Scaffolding Contractor, $20M Public Liability After Five Declines

A New South Wales scaffolding contractor came to us for public liability. It was a small operation - two staff, turnover around $75,000 - with nine years of industry experience and work up to about 10 metres in height.

They needed a $20 million public liability limit. Scaffolding is height work, and that places it in a narrow band of insurer appetite, so even a modest-sized business can sit outside standard appetite.

We presented the business properly - the experience, the working height, the scale of the operation - and went across our liability panel rather than relying on the standard markets.

• Five insurers declined on occupation grounds. Height work sits outside their appetite regardless of how the business is run.
• We turned to a specialist liability market with appetite for scaffolding and height work.
• We confirmed the $20 million limit and arranged a formal quote at that level once we had a market prepared to write it.

For a hard-to-place trade, the placement is about knowing which markets are open, not relying on standard channels that did not have appetite for it.

The challenge was occupation, plain and simple. Scaffolding is height work, and many standard insurers have limited appetite for it.

The $20 million limit narrowed the field further. Combining a hard-to-place trade with a high limit on a small turnover is exactly the kind of risk that needs a specialist market rather than a standard one.

We placed the public liability cover through HSUA, a specialist market comfortable with scaffolding and height work, at the full $20 million limit.

The contractor had the limit they needed to take on the work in front of them, despite the earlier declines on occupation grounds.

This case is a clear example of where broker market access earns its keep. Where standard insurers decline a height-work trade on occupation, a specialist market with the right appetite can often place the cover.