Nine Markets. One Placement. Renewed.

A sole trader based in Western Sydney came to us needing Public Liability insurance for their edge protection and perimeter rail installation business. The work was physical: installing fall-arrest systems, perimeter rail, and edge protection on residential homes during construction.

The business was early stage - revenue under $100,000, one employee, no prior insurance history. The requested limit was $20M Public Liability, standard for contractors working on residential builds where head contractor requirements apply.

What complicated the picture was the business name. On paper, it read like a WHS consulting or safety advisory firm. In reality, the work was hands-on trade work at height on residential sites - a materially different risk class from professional advice, and one that sits in a specific part of the insurer market.

We took the risk to the Public Liability market across nine underwriters and specialist platforms, providing full details of the operation: physical installation only, residential buildings, edge protection and perimeter rail systems, sole trader with one employee, Western Sydney base.

The occupation description was a key part of our submission. A business name with "safety" in it will cause many underwriters to categorise the risk as professional advice rather than physical trades work. We made sure each submission led clearly with the actual activity and the relevant work at height exposure.

Most markets declined or were unable to provide workable terms. High Street Underwriting was the market that came through - they reviewed the submission and provided terms.

Two challenges defined this placement.

Occupation description vs actual activity. A business name with "safety" in it reads as consulting or advisory work to an underwriter scanning a submission. Physical edge protection installation is a trades risk - working at height, managing perimeter systems on residential sites under construction, with the exposures typical of the building trades. Getting that distinction clear in the submission was essential. Even so, most of the market declined outright.

Minimum turnover thresholds. Some insurers operate minimum viable turnover requirements. An early-stage sole trader with revenue under $100,000 can sit below those floors regardless of how clean and legitimate the operation is. The decline isn't about risk quality - it's about where the business sits against the insurer's book criteria. The broker market exists in part to identify insurers whose appetite doesn't exclude operators at this stage of their business.