Clarke Williams Ltd Insurance Brokers
Clarke Williams Ltd
Insurance Brokers
Specialist Liability Insurance for Home Automation Contractors and Installers
Is your liability insurance smart enough?
Modern technology is now a major part of our lives and with the rise of smart devices and home automation it is essential that more attention is placed on reviewing liability Insurance for contractors that design and install home and commercial automation systems.
Our Home Automation and Audio Visual Scheme is specifically tailored to the needs of Home Automation contractors, with all the great benefits of our scheme wording, such as inefficacy – the failure for a product or service to fulfil its intended function.
Clarke Williams have worked with the leading insurers to give contractors access to bespoke solutions for Home Automation Contractors and Installers Liability Insurance, not only covering your activities but providing specialist extensions in cover at a competitive price.
Our Public/Products Liability Section can the following covers;
- Contractual Liability
- Fidelity Bonding
- Defective Workmanship
- Financial Loss including Products
Plus optional extensions for damage to parts worked upon, height work in excess of 10 metres and depth work. We also can include Professional Indemnity and Directors & Officers Liability.
What is a Smart Home or Smart Property?
Properties are considered to be ‘Smart’ if equipped with devices for lighting, heating, sound and security that can be remotely controlled via a smartphone or computer. The most common types of Smart Devices being installed in homes are:
- Smart locks – allowing clients to review the security of a property remotely via a smartphone. These allow for greater flexibility especially if a client needs to let a courier deliver a parcel or an employee has forgotten to lock the property, a quick click can unlock and lock the doors.
- Smart alarms – rather than simply causing a noise the smart alarms can also record CCTV, link to a speaker on a phone to alert thieves that clients are aware of their presence and also trigger smoke bombs to obscure vision. Fire alarms can alert owners instantly and shut off oil & gas supplies to minimise damage caused or prevent a major incident.
- Smart lighting – while available to create mood lighting or automatically turn on/off lights as you walk around a property these can also be used to remotely control lights while you are away to give the impression that the property is occupied helping to deter potential thieves.
- Smart sound – one of the most common smart devices is an audio vision system which can control music throughout a property all from a smartphone.
- Smart heating – with the Government pledge to install smart energy meters in every home by 2020 this is one of the fastest growing areas of consumer tech. While not only allowing clients to monitor energy remotely, they can now switch on/off heating when you arrive or leave.
- Smart cameras – from remote controlled CCTV to Pet Monitors clients cna now view the exterior and interior of a property from anywhere in the world. A great way for providing peace of mind while away or for checking a favourite pet or member of staff is behaving themselves.
- Monitoring and Leak protection – There are a wide array of Leak Prevention Devices available for both the commercial and residential markets. We can provide bespoke cover for you on all prevention devices and ensure you have the vital covers such as failure to perform cover. Clarke Williams can cover you for automatic shut off valves, leak detection systems and even wireless on/off controls.
Why does a home automation contractor or installer need liability insurance?
As a home automation contractor, you are exposed to the possibility of legal action being taken against you in respect of your legal responsibility for bodily injury or property damage arising during your day to day activities. Liability claims can be expensive to defend and can easily run into £1,000’s if you are found legally liable.
Your home automation contractors’ liability insurance is there to protect you against these losses by providing you with insurance in respect of awards made against you and the legal defence costs of any claim.
What Insurance home automation contractor or installer need?
Whether you are self-employed or have a team of employees working for you, it is essential you have adequate cover to protect your liabilities.
Public and Products Liability Insurance covers you for bodily injury to third parties or property damage which arises in the course of your daily activities, for example damage to a client’s premises or neighbouring property whilst you are undertaking work.
Our bespoke insurance policies can include a number of extensions within our Public and Products Liability Insurance which many policies do not include:
- Defective Workmanship – provides cover for damage or injury caused as a result of your faulty workmanship (but not the damage to the part which was supplied or worked on).
- Financial loss – provides cover for pecuniary losses or expenses sustained by a third party as a result of a defect or unsuitability of works, which do not cause bodily injury or property damage
- Efficacy – provides cover for loss or damage to property arising from the failure of a service or product due to its inability to fulfil its intended function e.g. alleged failure of an alarm or CCTV equipment.
Employers Liability Insurance covers you for liability arising from employees who sustain an injury or illness during the course of their employment with you. It is a legal requirement for all employers within the UK to hold this cover and the minimum statutory limit is £5,000,000 however most insurers provide £10,000,000 as standard.
You may need Employers Liability Insurance for someone who works for you if:
- You deduct national insurance and income tax from the money you pay them
- You have the right to control where and when they work and how they do it
- You supply their work materials and equipment
- Your contract states that you are responsible for their actions and supervision of such
Contract Works Insurance covers work in the course of construction before it is handed over to the principal or employer on practical completion. It can pay to repair or to redo the work that is in progress if it is damaged by an insured event like fire, flood, storm, vandalism or theft and includes both the permanent and temporary works.
Construction Professional Indemnity Insurance also known as Design and Construct Professional Indemnity, protects contractors and sub contracted specialists (such as electrical engineers) for allegations relating to errors in their work or incorrect design.
We can also cater for Hired In Plant, Own Plant, Tools and Commercial Fleet Insurance.
How much liability insurance does a home automation contractor need?
Nowadays, it is becoming more prevalent for Contractors to be asked to have enhanced limits for their Contractors Liability Insurance and at Clarke Williams can provide Public Liability limits from £1,000,000 to in excess of £10,000,000.
The limit of indemnity is the maximum amount the insurer will pay our for a single claim, or in some cases the maximum amount they will pay out in a year.
This limit is set by you based upon your requirements. When choosing this limit, you will need to decide how much cover you think you will require. This may depend of various factors such as type of clients, works undertaken or the size of contracts being work on.
Want to speak to one of our specialists?
Call or email us today for a comprehensive insurance policy at a competitive price.
Telephone: 01732 252898
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Clarke Williams Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference 758683. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Register can be accessed through http://www.fca.org.uk/ . We are registered in England and Wales with Companies House under number 10317065. Our registered office address is Blue Bell Court, Sovereign Way, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 1FU.