Example One:

If a house that you built or worked on burned down some time later, and the cause was found to be a nail accidentally hammered into an electric cable, the house owner or insurer will probably be holding you liable, either as the main contractor, or as a sub-contractor.


In that case you’d expect your public liability policy to cover you, wouldn’t you? Well, sorry - not so.
Most insurers deem the house to be a product on which you have been working, and general public liability policies exclude cover for the product itself, only covering Third Party property. So if the house next door also burned down because the fire spread, you will probably be covered for that, but not for the original house!  Our policy is designed specifically to cover you in such situations.

Example Two:

In another recent example a builder who had installed roof insulation was accused of damaging the ceiling, with the homeowner demanding that he pay thousands of dollars to replace it.  The builder made a claim to his insurer but this was denied because they said that the ceiling was the product on which he had been working, and because of this it was excluded under his policy.  With BuiltinNZ's Public Liability insurance that claim would have been paid.

Example Three:

A sub-contractor installing gib accidentally put a screw through a water pipe.  Over a period of months water leaked down inside the wall causing substantial damage.  The homeowner then went after the builder for compensation.


You’d expect that to be covered by your public liability insurance, but it probably won’t be, because the insurer will say that the wall was the product being worked on, which is excluded.  And the cost to repair the pipe won't be covered either, because most insurer's policies exclude 'faulty workmanship'. Our policy covers the building you're working on and offers an optional extension to provide cover for faulty workmanship.

Example Four:

And what if you are held liable for say, damaged windows caused by someone using sandpaper on the frames? You’d expect that to be covered by any Contract Works insurance policy, but again it probably won’t be, because of ‘faulty workmanship’ exclusions.  So the owner or their insurer again seeks recovery from the main contractor &/or subbies on the job at the time.  Most public liability policies also exclude liability for faulty workmanship, (though usually resultant damage is covered), so no cover again!  Our policy offers an optional extension to provide cover.

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