Electrician - get Wired with Protection
Ensure your business is covered with insurance that’s as strong as your connections.
What goes into a good Electricians Insurance policy?
We know that you know you best. That's why, with a little guidance, we let you build your own Electricians Insurance policy from our three coverage types: Legal Liability, Tools & Equipment, and Audit coverage.
We start with Legal Liability Insurance
Legal Liability is included in every policy and consists of Public Liability Insurance and Products Liability Insurance. These are designed to cover you for costs that arise from third party claims against your work, and your products, respectively.
THE FOUNDATION
Legal Liability Insurance
WHY YOU NEED IT
As a sparkie, you face significant risks of accidentally damaging the client's or a third party's property.
Accidentally damaging the clients property is the most common Legal Liability claim we get from electricians. From damaging doors, TVs, ceilings (a lot of ceilings) and drilling into water pipes, to shorting out ovens and breaking bulbs, fittings, mirrors and even vases, there is a lot that can happen on a worksite.
These are the type of situations where Public Liability Insurance becomes very important for sparkies; because as long as the conditions of coverage are met, we will cover the cost of whatever damage was caused, up to the amount of your policy limit.
$10 million of coverage is usually recommended for electricians, however if you work on higher value properties with a higher risk, be sure to consider getting $20 million of coverage.
WHY YOU MIGHT NOT
Okay, that title may have been a bit misleading, since public liability insurance is critical to pretty much all electrical businesses. However, if your business is on the smaller side, or you only take on small residential jobs, you may only need $5 million of coverage, rather than $10 or $20 million.
The other part of Legal Liability Insurance, Products Liability Insurance, will only be used if you sell products to your clients. It is included in the legal liability package, but you pay the same amount whether you sell products or not, since the $5, $10 or $20 million of coverage is for either public liability or products liability.
Then we add Tools & Equipment Insurance
Tools & equipment insurance is an optional extra which you can add to your Legal Liability to continue building your Electricians Insurance Policy. You can cover up to $25,000 of your equipment with tools insurance to protect yourself from the cost of lost, damaged or stolen gear.
THE REINFORCEMENT
Tools & Equipment Insurance
WHY YOU NEED IT
If you're like most electricians, you probably have a valuable set of tools that you know is worth protecting with more than lock and key. For a lot of tradies, no equipment can mean no work.
Tool theft is unfortunately becoming more common and we've gotten plenty of claims from electricians where tools have been stolen from locked cars and vans, as well as locked toolboxes and canopies on the back of utes. As well as this, Tools Insurance also covers tool damage and loss*
Any equipment valued over $1000, such as trailers, multifunction testers, and power tools kits should be individually specified in your policy. In your policy, you can have up to $5000 total of items valued at less than $1000, which do not need to be individually specified.
VIZ can cover you for hired equipment as well. Let us know what you are hiring or give us a call to sort it out and we will cover you for the duration of your hire.
WHY YOU MIGHT NOT
Electricians tend to have quite the collection of tools with which they perform their craft. However, if you only have a smaller, less expensive collection it might not be worth it to insure it right away.
Tools of Trade Insurance is an optional extra for your policy, meaning that you can always add it to your policy once your tools collection expands. Adding Tools Insurance to your policy can be done via a phone call with someone from our Australia - based team.
And finally... Audit Insurance
Audit Insurance is designed to cover costs such as accountant fees incurred from an audit by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Having audit insurance can allow you to go without the worry and compromised cash flow from paying unexpected fees in responding to an audit.
THE FINAL TOUCH
Audit Insurance
WHY YOU NEED IT
The ATO can audit any taxpaying entity at their discretion, regardless of suspicion, fault or evidence.
If you are conducting large amount of business, it is a safe bet to cover yourself with Audit Insurance, so that if the ATO comes knocking, you know VIZ has got your back.
WHY YOU MIGHT NOT
If you are a smaller business, it might not make sense to get Audit Insurance, since the likelihood of an audit is quite low and paying the premium might not be worth it just yet. Similarly to tools insurance, if your electrical business does pick up and you want to get cover in case of an audit, you can always add Audit Insurance to your policy by making an easy phone call.
Have any questions?
We're here to help.
What could the price look like for me?
We have given you a few examples here so you can get the gist of how much value we can provide you with.
POLICIES
Policy Examples
Please note: the people mentioned below are fictional for privacy purposes. The prices, however, are accurate 😊.
Meet Matt
Matt is an electrician from Orange. He opted for $5 million of Legal Liability to cover the cost of any accidental damage he may incur while working. He only has the basic tools and decided not to insure them, however he may add them to his policy in the future. For his $5 million in Legal Liability insurance, Matt pays about $31 per month.
Meet Adam
Adam is a proud Sparkie and sole trader from Margaret River. He chose to get $5 million in Legal Liability Insurance to cover for damage to clients property. Adam decided to insure impressive equipment collection of power tools, screwdrivers, wire cutters, and clamp meters with the $5,000 of cover for unspecified tools, as well as specifying his $2,000 multitester in his policy. For $5 million in Legal Liability coverage, and insurance for his $7,000 worth of gear, Adam pays about $69 per month (including WA state stamp duty fees).
Meet Kate
Kate is an electrician from Perth who mostly deals with domestic electrical work. With no employees to manage, she got $5,000 of Tools Insurance and secured $10 million of cover through VIZ's Legal Liability Insurance. To further safeguard her business, she also added $50,000 in audit cover. With these comprehensive protections, it costs her $80 per month to stay fully insured and prepared for the risks her business is exposed to.
Want to see what we can do for you?
Matt, Adam and Kate are just (imaginary) examples of policies. The fact is, every sparkie's policy will be different. Want to build your own policy and see how we could help you?
Have any more questions?
We're here to help.