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Painting and decorating looks lower-hazard than it is on the insurer's desk — you work inside occupied homes, shops and offices, you spray and cut in around a client's finishes and belongings, and much of the exterior work is done off ladders, towers and scaffold. In a market town like Trowbridge that means retail units on the high street, offices for professional services, public-sector buildings and light-industrial premises, plus the domestic repaints that fill the diary between them. Apex arranges cover that reflects how the trade actually works here, placed by a named broker who will present your risk properly to insurers who understand contracting.
Trowbridge is a working market town, and the mix of buildings a decorator moves through in a week shapes the exposure an underwriter is pricing. These are the local patterns that matter for cover here.
Exterior work is weather-led. External repaints and rendered-finish coatings depend on dry, mild conditions, and British weather regularly pushes exterior programmes back. Rain, wind and cold affect drying, wash freshly applied coatings and can damage work in progress before it cures, which is exactly what contract works cover is there to protect.
Access at height. Exterior decorating, soffit and fascia work and stairwell painting mean ladders, mobile towers and scaffold. Working above pavements, shopfronts and other people is the single biggest reason insurers rate the trade the way they do, and your cover should reflect the real heights and access methods you use.
Paint, solvents and spray. Spray application speeds up large jobs but multiplies overspray and fume exposure; solvents, strippers and thinners are flammable and need careful handling and storage. Both feed directly into public liability and, where heat stripping is involved, into fire risk.
Working at Height Regulations 2005 duties — relevant on almost every exterior job, from a two-storey house to a high-street shopfront.
COSHH assessments for paints, solvents, strippers and the dust from sanding older, potentially lead-based coatings.
Hot-works permit and fire-watch conditions from insurers where you use a blowtorch or hot-air gun for paint stripping.
CDM 2015 duties as a finishing contractor on larger construction contracts, where you carry contractor responsibilities on site.
Contractor accreditation and evidence of cover for public-sector and main-contractor work before you are cleared onto site.
Overspray drifts onto a client’s car, windows or neighbouring property while you spray an exterior — public liability responds, subject to policy terms.
A tin of paint or a tray is knocked over onto carpet, flooring or furniture in an occupied home or office — public liability responds.
Dust from sanding damages stock, IT equipment or finished surfaces in a shop or office — public liability responds.
A blowtorch or hot-air gun ignites old paint, timber or debris during stripping — a fire claim, where hot-works conditions have been met.
An employee or labour-only sub-contractor falls from a ladder, tower or scaffold — employers’ liability responds; RIDDOR/HSE involvement likely.
Spray rig, sanders or ladders are stolen from the van overnight — tools cover, subject to security conditions.
Tell us about your business and we’ll place it on the specialist market — or leave your number and a named broker calls you back, usually the same working day.
