Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 724952. Companies House 07014570. Cover availability and terms depend on insurer underwriting at the time of quotation.
If you run a main contractor, specialist trade, sub-contractor or labour-only outfit across Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Newport, the M4 corridor or the Hinkley supply chain, your insurance has to do more than tick the JCT box. It has to respond when a roofer falls, a hot-works fire hits a tenanted building, a sub-contractor's plant strikes a buried service, and an EL claim lands six years after a sub-contractor left site.
The South West construction market is busy and the claims environment is unforgiving. HSE prosecutions under the 2016 Definitive Guideline routinely reach six and seven figures. Generic SME packages priced on turnover alone tend to under-respond at the wrong moment. This page sets out how we structure construction insurance at Apex.
What construction insurance is
"Construction insurance" is a label, not a policy. What sits behind it is a set of covers, usually placed as a contractors' combined, designed around the work activities, the contracts you sign, the people you employ and the plant you own or hire. The core is Employers' Liability, Public and Products Liability, Contract Works (Contractors All Risks, or CAR), Plant, Hired-in Plant on CPA 1998 terms, Tools, Goods in Transit and a wage roll declaration. Larger operations layer on Professional Indemnity for Contractor Design Portion (CDP) work, Project-Specific policies, JCT 6.5.1 Joint Names cover and Latent Defects Insurance.
Off-the-shelf SME products — Aviva Fast Trade, Hiscox 606, Allianz Commercial Select — work at the small end. A sole-trader electrician, a two-man plumbing firm or a small kitchen fitter sit comfortably in e-trade and we'll place them there where the rate is right. The line moves once you engage sub-contractors regularly, work on schemes over a few hundred thousand pounds, take on Design Portion under JCT D&B, or operate at height. From that point e-trade products struggle: wage roll definitions become contentious, heat / height / depth / underpinning warranties bite, Contract Works limits are inadequate, and the JCT joint-names obligation is not properly addressed.
That's where a broker matters. We have access to the construction underwriters — RSA Construction, Aviva Construction, AXA XL, Travelers, NIG Construct, HSB, AIG, QBE, the Lloyd's contractor markets — most of whom will not deal direct. We negotiate the wage roll definition, the heat warranty, the sub-contractor warranty, the depth restriction, the height endorsement and the contractual liability extension. When a claim hits we run the file with the insurer rather than handing you a claim form.
The covers you actually need
Employers' Liability — the wage roll question
EL is compulsory at £5m, although most construction insurers write to £10m as standard. The harder question is the wage roll: who counts as employee, who as sub-contractor, and within sub-contractors, who is bona-fide and who is labour-only.
A bona-fide sub-contractor brings their own tools, plant, labour, materials, method and insurance — they take instruction on what to build, not how. A labour-only sub-contractor (LOSC) supplies bodies for a day rate; you supply materials, plant, supervision and method. HMRC and HSE look through the contractual label to the working reality. LOSC payments count as wage roll; bona-fide payments do not, but you need to verify the sub-contractor's own EL and PL at adequate limits, and keep current certificates. We've placed claims where an operative slipped between contractor and sub-contractor in the loss adjuster's eyes; in every case it came down to documentation.
Public and Products Liability
The default for general contractors is £5m. Commercial main-contracting, any JCT D&B or NEC4 contract of scale, and most Tier 1 supply chain work now require £10m. Infrastructure — Hinkley, Network Rail-adjacent, Highways — typically calls for £25m, sometimes £50m. We can place to £25m on a single combined; above that we layer excess capacity through Lloyd's or a London company follow-form.
Products liability sits on its own indemnity limit on most combined policies. For contractors it picks up failures of materials or installation discovered after PC. Watch the efficacy exclusion, the inner limit on faulty workmanship (often a £100,000 or £250,000 sub-limit), and how contractual liability is dealt with — JCT contracts impose indemnity obligations that need to be expressly insured back.
Contract Works (Contractors All Risks)
Contract Works covers works in progress, own plant on site, and usually temporary buildings, site huts and contents during the works. Indemnity is on reinstatement value of the contract sum, not turnover. Premium drivers: contract value, duration, height, depth, hot works, water exposure, basement / underpinning.
Annual "open" contract works covers all contracts undertaken up to a stated single contract value (often £500,000 or £1m). Larger projects need to be declared or placed project-specific. Project-specific cover runs from commencement to PC plus a defects period of usually twelve months, and is required by most JCT contracts above a certain value.
JCT Joint Names — Clause 6.5.1 and its modern equivalents
JCT contracts contain an insurance clause requiring works insured in joint names of Employer and Contractor for specified perils, on Schedule 3 Option A (new build), B (extension to a structure the Employer insures) or C (works to an existing structure jointly insured). Option C is the most contentious — it requires the Employer's existing buildings cover to be extended to include the contractor as joint insured for both works and existing structure. Many property owner policies will not do this, or will only do so for an additional premium and against survey.
When we're presented with a JCT contract we read the insurance clauses before we quote. If the clause as drafted cannot be met by the standard market, we'll either negotiate wording with the employer's broker, place a project-specific policy, or arrange a non-vitiation clause protecting the joint insured position.
Plant, Tools, Hired-in Plant on CPA 1998 terms
Own plant is straightforward — agreed value on listed items, theft from secured site usually subject to immobiliser and chain-down warranties. Hired-in plant is more interesting. Most UK plant hire is on CPA 1998 Model Conditions, which make the hirer responsible for loss, damage and continuing hire charges from delivery to collection, and impose third-party liability for plant operation on the hirer. Cover needs to respond to both physical damage and the continuing hire charge exposure; most policies cap continuing hire charges to a number of weeks. We see this catch contractors when a theft drags out the replacement timeline and the cap runs out.
Professional Indemnity for Contractor Design Portion
Under JCT D&B, NEC4 with design responsibility, and most D&B sub-contract packages, the contractor takes on professional liability for the design undertaken. PI for contractors is a separate, specialist line, placed through Beazley, Hiscox, RSA, Tokio Marine HCC, AIG, Travelers, usually at £1m, £2m, £5m or £10m depending on the contract.
This market has hardened sharply since the Building Safety Act 2022, particularly on work touching cladding, fire stopping, façades, or buildings over 11 metres. Fire safety and cladding exclusions are now near-universal. If you take on design responsibility for those elements, expect a specific declaration, possibly a sub-limit, and possibly a market that won't write the risk. More detail on our engineering PI page and architects guide.
Latent Defects Insurance
Latent Defects (also called Inherent Defects or Decennial cover) sits separately from the contractor's programme. It's bought by the developer or end-user at PC and provides 10 or 12 years of cover against inherent defects in structural elements. The South West sees significant LDI through Premier Guarantee, NHBC, BLP, CRL and BOPAS-approved providers. The contractor's exposure is to the Technical Audit process — the LDI surveyor visits and requires evidence of compliance at specified stages. We place LDI alongside contractor PI when needed.
The smaller items that earn their place
Tools — flat rate per occurrence, theft-from-vehicle warranty (locked, alarmed, not left on the street overnight) and a separate limit per van. Goods in Transit. Personal Accident. D&O for the limited company. Cyber where contractors run BIM and project portals. Legal Expenses for contract disputes.
Sector-specific risks we see most
Working at height — Work at Height Regulations 2005
The single biggest source of construction claims by severity. Falls from height account for the largest share of construction fatalities year after year. The regulations require employers to avoid work at height where reasonably practicable, prevent falls where work at height cannot be avoided, and minimise distance and consequences where falls cannot be prevented. Underwriters now require evidence of training (PASMA, IPAF), method statements, edge protection and supervision before they'll write a roofing or scaffolding risk competitively.
We've placed roofing renewals where the previous broker had not declared single-ply, EPDM or hot bitumen work; the insurer reserved cover on a fall claim and the contractor had to fight to get the policy responsive. Pitched roofing carries a lower loading than flat; hot bitumen carries an additional loading. Be honest in the declaration.
Scaffolding — NASC TG20 and SG4
NASC members designing to TG20:21 or TG30:18, with operatives trained to SG4, get materially better rates than non-NASC firms. We'll ask for CITB cards, the TG20 compliance check, design documentation and inspection records. The scaffolding market has tightened since recent Lloyd's syndicate exits; competitive terms now depend on a full presentation.
Hot works — the 60-minute rule
Every contractors' combined with hot works exposure carries a hot works endorsement: a permit, removal or covering of combustibles within a defined radius, extinguishers, and a fire watch of at least 60 minutes after the hot work finishes, often with an intermittent check. NFPA 51B is the reference, incorporated by reference into most UK endorsements.
A typical claim: roofer finishes a torch-on bitumen detail at 4pm, leaves site, smouldering material reignites at 7pm, fire spreads to the building below. Without the documented permit, 60-minute watch and post-watch check, cover can be reserved on warranty grounds. The right answer is to evidence compliance up front.
Demolition, asbestos, deconstruction
Demolition contractors — particularly NFDC members — get treated differently from general contractors with occasional demolition exposure. Hand demolition, deconstruction and soft strip carry materially lower loadings than mechanical demolition with high-reach equipment. Asbestos removal is a separate market entirely: only HSE-licensed contractors (4-yearly licence) can undertake notifiable work, and the EL/PL market for licensed removal is narrow. Pollution Liability is placed alongside, with Class A enclosure, air monitoring and clearance certificates forming part of the underwriter's evidence base.
CDM 2015 — the duty holder cascade
CDM 2015 imposes duties on the Client, Designer, Principal Designer, Contractor and Principal Contractor. Where you sit in the cascade drives your exposure. Principal Contractor duties on a notifiable project (more than 500 person-days, or more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers simultaneously) include the Construction Phase Plan, welfare, sub-contractor competence checks and co-ordination. HSE prosecutions for CDM failures have produced six-figure fines for mid-sized contractors under the 2016 sentencing guideline.
Damage to adjacent property — vibration, subsidence, party wall
A typical claim: piling rig drives sheet piles in central Bristol, vibration cracks the adjoining Georgian terrace, the neighbour instructs a party wall surveyor, the claim runs to £80,000 plus consequential disruption losses. Cover responds — but only if the policy hasn't excluded vibration, subsidence, weakening or removal of support, a common PL sub-section exclusion. We negotiate this back in, with conditions on method statement and party wall award, on every piling or deep excavation risk we place.
Why generic SME products fail construction buyers
Three recurring failures. First, wage roll under-declaration through LOSC misclassification: policy responds, but renewal adjustment and future placement become contentious. Second, height, hot, heavy and water warranties on e-trade products not read at inception, catching the contractor on claim. Third, inner limits on faulty workmanship, vibration, contractual liability and JCT joint-names inadequate against a mid-six-figure claim.
Bristol & South West considerations
The South West construction market through 2026 is dominated by a few large flows: Hinkley Point C draws labour and supply chain capacity through Bridgwater into Bristol and Cardiff. Bristol Temple Quarter, the YTL Arena scheme in Filton, Bath's Western Riverside, Cardiff city centre densification and the M4 corridor through Newport are the major commercial flows. House-building remains heavy across Persimmon, Barratt and Vistry SW divisions, with modular manufacture around Filton, Yate and Severnside.
Flood risk is live. Severn Tidal mapping captures ground-floor builds at Avonmouth, Sharpness, Portishead, parts of Bridgwater and Cardiff Bay. Dewatering during construction adds a pump-failure exposure rarely well covered on standard Contract Works without negotiation. We've placed Portishead Marina-area contracts where we've extended Contract Works to include dewatering plant breakdown.
The Hinkley supply chain has driven specialised requirements: many Tier 2 and Tier 3 contracts impose £10m or £25m PL minimums, D&O on the limited company and PI for D&B packages. The same is creeping into the YTL Arena supply chain and Bristol City Council framework procurement.
Bristol's heavy MEP base around Avonmouth, the groundworks concentration around Severnside, and the heritage masonry trade across Bath, Wells and the Cotswolds each carry different risk profiles. We place across all of them. See also engineering inspection, property owners for developer and landlord clients, and manufacturing where offsite construction blurs the line with factory.
How to get it right at renewal
Construction renewals reward preparation. We start 60 to 90 days out on programmes above £25,000 GWP. The presentation typically contains:
- Trade activities by percentage of turnover — say 60% domestic refurbishment, 25% commercial fit-out, 10% new build housing, 5% basement. Aggregating under "general building" produces worse terms.
- Three to five years of loss runs, open separated from closed, reserve movements explained. A large open EL reserve that's defending well needs a note — otherwise the underwriter prices for it.
- Current wage roll with sub-contractor split — employees, LOSC, bona-fide. Certificate evidence for top sub-contractors; CIS records support this if there's a question.
- Schedule of current and recent contracts above a stated value, with value, duration, location, work type and any unusual features (party wall, deep excavation, hot works, basement, work near water, heritage).
- Accreditations: CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline, NFDC, NASC, NICEIC, NAPIT, Gas Safe, OFTEC, MCS, FORS where vehicles operate.
- Current Construction Phase Plan template, sample RAMS, sample hot works permit, H&S policy. Any RIDDOR-reportable incidents with a note on corrective action.
- For Contract Works: contract sum, period, JCT or NEC version and the insurance clause as drafted. We read it and tell you whether it can be met as standard, needs a project-specific extension, or needs negotiating with the employer's broker.
- Where a Design Portion is undertaken, the PI presentation runs alongside, with design scope, QA process and prior claims circumstances declared.
Milestones: brief at -90, presentation at -60, terms at -45 to -30, recommendation at -21, on-cover at day 0. An unbroken EL certificate chain matters for sub-contractor verification at next renewal.
Multi-broker quote-shopping tends to hurt in this sector. The market is not large; the same underwriters get approached three times by three brokers, terms get withdrawn or worsened, and the buyer ends up with a poorer programme.
How Apex helps
We're a Bristol-headquartered independent commercial broker, FCA FRN 724952, Companies House 07014570. We place construction risks across the 50-mile South West catchment — Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Cardiff, Newport, Swindon, Weston, Yeovil, Taunton, Wells, Stroud, Bridgwater, Frome, Chippenham — and across most contractor sizes from £300,000 turnover specialist trades up to mid-market regional contractors at £30m and above.
We run a managed renewal: a single broker on the file, direct relationships with the construction underwriters who matter, claims advocacy when something goes wrong, and JCT and NEC4 contract review as part of the placement. Where we can place on a standard contractors' combined we do; where the contract demands something bespoke, we structure it.
To discuss a programme — main contractor, specialist trade, sub-contractor, scaffolding, demolition, asbestos, MEP, civils — speak to us on 0117 325 0027.
FAQs
Do I legally need construction insurance in the UK?
Employers' Liability is compulsory at £5m where you have employees, with very limited exemptions. Public Liability is not statutory but is a contractual requirement on almost every commercial contract and most domestic clients will expect it. Other covers — Contract Works, Plant, PI — are driven by the contracts you sign.
How much does construction insurance cost?
It depends on trade, turnover, wage roll, claims experience, sub-contractor exposure and limits required. Broadly: a small specialist trade under £250,000 turnover sits in the £1,500 to £3,500 range; a £5m turnover main contractor typically £15,000 to £40,000; larger contractors with PI exposure are individually rated.
Bona-fide vs labour-only sub-contractor — what's the difference for insurance?
A bona-fide sub-contractor supplies their own materials, plant, supervision and insurance — you tell them what to build, not how. An LOSC supplies bodies for a day rate; you supply materials, plant, supervision and method. LOSC payments count as wage roll for EL; bona-fide payments do not, provided you evidence the sub-contractor's own EL and PL.
What PL limit do I need for a JCT contract?
JCT Standard and JCT D&B typically specify £5m or £10m PL minimum. Commercial main-contracting and Tier 1 supply chain work increasingly specify £10m. Infrastructure — Hinkley, Highways, Network Rail — commonly requires £25m. Always check the specific contract schedule.
What is Contract Works (Contractors All Risks)?
CAR insures works in progress, own plant on site, temporary buildings and site materials, against accidental damage and specified perils. It runs from commencement to PC plus a defects period, usually twelve months, and is required by most JCT contracts above a small threshold.
Do I need separate PI if I do Design and Build?
Yes. JCT D&B, NEC4 with design responsibility and most D&B sub-contract packages impose a professional duty of care for the design portion. Standard contractors' combined policies do not cover design liability. On cladding, fire stopping and façades the PI market is currently hardened with widespread exclusions.
What is the JCT Joint Names obligation?
JCT Schedule 3 Options A, B or C require the works to be insured in joint names of Employer and Contractor. Option A is new build, Option B is extension to a building the Employer insures, Option C requires the Employer's existing buildings cover to be extended to include the contractor for both works and existing structure. Option C is the most contentious.
Are CHAS, SafeContractor and Constructionline enough for insurance?
They cover supply-chain pre-qualification on H&S management — they don't replace insurer underwriting. Insurers still want loss runs, wage roll, trade split and direct evidence on heat, height and depth working. The accreditations help the presentation but are not a substitute for a complete submission.
What is the 60-minute fire watch rule?
Most contractors' combined policies impose a hot works warranty requiring a permit, removal or covering of combustibles within a defined radius, extinguishers, and a continuous fire watch of at least 60 minutes after hot work finishes, often with a further intermittent check. The reference is NFPA 51B.
Can I add hired-in plant to my contractors' combined?
Yes — it's a standard extension. The policy needs to respond to both physical damage and continuing hire charges under CPA 1998 Model Conditions. Watch the cap on continuing hire charges, usually a number of weeks.
How long does a quote take?
A packaged contractors' combined on a small to mid-sized firm with clean loss history takes a few working days. A complex programme with PI, project-specific Contract Works, sub-contractor warranties or hardened-market exposures, allow two to four weeks.
Do you place construction insurance outside Bristol?
Yes. We place across the 50-mile South West catchment and across UK risks where the head office is in the region. Our underwriter relationships are national, so site geography is rarely the constraint.
Other sectors we cover
- Engineering inspection insurance — statutory thorough examination under LOLER and PSSR for cranes, hoists, MEWPs and pressure systems, often placed alongside a contractor's plant programme.
- Property owners insurance — for developer-clients, landlord JCT employers, and contractors who hold completed stock; covers the JCT Option B and C joint-names side of the relationship.
- Manufacturing insurance — relevant where modular and offsite construction blurs the line between factory and site, and for the South West's growing offsite manufacturing cluster around Filton and Yate.
Coverage area
Large flows through Hinkley, Temple Quarter, the YTL Arena, the M4 corridor and Severnside trading estates draw contractors from across the region. We place programmes for contractors based in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Newport, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Swindon and across the wider catchment. See the full regional offering on the pillar at commercial insurance Bristol and South West.
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