. Cover, limits and exclusions are subject to underwriting. If anything here is unclear, ask us before you sign.
Breaking ground soon?
Start the quote online, or send us the contract and we will tell you what its insurance clause requires, what the sums insured need to carry, and which extensions the job actually calls for.