How much does public liability insurance cost?

How much does public liability cost for your trade?

The table shows 17 trades we insure, for policy years starting in 2025 and 2026, as at October 2026. The middle premium is the one half our clients in that trade paid less than.

What CIB clients paid for public liability alone, a year, all up including our fee

These figures mix the limits our clients chose, from $5 million to $20 million, so they are not the premium of a $20 million policy. A $5 million policy in the mix is usually a long-standing client on an older limit; a new policy we place starts at $10 million.

These figures are public liability only. They do not include tools, vehicles or personal accident cover. Every premium on this site includes all fees and charges.

They are examples, not quotes.

What does one real policy look like, line by line?

One concreter we insure on the Gold Coast holds $20 million of public liability, turns over about $500,000 with one full-time and one part-time worker, and carries a $500 excess. In July 2026 the policy cost $1,265 for the year.

That is well below the middle premium for concreters, so do not read it as typical; it is here for its schedule.

The premium bought cover with four limits printed on this schedule:

• no cover for excavation deeper than 3.5 metres, or for demolishing a structure more than 10 metres high;
• no cover for anything connected with silica, in any form;
• damage to underground pipes and cables is covered only if the location was checked with the authorities, recorded in writing and traced before work started;
• a working-at-height condition, with no work above 10 metres.

Concrete cutting can raise silica dust, so for a concreter that line is not a technicality. The premium does not show it. The schedule does.

What we check: whether the limits on your schedule match the work you actually do, before you pay, not after a claim. How height, depth and hot work terms fall trade by trade, and the claims we have seen when they bite, are on contractor public liability insurance.

Why do two businesses in the same trade pay such different premiums?

Half our plumbers paid between $1,136 and $3,327. On the phone we explain the spread in this order.

Turnover moves the premium most. A sole-trader electrician we insure in south-east Queensland, turning over $100,000 with $10 million of cover, paid $868 at renewal in March 2026, the middle figure among the Queensland sole-trader electricians we insure. A Brisbane drainage plumbing business with 10 full-time workers and $5 million of turnover, at $20 million of cover, paid $8,992 in August 2026, with hot work and silica terms on its schedule.

For businesses turning over up to $250,000, the middle premium was lower: $864 for electricians, $640 for cleaners and $1,206 for plumbers.

Claims history comes second. It usually bites by shrinking the panel, not by a loading: the underwriting agencies with the lower risk appetite decline first, and the premium rises because less competition is left. One plumber we insure in Victoria, working in high-rise apartment buildings, was paying $22,000 a year with a direct insurer; after one damage claim the insurer declined to renew, and we placed the risk with a general liability insurer for close to $14,500 a year with a $5,000 excess. It is an example, not a quote.

Then come what your business physically does, what you pay subcontractors and the limit you choose. Where your business is based matters too: the policy is rated on its situation address, your main business premises. The excess moves the premium only to a very small degree.

Declare your real subcontractor payments: a misstatement can reduce or defeat a claim. Why, in full: if a subcontractor is hurt on your job, can you be held liable?

Does $20 million of public liability cost much more than $10 million?

In our experience, doubling the limit does not double the premium: most claims never come near the top of a limit, and insurers generally rate the upper layers more cheaply. On some panels, $20 million costs no more than $10 million once you are already there.

Do not read the step from the table: in our book the businesses holding $20 million are generally the bigger ones, so their higher figures are mostly turnover, not limit.

Often the limit is not your choice. A head contract's insurance schedule almost always asks for at least $20 million now, and $20 million is the figure usually written into a commercial lease. Ask us to quote both.

Does public liability cost more in Queensland or New South Wales?

Insurers rate public liability on where your business is based: the situation address on the policy, which should be your main business premises. So a Queensland business is rated as a Queensland business, even on the day a job takes it over the border. We see no blanket loading for any one state on the covers we place.

Our own figures run both ways. Concreters paid a middle $2,429 in Queensland against $1,422 in New South Wales, while cleaners paid $735 in Queensland against $997 in New South Wales.

What we check: that the situation address on your schedule is your real main premises. An old address you have moved out of, or your bookkeeper's address, can put the policy in the wrong place and rate it on the wrong premises.

How much does public liability cost for an event?

Cover we arrange for a one-off event starts at about $600 to $700, all up, and rises with the kind of event. A one-day market stall holder can usually buy a policy direct for about $200 to $300. That is not the business we are set up for.

Where we help most is an organiser running an ongoing event or a series of them. These are examples, not quotes.

Is public liability insurance worth what it costs?

What can you do when your premium keeps climbing?

Ask whether it should still be a package. A packaged business policy is rated off a table, and when your work, size or claims sit at its edge, the table keeps charging more. Plumbers above about $1 million of turnover feel it most right now, because of water claims in strata buildings. Around $15,000 to $20,000 of premium, a standalone general liability policy, quoted by an underwriter through a broker, starts to compete. More on general liability insurance.

What can you do about the premium?

• Describe your business as it is today, including any second trade.
• Weigh a higher excess against how often you claim. On many of the liability wordings we compared, the excess also applies to the cost of defending a claim. More in why we sometimes recommend a higher excess.
• Have the market tested at every renewal. We can place a business pack across a panel of up to nine insurers.

What we check: the schedule, not just the premium. Many of the trade, business and liability policies we place carry at least one trade endorsement, such as a height, depth, hot work or subcontractor term. Where a restriction has to stay, we rewrite it in plain English on your documents at new business, at every change and at renewal.

Want to know where your business sits in that premium table?

Tell us what you do, your turnover and what you pay subcontractors, and a broker will quote it properly.

Talk to a broker on 07 3292 1111.

Or ask for a call back