Liability insurance for a self-employed painter and decorator
In painting work the damage is rarely large but it is frequent: paint mist on a parked car, a tin knocked over on a parquet floor, or a window frame that starts to smoulder after burning off.
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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.
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In brief
Your biggest risk is overspray. Atomised paint drifts further than you think and settles on cars, facades, windows, solar panels and the neighbours' garden furniture. Cleaning or polishing dozens of vehicles adds up quickly, and liability follows from Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code: you should have screened the surroundings and assessed the weather conditions. public and employers' liability insurance is the policy that picks up this third-party damage. Insurers often attach requirements to screening and to the use of spray equipment; check whether spraying appears on your policy schedule at all.
The second risk is fire. Burning off with a gas torch, working with a hot air gun on a wooden frame and storing cloths soaked in linseed oil are all three sources of ignition, and the last can even lead to spontaneous combustion without a flame. Insurers almost always accept hot work subject to a condition: screening, extinguishers within reach and a follow-up check afterwards. If that is not complied with, cover falls away for precisely that fire damage, and deliberately departing from it can count as reckless conduct under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What you bear yourself: the surface you are treating is property in your care, custody and control — if the paint runs, does not adhere or you damage the woodwork while sanding, that is excluded and is also partly your own performance. Repainting after a wrong colour or a wrong system is performance of the contract and not a loss. Your own ladders, scaffold sections and spray equipment belong on a tools insurance, and your own injury after a fall, belong on a disability insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that lead to a claim in painting work more often than a genuine accident on the scaffold.
Screening is a policy condition, not tidiness
In an overspray claim you will be asked what you masked off, how hard the wind was blowing and whether you had warned the residents. Photographs of the screening before you started are your strongest evidence afterwards. Without demonstrable measures, liability is settled and the insurer can hold you to account for inadequate precautions.
Working indoors at people's homes
Floors, furniture, curtains and appliances in the room where you work are someone else's property. If you damage them with paint, white spirit or a falling ladder, that is third-party damage and fits within the cover. The frame or wall being painted falls outside it, because that is in your in your care has.
Old layers containing lead or chromates
When renovating pre-war work, sanding or burning off releases dust containing lead or chromates. Exposure of residents or of yourself leads to claims that are reported only later. Work with the prescribed control measures and record which ones you took. If that is missing, it affects both your liability and your cover.
What is on the policy schedule
Painting, spraying, glazing, plastering and erecting scaffolding are different activities to an underwriter. If you take on work that falls outside them, report it; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code places that duty of disclosure on you and Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code governs what happens with a claim if you failed to do so.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for a one-person business
- Indoor or outdoor work: outside work brings overspray and fall risks that indoor work does not
- Spraying with spray equipment: assessed separately and sometimes accepted with a condition
- Working with naked flames: burning off and hot air work increase the fire risk
- Working height and use of scaffolding: high-rise and suspended work weigh more heavily than ground level
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | Care, custody and control cover |
|---|---|---|
| While moving your ladder you knock an exterior light off the facade | Yes | No |
| While cleaning the facade with a pressure washer a pane in the conservatory cracks | Yes | No |
| The frame you are sanding is damaged because you stay too long in one place | No | Yes |
| The antique door you leave to dry in your workshop falls over and splits | No | Yes |
| The client asks for compensation because the building stood in scaffolding for two weeks longer | No | No |
| Your own spray equipment is stolen from the van overnight | No | No |
The dividing line is the object you are working on: everything around it is on the left, the object itself only on the right.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
There is paint mist on five cars in the street. Is that covered?
Yes, this is damage to third parties' property and that is what liability insurance is for, provided you are liable and spray work is described on your policy. The insurer will check what screening you had put up and whether you continued in unfavourable conditions. Report it immediately and have the vehicles assessed before any cleaning is done.
The paintwork flakes after a year. Does my insurance pay for repainting?
No. Poor adhesion concerns the quality of your own work; doing it again is performance of the contract and not damage to someone else. That only changes in insurance terms if other property is damaged by the defect, for example where moisture gets into the building through the affected woodwork.
I burn off a window frame and a fire starts in the house. What happens?
Fire damage to the client's home is damage to a third party's property and falls within the cover in principle. What is decisive is whether you complied with the condition on hot work: screening, extinguishers within reach and a follow-up check afterwards. If that was not done, the insurer can refuse cover for precisely this loss.
My ladder falls on the client's car. Which policy responds?
Liability insurance, because the car is someone else's property that was not in your keeping. If the car was in a garage you were painting, the insurer may raise the care, custody and control question; that normally applies only to the object you are working on. Damage to your own ladder is not covered in any event.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)The main page
- Liability insurance for a self-employed window cleanerWorking at height, glass in your care, water damage
- Liability insurance for a self-employed plastererCovering up, moisture, adhesion
- Liability insurance for a self-employed gardenerDamage while digging, pruning, soil
- Liability insurance for a self-employed rooferOpen roof, torch, care, custody and control
- Liability insurance for a self-employed carpenterPipes in the wall, finished floors, measuring
- Liability insurance for a self-employed plumberWater damage, your own work, naked flames
- Liability insurance for a welding companyThe workshop, structures supplied, hot work
- Liability insurance for a roofing companyCare, custody and control, hot work, leaks