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Electrician insurance is built for sparkies, plumbers, gasfitters and air conditioning techs who spend their day inside someone else’s home or business. Before you get on a builder’s job or a property manager’s list, they will usually want a certificate of currency showing your public liability limit. Fortis Risk Solutions compares wordings and reads the exclusions that matter in your trade, such as hot works and faulty workmanship. We check the tools section for the conditions on theft from a ute left overnight, and send certificates straight to builders and agents. Have your licence number and annual turnover ready. Call 03 7046 3766 or send an enquiry.
What Plumber and Electrician Insurance Covers
Plumber and electrician insurance covers public liability, tools and equipment, work vehicles, contract works and income protection for plumbers, gasfitters, electricians and air conditioning technicians. It is tradie insurance built for work inside other people's homes and businesses, where one small mistake can cause water damage or a fire after you have packed up and left.
The claims follow the work. A pipe joint fails a week after the job and water runs through two floors of an apartment block. A loose connection in a switchboard starts a fire. A drill goes through a hidden pipe or cable. A ute is broken into overnight, every tool is gone and the next day's jobs are cancelled. An injury on site stops your income straight away.
In Victoria, plumbers and gasfitters are registered or licensed by the Building and Plumbing Commission, formerly the Victorian Building Authority, and electricians are licensed by Energy Safe Victoria. Builders and head contractors usually ask subcontractors for a certificate of public liability insurance before they start on site. If a fire or burglary stops trading, business interruption insurance can pay ongoing costs.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges plumbers insurance and electrical trade cover as part of our business insurance range from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn. We ask about your work types, the size of jobs and whether you work on new builds before we approach insurers. Builders who run whole projects should look at builders insurance instead. Larger installation contracts may also need construction insurance for the works.
Who this covers
Businesses in this group include:
- Plumbers and gasfitters
- Electricians and electrical contractors
- Data and communications electricians
- Solar and battery installers
- HVAC and air conditioning technicians
If your business is not listed, ask us. The sections below are the starting point for any business in the group.
Plumber and Electrician Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Related Client Case Studies
Cases from the Fortis Risk Solutions broking team. Client names have been removed.
Client case: Burst Pipe Damages the Works and Neighbouring Property
The client situation: During plumbing works, a pipe connection fails overnight. Water damages newly installed cabinetry and flooring at the construction site and also flows into the neighbouring property.
How the policy may respond: Contract Works: may cover damage to the insured construction works.
Public Liability: may respond to damage suffered by the neighbouring property if the contractor is legally liable.
This example shows how Contract Works protects the project itself, while Liability protects against certain claims from third parties.How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: We arrange contract works and public liability together, so one event that damages both the job and a neighbour is handled as one claim through us.
Client case: Injury to a Visitor on Site
The client situation: During a renovation project, the property owner visits the construction site to check the progress. While walking through the work area, they trip over unsecured building materials left in a walkway and suffer a fractured wrist.
How the policy responded: The property owner made a claim against the builder, alleging that the site had not been kept reasonably safe. The third party liability section of the builder’s Contract Works policy responded to the claim, covering the builder’s legal defence costs and the compensation they were legally liable to pay for the visitor’s injury, subject to the policy terms, limits and excess.
How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: We make sure the liability limit on a contract works policy matches what the building contract requires, and we handle the claim correspondence so the builder can keep working.
Every policy is different and the outcome of a claim depends on its terms. As your broker, Fortis Risk Solutions compares insurers and policy wording before you buy, and lodges and manages the claim for you when something happens. Talk to us about your own cover.
Plumber and Electrician Insurance FAQs
Public liability is the starting point, because builders, property managers and many householders ask for a certificate before work starts. Plumber insurance in Victoria usually adds tools cover, a vehicle policy and personal accident and sickness cover for the owner. Most tradies combine the business sections in a business insurance package, with workers compensation as a separate compulsory policy once they employ staff.
It can. A fire or flood that starts days or weeks after you finish falls under the products and completed work part of the public liability section, which is designed to cover damage your work causes. It usually does not pay to redo the faulty work itself. Check that the policy does not exclude the work you do, such as solar, battery or gas appliance installation.
Only if you hold a tools or portable equipment section, and only on its conditions. Many policies cover theft from a locked vehicle only where there is visible forced entry, and some limit cover overnight unless the vehicle is garaged. List high value items such as drain cameras, press tools and test instruments separately so the sum insured is right.
Vehicles usually sit on a separate business car insurance policy, also called commercial motor, rather than in the business package. Tell the insurer the vehicle carries tools and is used for work, because a private car policy may not respond to a work vehicle claim. Declare racking, signwriting and fitted equipment as accessories. The tools inside are covered under the tools section.
Often, yes. Solar work involves roofs, batteries and grid connection, and some insurers restrict work at heights or battery installation unless it is declared. Air conditioning technicians work in ceiling spaces and need a national refrigerant handling licence. Declare every work type, including data cabling and small maintenance jobs, so nothing you do sits outside the policy.
Trade policies look alike until a claim tests the wording on completed work, tools in vehicles and the work types declared. As your broker, FRS helps you disclose your work and contract requirements accurately, structure liability limits to suit builders and head contractors, compare insurers that write trade risks and act as your advocate at claim time, including when a builder or owners corporation disputes the damage.
Electricians tend to get caught in the gap between the faulty work and the damage it causes. Public liability can respond to a fire or water damage that follows a job, but the cost of redoing your own work is usually excluded, so read that clause closely. Check products liability for parts you supply and install. Then ask how tools are covered when stolen from a locked ute overnight. Policies differ most on these points, which is why no single wording suits every electrician.
Talk to a broker about Plumber and Electrician Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about plumber and electrician insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.