Civil Plumbing Contractor, Liability Across a Narrow Market

A plumbing contractor came to us for liability cover. Their work included civil exposure - jetting and drainage with truck-mounted equipment - which sits well outside standard plumbing appetite.

Two things stood out. First, the civil works element made this a hard risk to place. Second, when we reviewed the risk, the occupation on record described domestic work only, which did not reflect the civil work they were doing. An occupation that does not match the actual scope can create problems at claim time.

We took the time to describe the business accurately - the plant and equipment, the civil and jetting exposure, the turnover and staff - and then went wide across the market.

• A long list of markets stepped back, declining on occupation grounds or on the exposure to civil works.
• We corrected the occupation so the cover reflected the civil work the contractor genuinely performs, not a domestic-only description.
• We worked the risk through specialist liability markets with the appetite for civil exposure, including direct underwriter discussions on the exclusions.

Civil works narrows the field of insurers dramatically, so a thorough submission to the right markets was the only way to surface terms.

This was a genuinely hard placement. Civil works sits with a narrower set of liability markets, and a large number of markets declined on that basis.

An occupation that does not match the work can create problems at claim time. Cover written for domestic-only work may not respond to a claim arising from civil activity, so getting the description right was as important as getting a price. We made sure the policy matched the real scope of works.

We placed public liability through a specialist liability market with appetite for civil works exposure, on an occupation that accurately reflected the business.

The contractor came away with cover that actually matches what they do, which is the whole point - a cheaper policy on the wrong occupation may not respond when you need it.

This case shows two things brokers add: access to markets that will write hard occupations, and the diligence to make sure the occupation and scope are described correctly so the cover holds up.