Need a certificate of currency to get on site? Or the job is done and they won't pay you without one?
Quick answerContractor public liability covers your legal liability when your work injures someone or damages property that isn't yours, and usually the cost of defending it. Head contracts almost always ask for at least $20 million now. Whether a claim is paid often comes down to your schedule: its height, depth, hot work and subcontractor terms.
Either way, the certificate is the easy part. What matters is whether the policy behind it pays when something goes wrong on that job.
If you are insuring a home or a car rather than a business, start here instead.
Is it too late if the job is already done?
If you don't have public liability, now is the right time to take it out. On the liability wordings we place, cover pays for injury or damage that happens while the policy is in force, and one of them also needs the claim made during the policy. It will not pay for something that had already gone wrong before the policy started.
What will the builder's contract ask your policy to do?
Most head contracts end with an insurance schedule. It almost always asks for public liability of at least $20 million, plus workers compensation, and sometimes comprehensive motor insurance.
It may also ask for the principal, the business that engaged you, to be named as an insured on your policy. We don't recommend that: a named insured can have the right to ring the insurer and change your policy. We note the principal as an interested party instead, and let the wording do the work.
That works because of how wordings define who is insured. Of the 17 liability wordings we compared on 28/09/2026, 11 already count a principal as insured for your work, usually to the extent your contract requires. The other six are narrower: some cover a principal only once it is put on your schedule, some only where the principal is blamed for something you did, and one only for liability caused by your own negligence.
Bring the insurance schedule to us before you sign. After you sign it can be too late to change, and some demands can't be met at all. We have seen a large national principal insist on being named as an insured on a small contractor's policy, which no insurer is likely to agree to. Real estate agents often ask handymen for professional indemnity cover, when a handyman gives no paid advice; that is one to raise with them. We can help you word what you take back to the principal.
Are you covered if a subbie is hurt on your job?
It can be, if you tell us you pay subcontractors. For a genuine subbie you usually pay no workers compensation (Queensland can treat some subbies as your worker; see the guide linked below), so if one is hurt under your direction, it can arrive on your public liability as a personal injury claim against you.
For every contractor who tells us they pay subcontractors, we make sure the policy has no exclusion for injury to subcontractors. We have not yet had a client we could not place that way, and we will not offer a policy that lacks it. For us it is non-negotiable.
No exclusion does not mean no cost. On 11 of the 30 trade schedules we read from our own book, injury to a subcontractor carried its own excess, separate from the usual one. Where the amount was printed it was $10,000, or $20,000 on the four policies written on the basis that the business used no subcontractors at all: one more reason to declare them.
An example we use on the phone: "My only subbies are my son and his apprentice. They won't sue me." If the apprentice is hurt and goes on workers compensation, that insurer can pursue you if your site or your direction contributed, whatever your son wants.
Declaring subbies covers injury to the people working for you; it does not make your policy cover damage your subbies do to someone else's property. Declare the real payments figure, too. Some insurers will not write a trade business above a set level of subcontractor payments, and at claim time an insurer can ask for your accountant's figures. A misstatement can reduce or defeat a claim. One of these claims, start to finish: if a subcontractor is hurt on your job, can you be held liable?
Do height, depth or underground limits apply to your trade?
Often, and they sit on your schedule, not in the policy booklet. On 04/10/2026 we read 30 real trade public liability schedules from our own book, chosen to cover a spread of trades. Height terms were on 19, depth limits on 15, and conditions about locating underground services before you dig on 13.
One common height line reads, with the insurer's name removed: "We do not cover any liability in respect of personal injury or property damage caused by, resulting from or in connection with your business when working externally at a height of 10 metres or more." The word that matters is "externally": cleaning a window from the inside at ten storeys can be fine where outside glass cleaning at that height is not. A broker schedule can spell that out; a direct policy can leave it vague, and vague is easier to decline.
Depth limits ran from 2 metres to 10 metres, depending on the policy. One excludes "any digging, drilling and/or excavation work that is more than 2 metres in depth". Picture a plumber who buys online, gets that limit, then trenches to 4 metres. Tree work carried limits of 3 to 5 metres of tree height. Electricians and plumbers can also meet limits on taller buildings, because insurers are wary of strata risk: one leak on level ten runs down through every unit below.
What we check: your schedule as well as the wording. Where a restriction has to stay, we rewrite it in plain English on your documents at new business, at every change and at renewal, so you know where your cover stops. Digging trades: vibration and underground services are explained on earthmoving and heavy machinery insurance.
Does your policy cover hot work?
Only on its terms. Three of the 17 liability wordings we compared print a hot work condition. The other 14 being silent does not leave you free: for trades where hot work is a real exposure, the condition arrives on the schedule. Hot work terms were on 20 of the 30 trade schedules we read. One names the standard outright: "Australian Standard 1674.1-1997 'Safety in welding and allied processes - Fire precautions'".
A claim we have seen: a fire flared up about an hour after the work finished. Hot work standards call for a fire watch after the work, and leaving before that window closes can see a claim declined. Another trap is relying on a site's extinguishers you can't find or reach in time.
What we check: whether your trade needs the hot work endorsement at all. A handyman who only now and then uses a grinder or torch can be better off on a wording with no hot work condition.
What if you do two trades?
Your policy covers the occupation you declared. A Queensland plumbing business we insure brought in an electrician to offer both trades. We could have added the electrical work to the plumbing policy by hand, for an extra premium, but for him that was not enough: we changed the policy's occupation to electrician so it carried the endorsement that went with the licensing requirement that applied to him. Someone buying online who simply ticks both trades could miss a step like that.
How much does contractor public liability cost?
What our clients paid for public liability on its own, in policy years starting in 2025 and 2026, taking the middle figure for each trade, all up: cleaners $789 a year, electricians $945, carpenters $1,143, plumbers $1,475 and concreters $2,256.
These figures mix the limits our clients chose, from $5 million to $20 million, so they are not the price of a $20 million policy. Where a $5 million policy is in the mix, it is usually a long-standing client who has kept an older limit; a new policy we place starts at $10 million. They are examples, not quotes. Turnover moves the price most, then claims history; your trade, what you pay subcontractors and the limit you choose move it too. The only way to know your number is a quote against your actual risk.
These figures are public liability only. They do not include tools, vehicles or personal accident cover. Every price on this site includes all fees and charges.
What moves the price, factor by factor: how much public liability insurance costs.
Contractor Public Liability Insurance: your questions answered
As a subcontractor, does the head contractor's policy cover me?
What is a certificate of currency?
Related cover and reading
Information current as at 04/10/2026
The information on this page is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on it, consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances. Where the information relates to a particular insurance product, consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before making a decision.
A contract, a start date or an invoice waiting on a certificate?
Ring us and a broker will set your public liability up for the job in front of you.
Call now, most enquiries are settled in one conversation - or leave your details and we'll ring within 90 minutes on a new enquiry (8am–6pm Mon–Fri).