Is plant and tools cover included in self-build insurance?

How it works in Ireland

A house under construction needs more than the building itself: mixers, scaffold, generators, power tools, a site hut or a caravan for the crew. One published self-build wording lists these as separate items of property insured. It names “constructional plant, tools, equipment, site huts or caravans” that belong to you, and separately the same kinds of things that you hire in, in each case while they are on the contract site, including loading and unloading.

That wording is a good example of how plant is usually treated: as an extra item, not as part of the amount you insure the house for. Each item has its own limit in the schedule, and the schedule may show its own excess too. A quote that looks complete because it shows the house figure can leave plant with a small limit or none at all.

Who needs it depends on who runs the site. With a main contractor, the contractor normally brings and insures its own plant. If you hire and manage trades yourself, you may be the one who buys or hires a hut, a hoist or a digger, and so the one with something to insure. Trades you engage usually bring their own tools, but check that their insurance covers them. Your policy may not.

Hired plant needs particular care. Hire contracts commonly make you responsible for loss or damage to the equipment while it is with you. Ask whether your policy’s hired-in item covers that responsibility and what the limit is, and ask the hire company what it requires you to insure. The same wording also excludes some losses, such as damage from a machine’s own mechanical failure, so read the exclusions, not only the cover list.

Keep a list of what is on site with purchase or hire dockets, and photograph serial numbers where there are any. After a theft, those are what let you prove what was taken. The theft-security conditions for materials often apply to plant and tools as well; the materials on site and theft page covers them.

A common mistake

Assuming the house policy covers the digger you have just hired. Plant and tools are normally listed separately, with their own limit, and may not be on the quote at all. Before hire day, ask your broker in writing whether owned and hired-in plant are included, at what limit and excess, and whether the hire company’s conditions match.