Insurance cover for contractors Te inihua mā ngā kaikirimana

What insurance you need depends on the industry you’re in and what you do. Talk to an insurance broker about what best suits your situation. 

Here are some of the types of insurance you might ask about.

Liability insurance 

Liability insurance protects you if:

• someone sues you or one of your employees for damaging their property or reputation
• you break the law, without meaning to, and are fined or need to defend your actions 
• you make a professional mistake, without meaning to – for example, give bad advice 
• you’re sued in your role as a director of the business.

This kind of insurance is good to have if you:

• are in an advisory role, like a consultant
• have the potential to damage other people’s buildings, equipment or belongings – for example, when you are a tenant, or a cleaner, or a painter and decorator.

There are many liability policies available. 

Generally, liability policies will cover you for:

• compensation costs – money you’d have to pay to the organisation suing you, if their case was successful
• legal costs
• other costs you may have to cover defending your case – for example, any investigative reports you might need for your case.

Business interruption insurance 

Business interruption insurance covers you for:

• financial losses if you can’t trade after a natural disaster
• extra costs that you might face to keep your business operating after a natural disaster.  

Commercial building insurance 

Commercial building insurance covers you for damage to buildings you own – for example, from fire, flood, earthquake or other insured event. If you use your home for commercial purposes, your home and contents insurance might not cover you. Check your home and contents policy if you’re using your home for work.

Asset insurance 

Asset insurance protects items you own and use for contracting from things such as theft and accidental damage. Make sure you know what your policy covers. 

There are two main types of claim settlements available:

• Replacement – it pays the full costs of replacing or repairing an item and is the most common settlement basis.
• Indemnity – it takes wear, tear and depreciation into account when paying your claim.

Commercial vehicle insurance 

If you use a vehicle for work, you may need a commercial vehicle insurance policy.

Cyber insurance 

Computer hacks can result in lost customer data. Cyber insurance will cover costs connected with restoring information, using external IT experts to help you with recovery, replacing hacked computers, lost income while your business can’t operate, and your financial liability to your customer.

Transit insurance 

Transit insurance covers you if equipment or stock is damaged when you or a freight company is moving it.