Cover
Cover we
arrange.
We are brokers, not an insurer. We place these eight types of cover with licensed South African insurers. Pick what you want to protect, then open it to see what is in and what is out. No jargon. What each card lists is a summary: the cover you actually get is set out in the policy wording and schedule issued to you, subject to underwriting, and the insurer is confirmed on your quotation.
What’s covered
✓Contract works: new work, temporary works, materials including free-issue, and certain off-site storage
✓Damage from fire, storm, flood, forcible-entry theft and accidental damage
✓Third-party liability for accidental damage or injury you cause
✓Professional fees to reinstate damaged works
✓Removal of debris after an insured loss
✓Maintenance and defects liability period after handover, where that extension is selected
What it won’t do
×Wear and tear, rust and gradual deterioration
×Deliberate acts or poor site housekeeping
×Penalties or late-completion damages, unless delay cover (ALOP or DSU) is added
×Theft where the site security warranties were not met
Who takes this out
Common questions
Does it cover riot, strike and public disorder?
Only through SASRIA, the South African Special Risks Insurance Association. It is a separate coupon and it is included on most projects we place.
Is theft from site covered?
Yes, where there is visible, forcible entry and you have met the site security warranties: fencing, lighting, locked containers, and guards where required.
Should my name be on the policy?
Where you carry contractual risk for the works, being named as an insured party is generally what gives you a direct right to claim under the policy, rather than relying on someone else to claim for you. Whether your name should be on a particular policy depends on your contract and the policy wording.
What’s covered
✓Accidental damage, overturning and collision on site and in transit
✓Theft and attempted theft of plant and attachments
✓Plant hired in, including your contractual liability under the hire agreement
✓Hired-out plant and continuing hire charges
✓Own damage while operating within the site boundary
What it won’t do
×Mechanical or electrical breakdown of the machine itself
×Damage while the machine is being used outside its design purpose
×Unlicensed or unqualified operators
×Tyres and tracks damaged in isolation
Who takes this out
Common questions
Who insures plant I hire in?
Read the hire contract before you assume. Many standard South African plant hire agreements place full responsibility on the hirer from the moment the machine leaves the depot, including continuing hire charges while it is off the road.
Is plant covered while in transit?
Yes, on a standard Plant All Risk section, including loading and offloading, provided the transport method is appropriate for the machine.
What’s covered
✓Legal liability for third-party injury or property damage
✓Broadform cover extending beyond the site boundary
✓Defective workmanship liability extensions
✓Legal defence costs
✓Vibration, weakening and removal of support extensions
What it won’t do
×The cost of redoing your own defective work
×Contractual liabilities you have voluntarily assumed beyond common law
×Injury to your own employees, which sits with COIDA, the workplace injury fund, and employers liability
×Pollution that is gradual rather than sudden
Who takes this out
Common questions
Is this not already in my CAR policy?
A CAR policy carries a third-party liability section, but it is limited to the site and the contract period. Broadform liability covers your business more widely, including work completed and off-site activity.
Does it cover damage to neighbouring structures?
Where the damage is sudden and accidental, cover is generally available, and the vibration and removal-of-support extensions are specifically written for piling and demolition work. Those are optional extensions, so they have to be included in the policy and carry their own limits and conditions.
What’s covered
✓Performance guarantees, variable and fixed, JBCC and NEC wordings
✓Retention money guarantees, which can release retained cash back into the business where the employer accepts one in place of retention
✓Advance payment guarantees
✓Comparison of insurer paper against bank facility cost
What it won’t do
×Project funding or loans. We are not a lender
×Guarantees where the underlying contract has already been breached
×Wordings the employer has not agreed in advance
Who takes this out
Common questions
Can you help me compare guarantee options?
Yes. We compare security, cost and wording requirements against your contract so you choose the instrument that suits both the employer and your balance sheet.
Is a guarantee the same as insurance?
No. A guarantee is security given to the employer. If it is called, you repay. The value is in freeing up bank facility and in getting the wording right before anything is issued.
A facility is an approved limit set up in your company’s name. The application is done once, and if it is approved, every guarantee is then drawn against that limit. The insurer reviews the facility at renewal and the limit can be adjusted or withdrawn. Setup usually runs about 10 to 14 working days once the insurer has everything it needs, so start at tender stage rather than after award.
✓Company profile and organogram
✓Two years of annual financial statements and your latest management accounts
✓Three months of bank statements
✓CIDB certificate and tax clearance certificate
✓ID documents and tax numbers of all directors
✓Details of any existing guarantees, legal matters or insolvency history
✓Letter of appointment
✓Full contract data: client, value, start and finish dates
✓The exact guarantee wording the employer requires
✓Bill of Quantities summary and cash-flow profile
✓Proof of related cover such as All Risk and Liability
Tell us about cash-flow pressure or unusual project risk up front. Not disclosing it is a common reason facilities are declined.
What’s covered
✓Legal liability for negligent design, advice or specification
✓Defence costs and investigation
✓Design and Construct PI where the contractor carries the design
✓Run-off cover after a project ends
✓Loss of documents
What it won’t do
×Claims reported after the policy has lapsed. It is a claims-made policy
×Deliberate breach of professional duty
×Guarantees of fitness for purpose beyond reasonable skill and care
×Contractual penalties
Who takes this out
Common questions
What does "claims made" actually mean?
The claim has to be reported while the policy is live, between the start and end dates on your schedule. Even if the mistake happened years earlier, the insurer only responds if the claim is reported during an active period. If your cover has lapsed and no run-off cover is in place, there is nothing for the claim to be reported under.
I only build to someone else’s drawings. Do I need it?
Where you build strictly to another party’s design, the professional risk usually sits with the designer. But the moment you take on any design element, a shop drawing, a temporary works design, or a specification change, you have taken on professional risk. What your contract puts on you is what decides it.
What’s covered
✓Claims from negligent design errors, whether the design was done in-house or subcontracted
✓Construction defects that came out of a design flaw
✓Defects in the works found before the Practical Completion or Take Over certificate
✓Legal liability from a negligent breach of professional duty by the company
✓Design tweaks you were asked to make on site that turned into a problem later
✓Temporary works you were left to design yourself: scaffolding, access roads, perimeter fencing, storage
What it won’t do
×Deliberate departures from an approved design
×The cost of redoing work that was simply built badly, with no design fault
×Claims first made after the period of insurance has ended
×Work outside the professional duties described in the policy
Who takes this out
Common questions
I do not offer design services. Why am I being asked for this?
Because many contractors touch the design without realising it. Contractors get asked to tweak plans to make them work, and a small change can cause a real problem later in the job. Temporary works and material substitutions are the other two that catch people out.
How is a claim triggered?
A claim has to be made against you during the period of insurance, and it has to come out of a negligent or careless breach of professional duty by you or someone you are responsible for.
Is this not the same as Professional Indemnity?
No. Professional Indemnity covers advice and design work. This covers both sides of a single design-and-build contract, the design and the physical work that came out of it, within the professional duties described in the policy.
What’s covered
✓Riot, strike and civil commotion damage to the works
✓Labour disturbances and public disorder
✓Terrorism
✓Attached as a coupon to your underlying CAR or plant policy
What it won’t do
×Anything the underlying policy does not cover
×Consequential loss beyond the coupon limit
×Business interruption unless separately arranged
Who takes this out
Common questions
Do I really need it?
Riot and public-disorder damage is excluded from conventional South African policies, which is why SASRIA exists. The coupon is included on most projects we place. Whether it is needed on your project depends on the site, the contract and what the employer requires.
What’s covered
✓Buildings, contents, yards and stores
✓Electronic equipment, computers and servers
✓Fidelity cover against employee fraud or theft
✓Business interruption
✓Commercial motor fleet
What it won’t do
×Project works, which belong on a CAR policy
×Plant on site, which belongs on Plant All Risk
×Losses from poor internal financial controls
Who takes this out
Common questions
I already have CAR. Do I still need this?
They do different jobs. A CAR policy stops at the site boundary and ends with the contract, while commercial cover responds to the business assets and operations outside a project. Which you need depends on what your business owns and what your contracts require.
Still not sure what you need?
Send us the contract. We will tell you what it asks for and what it is likely to cost, once the insurer has priced it.
080 777 7771·WhatsApp 082 733 0192·Read the FAQs
General information only. It is not advice on your contract.