Subcontracting · care, custody and control · indemnity
Liability insurance for a self-employed professional in the contracting trade
As a self-employed professional you almost always work on someone else's site and usually under a main contractor. Your liability is therefore determined just as much by the contract as by the law.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zzp'er in de aanneming.
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.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- 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
On a building site things rarely go wrong for a self-employed person with large structures and often with everyday things: scaffolding that shifts, a toolbox that falls from the loft floor, a pipe you hit while routing out, a floor that fills with rain because the covering came loose. The AVB is there for the injury and the damage to property that this causes to someone else. The general structure of that cover is set out on the hub page public and employers' liability insurance.
Two things make your position different from that of a business with staff. You have no employers' liability, so your own injury is not covered; if you fall off a ladder, that ends up on a disability insurance or personal accident cover and not on the AVB. And you sign someone else's contracts: many main contractors use conditions with an indemnity or a penalty clause that goes further than your liability in law under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. What you take on additionally by contract is not automatically insured.
Next, watch the care, custody and control exclusion. The part of the building you are working on is in your care: the frames you are fitting, the floor you are pouring, the roof you are opening up. If you damage that very part, the loss usually falls outside cover. Damage to the works in progress belongs on the Construction all risks (CAR) insurance for the project; check whether you are covered on it as a subcontractor, because that is not a given.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points that lead to a refusal for a self-employed contractor more often than too low a sum insured does.
Covered on the CAR policy or not
Ask the main contractor in writing whether subcontractors fall under the project cover and with what excess. Without that confirmation you bear damage to the works themselves, and also the excess that the main contractor can recover from you. Record the answer in the order confirmation, not in a message on your phone.
Putting your own work right is at your own expense
If a wall is out of true or a joint you made leaks, no liability insurance pays for doing it again. What is covered is the consequential loss to someone else: the floor covering that has to be replaced because of that leak. That distinction determines almost every discussion about a construction claim.
Cables, pipes and the KLIC enquiry
If you hit a cable or pipe while digging or routing, a claim about lost turnover or the costs of the outage often follows on top of the repair. Insurers then look at whether you submitted an excavation notification and whether trial trenches were dug. Without demonstrable preliminary investigation you run the risk of a careful excavation clause being held against you.
Contractual penalties and guarantees
A penalty for late completion, a ten-year guarantee period or a liability you take on by contract falls outside the cover. The policy follows your statutory liability. Read what you sign in advance and let us look over purchasing conditions you are seeing for the first time.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for a sole trader
- Type of work: structural work, fitting out or maintenance weigh differently
- Working at height: scaffolding and roof work raise the risk
- Hiring in colleagues: anyone you hire in falls under your duty of care
- Sum insured: per claim and per insurance year
- Excess: often per claim, sometimes separately for damage to property
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | CAR |
|---|---|---|
| A bystander is injured when a beam falls from the scaffolding | Yes | No |
| You drop a toolbox on the occupant's parked car | Yes | No |
| Rain runs through a sheet that has come loose into the newly poured screed | No | Yes |
| The frames you are fitting are damaged while you are fitting them | No | Yes |
| The main contractor imposes a penalty because you miss completion by two weeks | No | No |
| You break your own wrist falling off a ladder | No | No |
Which column pays depends on whether the loss affects the works themselves or everything around them.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I work alone. Is an AVB really necessary?
Almost every client in construction requires liability cover before you are allowed on site. Apart from that, you remain personally liable for damage you cause. With a sole trader business there is no legal entity to shield you. One damaged facade or one injury case weighs more heavily than years of premium.
Are my tools covered as well?
No. The AVB pays for damage to others, not for your own belongings. Theft from the van or damage to machines falls under a tools insurance. Larger equipment such as a cherry picker or a mini excavator belongs on plant and machinery insurance, certainly where it also uses the public road.
What if I hire someone myself for a job?
If that person works under your direction and supervision, your duty of care extends to him under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code, even without a contract of employment. Declare that in the application, because the employers' liability section then has to be included. Without that declaration an injury claim from that hired-in worker can remain uninsured.
A neighbour complains of cracks caused by my work. Covered?
Damage to an adjoining building can fall under the cover if you are liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. The discussion is almost always about causation and about the condition of the building beforehand. For piling, demolition or excavation work, have a structural survey carried out beforehand. Without a baseline your defence is weak.
Read more
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