Public Liability insurance

[Paul Tomo]

How do you get public insurance for a small one man business, although now and again I need another person when tackling a large tree when one man is not enough. I can't be the only tree surgeon out there that works on his own most of the time but every now and then a large tree job comes along and you need more than one person on the job.

 

Some advice please.

 

 

[Rough Hewn]

Get PL and EL.
It’s just another expense.
Not worth it, not having it.

[Mr. Squirrel]

You need EL if you're paying someone else. It's a legal requirement. PL is more of a moral requirement, but you'd have to be daft to do our work without it. 

Premiums are based to some degree on turnover, so if you're only doing bits and pieces the cost should reflect that. 

You gotta pay to play unfortunately. That's the rules. 

[Dan Maynard]

Talk to the insurance companies, shop around. You aren't the only one, they should ask turnover figures before quoting.

Mine includes professional indemnity insurance as long as I'm not paid for the advice, which I'm hoping I never need but is a good thing to have.

[Steve Bullman]

57 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Get PL and EL.
It’s just another expense.
Not worth it, not having it.

It is just a other expense, but EL is quite a big one of you literally only use someone a couple of times a year.

@Paul Tomo I think the only way to get round not having EL on those rare jobs would be for your subby to invoice the client directly in addition to supplying their own tools, even then I’m not 100% sure if that’s a foolproof loophole