You're building something. Make sure a gap in the paperwork isn't what finishes it off.

Quick answerContract works insurance is built from two parts, one insuring the physical works and the materials for them against fire, storm, flood, impact and theft, the other a liability section that responds if the construction work injures someone or damages property outside the build, and it is held either as a single project policy for one job or as an annual policy covering every project you start.

Contract works insurance is built from two parts. The first insures the physical works themselves, the structure going up, the materials on site waiting to be used, and often materials in transit to the site or stored nearby before delivery, against damage from fire, storm, flood, impact and theft. The second is a liability section that responds if the construction work injures someone or damages property that isn't part of the build, a crane strike on a neighbouring fence, a trench that undermines the footpath next door.

Which shape of policy you need depends on what you actually do. If you're a builder running multiple jobs through the year, an annual construction policy covers every project you start without arranging a new policy each time, usually up to a maximum individual project value and a maximum build period. If you're taking on one job, a house extension, a single commercial fit-out, a single strata block, a single project policy covers that job specifically and runs out when it's finished. If you're a subcontractor, you may be asked to hold your own single project policy naming the head contractor as an interested party, precisely because the head contractor's own policy might not extend to your work the way you'd assume.

Contract works insurance usually doesn't insure the tools, machinery and vehicles used to build the project, though a small number of wordings bundle limited plant cover into the same policy rather than excluding it outright. Either way, excavators, generators, scaffolding, site sheds and mobile plant are almost always better placed under their own dedicated policy, see Plant & Equipment Insurance, because they're assets that move between jobs rather than value tied to one build.

Quick answerBefore we quote you we ask open risk driver questions rather than just a project value and a start date, because that conversation is what surfaces whether you are a subcontractor assuming someone else's policy covers you, a builder juggling a few sites who needs one policy instead of several, or an owner-builder who did not know this cover existed, and whether your sum insured still matches what the job will cost to finish.

Buy contract works cover online or over the phone from a call centre and you'll be asked for a project value and a start date. That's the whole conversation. What actually protects you isn't a document review nobody promised, it's being asked the right questions before you're quoted at all.

We use the same method on every product we place, construction included: we ask why you've called today, then keep asking open, "risk driver" discovery questions until we land on what's actually worrying you, not just what you think you're supposed to ask for. That's what separates a broker from an order taker. On a construction job, that conversation is what surfaces whether you're a subcontractor assuming someone else's policy covers you, a builder juggling a few sites who needs one policy instead of several, or an owner-builder who didn't know this cover existed at all. It's also where we ask the question that matters most from the risk section above: does your sum insured still match what the job will actually cost to finish, not what it cost to start.

We place contract works across a handful of specialist markets rather than one insurer's product, which matters because most of the builders, small construction companies and owner-builders who come to us are running contract values under $5 million a year, not a $50 million tower. Cover gets shaped to a project that size, not stretched from a program built for something much bigger, or squeezed into whichever policy shape happens to be easiest to sell.

Quick answerThe construction mistakes that cost real money: assuming a policy existing somewhere on the project protects you, confusing QBCC Home Warranty Insurance with contract works insurance, letting the sum insured go stale, running past the construction period the policy allows for, expecting the policy to pay for fixing your own faulty work, assuming cover stops the moment the building is finished, and forgetting materials that have not reached the site yet.

Assuming you're covered because "there's a policy" somewhere on the project. Covered in the risk section above, and worth repeating here because it's the single most expensive mistake: a policy existing on your project and a policy protecting you are not the same fact.

Confusing QBCC Home Warranty Insurance with contract works insurance. These are two completely different products doing two completely different jobs. Home Warranty Insurance protects a homeowner if their licensed builder can't finish the job or fails to fix a defect, it's about the builder failing you. Contract works insurance protects the physical build from damage, fire, storm, theft, while it's underway, regardless of who's at fault. Having one does not mean you have the other, and QBCC's scheme doesn't apply to owner-builders at all.

Letting the sum insured go stale. A figure that matched the contract price on day one can be well short of what it actually costs to finish by month nine, for the reasons in the risk section above.

Running past the construction period the policy allows for. Annual and single project policies both set a maximum build time. If your project overruns, whether from weather, approvals or a supply chain delay, the policy doesn't automatically stretch with it. Tell your broker as soon as a delay looks likely, not once it's already happened.

Assuming the policy pays for fixing your own faulty work. It generally doesn't, and this is one of the most misunderstood exclusions in the product. If damage happens because of faulty design, materials or workmanship, the policy typically won't pay to fix that faulty work itself. Where it gets more useful is the damage that faulty work then causes to the rest of the project, a botched weld that later causes a fire, for instance, which many policies will still cover for the undamaged parts of the build. The line between "the faulty work itself" and "damage the faulty work caused" is exactly the kind of fine print worth having a broker read before you need it, not after.

Assuming cover stops the moment the building is finished. Most policies carry a defects liability period after practical completion, during which damage that shows up as a result of something that happened during construction can still be claimed. Check what your specific policy actually extends to cover in that window, because "extended maintenance" and "guaranteed maintenance" wordings cover genuinely different things, and don't let your contract works and liability cover lapse the day the builders pack up if you're still inside that period.

Forgetting materials that haven't reached the site yet. Timber, steel and fittings sitting in a supplier's yard or on a truck are often at real risk of theft or damage before they're ever unloaded. Check whether your policy extends to materials in transit and in storage, not just what's physically on site.