Strip-out · load-bearing parts · hired equipment
Liability insurance for a self-employed demolition contractor
A self-employed demolition contractor usually works indoors, in a building that stays occupied or let. What has to go is small. What is around it is not.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige sloper.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
A liability insurance for businesses covers injury and damaged property of others. In interior demolition you stand in the middle of that property: the floor that stays, the staircase you carry the waste down, the services in the stairwell. Everything that is temporarily in your have in your care falls under the care, custody and control exclusion, and that is precisely where most damage arises in strip-out work. Ask expressly, therefore, about care, custody and control cover and the limit that goes with it.
Two things you cannot place on this policy. The first is injury to yourself: if you fall through a floor or trap your hand, that is a question of income and not of liability. Disability insurance (AOV) exists for that disability insurance. The second is asbestos: if you come across sheet material or pipe insulation in a building from before 1994, you stop the work, because carrying on costs you the cover and possibly more than that.
If you work under a main contractor, read what you sign. A Construction all risks (CAR) insurance on the project covers the works themselves, not your liability towards third parties, and an indemnity clause in the purchasing conditions can stretch your liability further than the law does. Liability you take on by contract that goes beyond Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code is excluded as standard on the AVB.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to watch when you demolish alone
Four situations in which the argument about cover starts in interior demolition.
What stays is not yours
The contract describes what has to go; everything beyond that is someone else's property in your hands. A damaged marble threshold, a meter cupboard struck or a stair rail you used for support all end up in the discussion about care, custody and control. Photograph the room before you start and cover what stays. In a claim that helps more than any clause.
Load-bearing parts and someone else's calculation
Removing a wall that afterwards turns out to be load-bearing is not a slip but a judgement. Work only on the basis of a structural calculation from a structural engineer and record who it came from. If you take the decision yourself and something collapses, the question also arises whether you behaved recklessly as a professional — and Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes intent and deliberate recklessness.
Dust and water in an occupied building
When demolishing in a home or a working office, the consequential loss is often larger than the job. Dust drawn through the ventilation into the whole building, a water pipe cut through or a heating pipe struck leads to damage to contents and finishes. That consequential loss at third parties is insurable; the redoing your own work is not.
Machines you hire
A mini excavator, breaker or skip from a hire firm is hired property. Damage to it falls under care, custody and control and not under the ordinary AVB. The hire firm will simply charge you for it. For hired or owned equipment there is plant and machinery insurance. If you drive the machine on the public road, the compulsory insurance under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM).
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover or days worked: the basis on which the premium is calculated
- Type of demolition work: interior demolition for private clients weighs differently from industrial dismantling
- Type of clients: private individuals, contractors or a housing association
- Care, custody and control cover included: included or not, and up to what amount per event
- Use of machines: demolishing by hand or with your own and hired equipment
- Excess per claim: a higher excess brings the premium down noticeably
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Care, custody and control cover |
|---|---|---|
| Rubble you throw into the skip bounces off and hits the neighbour's car | Yes | No |
| While stripping out a bathroom you hit a pipe and the neighbour below has water damage | Yes | No |
| The marble staircase you carry the rubble down is damaged in the process | No | Yes |
| The floor that had to stay in place cracks under the weight of your breaker | No | Yes |
| You sprain your ankle falling through a weakened floor | No | No |
| The main contractor charges a penalty because the strip-out overran by two days | No | No |
In interior demolition half the building is in your keeping. Without care, custody and control cover it is precisely that part that stays at your expense.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I only demolish indoors. Do I really need an AVB?
The insurance is not compulsory, but interior demolition in particular produces claims far exceeding your annual turnover: a leak affecting two floors or an occupier who falls over your rubble. Besides, contractors and housing associations almost always require a policy schedule before you are allowed on site. Without cover you pay the defence costs as well as the loss.
I found material suspected of containing asbestos and carried on working. What does that mean?
That is an unfortunate combination. Loss from asbestos contamination is excluded in principle on the AVB, and carrying on against your better judgement can also, quite apart from that, be treated as deliberate recklessness. Stop if in doubt, report it to the client and have a certified survey firm establish what is there. Those costs are always lower than a decontamination afterwards.
The main contractor wants me to take on all liability. Does the insurance follow that?
Not automatically. What is insured is liability arising from the law. If you take on more than that in a contract, for example a guarantee or a penalty clause, that extra part falls under the exclusion for contractual liability. Have such provisions read through; business legal expenses insurance can help with that.
When do I have to report a claim?
As soon as you are reasonably aware of it, even if the client has not yet claimed anything. Under Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code you must notify without unnecessary delay and cooperate with the investigation of the loss. In demolition that matters all the more, because the situation on site changes beyond recognition within a day and a loss adjuster can then establish nothing.
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