Liability insurance during renovation of a house

antiskeptic

Hi,

Am renovating an old house and putting up a small extension. Myself and a few friends will be doing the bulk of the work, getting in contractors here and there (e.g. plasterer, RGI gasman).

What kind of policy do I need to have to cover potential liabilities (accident, public liability, etc).

Where best to go for such cover?

I'm not a builder but one of the friends is (ex. so hasn't himself got such insurance)

Gumbo

Any of the big insurance companies.
You need to protect yourself in case of injury on the site or damage to neighbouring properties.

Have you appointed a health and safety officer PSCS?

Bonzo Delaney

antiskeptic wrote: »

Hi,

Am renovating an old house and putting up a small extension. Myself and a few friends will be doing the bulk of the work, getting in contractors here and there (e.g. plasterer, RGI gasman).

What kind of policy do I need to have to cover potential liabilities (accident, public liability, etc).

Where best to go for such cover?

I'm not a builder but one of the friends is (ex. so hasn't himself got such insurance)

contractors all risk c 2.5k€ and you become main contractor
unless your builder friend has this and acts as main contractor but since your other friends wont be directly employed by him theyll have to have sub contractors insurance each them selves

it used to be great craic having all your buddies pooling together to get through nixers but when something or someone goes arse over tit then theres a whole world of pain to be endured
theres a lot to be said for the piece of mind you have when you know if an accident happens, no matter how big or small that it wont be out of your pocket because as the house holder the buck stops at you

Metric Tensor

Be careful because if there's an accident and you haven't fulfilled your duties with regards to Health and Safety you could find yourself facing criminal charges.

You, as the home owner, need to appoint a PSDP and a PSCS and each of those need to be competent in their respective roles.

antiskeptic

kceire wrote: »

Any of the big insurance companies.
You need to protect yourself in case of injury on the site or damage to neighbouring properties.

Have you appointed a health and safety officer PSCS?

Nope. I'm a mechanical engineer with a fair bit of experience on industrial construction projects so would imagine it possible to fulfill that role myself.

Although the work is fairly straightforward, I do understand the wisdom of covering eventualities. I don't need the worry.

antiskeptic

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

contractors all risk c 2.5k€ and you become main contractor
unless your builder friend has this and acts as main contractor but since your other friends wont be directly employed by him theyll have to have sub contractors insurance each them selves

My friends won't be employed as such - they are chipping in for nought. Can I get insurance to cover the presence of them on site?

Any contractors employed will have to have their own insurances of course.

theres a lot to be said for the piece of mind you have when you know if an accident happens, no matter how big or small that it wont be out of your pocket because as the house holder the buck stops at you

That's what I'm intent on obtaining. Peace of mind. I've worked in industry for years and from time to time something does tits up and someone get's hurt. It doesn't happen as often as you might suppose it ought to happen, given the danger, but it does happen.

Bonzo Delaney

i would reckon you would have to have them as employes under your contractors all risk regardless of whether you pay them jelly babies or gold bullion
They are visiting the site under your supervision after all ,same goes for family and friends calling around for a "looksee".
hence why" all visitors report to site office first"
99.99 % of the time people come and go with out incident its just to cover thst 0.01 %
Check with a local insurance broker they would have experience in this