• For Sole Traders: You’re personally exposed. If you cause damage to someone else’s property the financial liability falls directly on your shoulders. Without insurance, a single overspray incident or fire caused by solvent rags could bankrupt your business and put your personal assets at risk. Additionally, major head contractors and commercial clients will rarely let a subbie onto a site without seeing a Certificate of Currency for liability insurance.
• For Businesses with Staff/Subbies: Your exposure multiplies with every employee or contractor on site. You are legally and financially responsible for the actions of your employees. More workers mean more tins of paint near expensive carpets, more scaffolding up and more health & safety risk.

Real-World Examples

• Spray Drift (Overspray): You’re spraying a commercial roof or exterior cladding on a windy day. Fine paint mist drifts across the boundary fence, coating 15 cars parked next door. Removing overspray and repainting vehicles could easily run upwards of $30,000–$50,000.
• Paint Spills: A team member knocks over an unsealed tin of oil-based primer on a client’s newly laid, unsealed hardwood timber floor. The stain soaks deep into the timber, requiring expensive specialist restoration or partial replacement of the flooring.
• Damage to Roofs / Surrounds: While setting up ladders or working on a tile roof to paint fascias, a painter steps on roof tiles or drops a ladder onto a glass conservatory, causing thousands of dollars in property damage. The cracked roof tiles could lead to water ingress and may not be covered by some insurers.
• Defective Workmanship (Inadequate Preparation): A painter fails to properly sand or prime timber joinery before applying topcoats. A year later, the paint system is peeling off. While public liability won’t typically pay to redo your work just because it’s poor quality (although there are exceptions now), if the defective prep work leads to moisture ingress that damages the underlying timber, a properly structured policy with a Faulty Workmanship / Property Being Worked On extension can cover the damage caused to that property. It will also pay to remediate the defective work that caused the damage too.

2. Recommended Core Insurance Types Explained

To build what we call a solid “Goldilocks Package”: not too little, not too much, but just right, painters should consider the following:

1. Public/General Liability Insurance (A Must-Have)

• Why You Need It: Public Liability covers your legal liability if you accidentally cause physical damage to someone else’s property.
• Amounts: Minimum coverage is $1m, with higher amounts available according to the risk exposure.
• Trade-Specific Extras to Look For: Standard public liability policies can exclude cover for damage to the item you’re physically working on or exclude “faulty workmanship”. If you’ve got your liability insurance directly from an insurer online then you may not have this cover (unless you’re with Builtin). As a painter, you need to ensure your policy includes extensions for:
  • Property Being Worked On: Covers damage caused directly to the substrate or surface you are physically prepping or painting.
  • Defective / Faulty Workmanship Extension: Covers resultant property damage stemming from defective work (e.g., inadequate surface prep causing water ingress). Some insurers now also cover defective work without requiring property damage (but conditions apply).

2. Statutory Liability Insurance

• Why You Need It: It protects your business against the legal defence costs and fines/penalties stemming from unintentional breaches of New Zealand legislation. Most commonly the Health and Safety at Work Act, Fair Trading Act, Resource Management Act and Building Act. The policy can’t insure health & safety or RMA fines but will cover the defence costs and any reparations awarded to an injured party.
• Painter Scenario: You’re washing down a roof or equipment, and chemical-laden runoff or toxic wash-water enters the storm drain, breaching local council environmental bylaws and/or a resource consent. Or, a worker falls from a work platform or scaffold that wasn’t adequately secured. Statutory Liability covers the legal defence costs (but not the fines in these examples).

3. Commercial Vehicle Insurance

• Why You Need It: Your ute or van is essential to your business and probably one of your more expensive business assets. Standard personal car insurance will generally decline claims if the vehicle is used for commercial work.
• Options: Comprehensive cover protects against accidents, theft, signwriting replacement costs and third-party damage caused by your vehicle.

4. Tools & Mobile Assets Insurance

• Why You Need It: Airless spray units, dustless sanding systems, scaffolding and power tools add up to thousands of dollars quickly. Tools stolen from locked vans or job sites can grind your business to a halt.
• Options: Look for policies offering replacement value (new for old) cover, so you can replace your gear quickly. Check excesses for theft (no forced entry) and burglary (where there is forced entry) and exclusions for theft from vehicles.

5. Personal Income Protection / Sickness Cover

• Why You Need It: ACC only pays out if you’re injured in an accident. Sickness, serious illness, or medical conditions aren’t covered by ACC. Income protection covers your living expenses and ongoing business overheads if you can’t work due to illness.
• Options: Dial down your ACC and replace it with the broader cover offered by private income protection. You can add trauma, medical and life cover as well.

3. Additional Types of Coverage to Consider

Depending on the scale of your contracts and whether you employ staff, you can consider these add-ons to round out your protection:

• Employers Liability and/or Employee Disputes Liability Insurance
• Professional Indemnity: If you provide professional recommendations or design, such as specifying specialised protective coating systems or colour/product compatibility.

4. What Should Painters Consider Before Choosing a Broker?

Not all insurance policies are created equal and off-the-shelf policies from retail insurers may not be appropriate to the specific risks faced by trade professionals. Painters are better off using the services of an experienced broker, in particular to make sure they maximise their likelihood of a claim being paid, especially when it comes to complex liability issues.

Before partnering with a broker, consider the following:

1. Construction & Trade Expertise: Does the broker actually understand the building sector, or are they selling general off-the-shelf policies? You need a broker who knows the difference between Property Being Worked On and Defective Workmanship extensions to standard Public Liability, and who understands the risks painters actually face.
2. Fine Print Extensions & Exclusions: Ask directly how their policies handle overspray, hazardous substances, height work limits, water ingress, and faulty workmanship. Cheap online policies often have more limitations or exclusions on spray painting and water penetration, or don’t have the benefits that broker-arranged policies do.
3. Claims Support When Things Go Wrong: A broker will act as your advocate during a claim. The last thing you want is to be arguing with a call centre noddy from a direct insurer who has no idea about how liability insurance works and how to get a claim paid.
4. Tailored Packages: Look for a broker who offers trade-specific packages, so you get appropriate cover across your liability, tools and vehicles without leaving gaps.
5. Speed & Efficiency: In the painting