Electrician Public Liability Insurance

There are a number of things to consider when considering the costs of an electricians public liability insurance. Electricians are definitely considered to be on the cheaper side of tradies insurance policies. 

When comparing the costs of an electricians policy to other trades like plumbers, electricians usually come in far cheaper. 

There are however, a few considerations that need to be made when considering the cost of one policy to the next. The biggest considerations for an electricians public liability insurance cost is:

• Your estimated income or turnover for the year
• Working over 2 storeys 
• Additional cover being included for tools 
• Use of subcontractors instead of employees
• What state you are based in and whether any additional licensing requirements need to be adhered to

Each trade occupation carries its own risk and this also includes insuring one electrician to the other. It’s extremely important that when you are considering your insurance needs, you take advice from an insurance professional and not another tradie at smoko.

As a rough guide on overall cost, a premium of $500 – $1,000 is quite common for electricians when purchasing their public liability insurance. This figure is based on an approximate turnover of $100,000 – $500,000.

A common question that we get asked is ‘when should you put a policy in place’ and our response is always the same. As soon as your intention is to begin trading as a business is when you should consider a policy, especially public liability insurance for electricians. In Queensland, a public liability policy is required to be in place before your electrical license is issued.

A common misconception amongst trade contractors is that they don’t need insurance if they are working as a sub-contractor for another business owner. This is not the case at all, you are considered your own business and should have your own policy as soon as you register an ABN and intend to operate as a business.

Going on to a job-site or to a clients premises to quote a job can lead to a claim being made against you. We understand that there are a number of costs that need to be considered when starting a business and after spending money on a canopy fit-out, decking it out with tools the last thing you’re thinking of insurance. The important thing to consider is that your risk as a business owner starts straight away.

For most business owners, they start out as a sole-trader and that means that personal assets can be considered if a significant claim is made against you. Have a public liability insurance policy in place will add another layer of protection between you, your business and your family home.

If cashflow is tight, we work with a number of premium funders who can assist by offering monthly repayments on your insurance policies. We can also provide you with a free risk report which tells you from the highest to lowest risk on what insurance policies you should prioritise.

A liability insurance for electricians should be the first priority when purchasing your policies and the additional cover can be considered once you have a plan on how you will operate your business.

As a business insurance broker, our goal is to work with you. This means that we provide you with advice to make the best decisions for your business. 

No, you don’t.

It is quite common that an Insurance Broker will charge a broker fee in addition to the premium charged by the insurer. This is a professional fee that is charged to cover the administration costs, time and advice provided to you.

This fee, along with commission which is paid by the insurer is essentially what a Broker is remunerated for the placement of your policy. Some Brokers may charge additional fees for things like claims management we however, do not.

More often than not, inclusive of any fees that we charge, we can usually still get you a great deal.

Our broking services don’t just stop once we place your policy the first time. Each year, when your policy comes up for renewal, we will re-market and approach our panel of insurers to ensure that you are getting a competitive premium every year.

It’s important to note that most business owners who manage their own insurances forget to update things. Particularly their turnover, the use of subcontractors and other aspects of their policy that they don’t consider important but an insurer does. These are not things that you should be doing when and if a claim occurs and an insurer is considering whether they will provide you cover or not. If a large loss was to occur to your business this could be the difference of whether you continue trading or not.

The other important aspect of ‘do it yourself’ insurance policies is that you are also required to manage your claim yourself. This can be countless back and forth with the insurer, multiple phone calls and emails requesting more and more information. Sometimes claims can also get to a stale-mate and having someone with the insurance knowledge that a broker does can be extremely helpful with getting your claim finalised.

We can bundle an endless amount of policies together into one simple and easy to manage monthly repayment.

We can also common due date policies which means that even if you take out additional policies during the year we can renew them all at the same time so that you don’t need to be thinking about what insurance policies renew when throughout the year.

As an insurance broker we get a lot more flexibility with insurers compared to the traditional route of contacting an insurer directly.

Sometimes bundling your policies together with the same insurer isn’t always the most cost effective solution. For example your electricians public liability insurance with one insurer may be competitive but when adding your tools cover onto the same policy it works out more expensive than insuring your tools elsewhere. We work this out for you to ensure that you are getting the best deal across all of your policies.

The other option for you as a customer would be to contact multiple insurers, get a quote and set up multiple direct debits with different insurers that come out at different times which causes an account keeping nightmare.

We work with any business regardless of your size, what occupation you are in. Our specialty is in providing you advice about all aspects of insurance so that you are confidently protected.