Contractor's All Risks (CAR) Insurance - who is responsible

[mbon75]

Hi

Can anyone advise who is responsible for provision/cost of Contractors All Risks insurance normally. We are using a building company who provide a full turnkey service and they have detailed in the contract that we are required to take out Contractor's All Risks insurance in joint names of us and the builder to cover any loss or damage to the building works and Goods and Services from any cause whatever for the full replacement cost.

I would have thought the builder would be responsible for such an insurance give the turnkey service.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks

[Temp]

Yes normally if you are handing the plot over to a builder and he's doing everything then you check he has his own insurance policy.  If you are retaining control of the site and just hiring him to build the shell with you hiring trades to do other work then you would take out a policy, however you would still expect the builder to have a policy to cover his staff and any contractors he hires. 

[mbon75]

Thanks for this reply. Other than the foundation which we are arranging separately, the builder is doing everything themselves including arranging any other trades needed as their full turnkey service. Therefore they will have control of the site and essentially do everything until the handover. Would it therefore be on the building to pay for contractors all risk insurance?

[Temp]

A quote will usually come with terms and conditions and usually a list of other assumptions such as a provisional sum for the kitchen or other items that might be unknown at the start. If you have accepted the quote and that didn't include insurance then it's down to you to pay for it. They might be happy to arrange the insurance but you can expect them to want to adjust the agreed price accordingly. If you haven't accepted the quote yet then you can still haggle over what it includes or doesn't include.

 

Edit: We used a builder that had his own insurance policy but because he wasn't starting for some time we took out our own site insurance policy to cover the intervening period. Our site had a public footpath across it until it could be diverted. As I recall our policy covered pretty much everything so there was some duplication but this was some 11 years ago.  

Edited April 18, 2017 by Temp

[mbon75]

Thanks again for this helpful info. We have not signed the contract but noted a clause for us to pay for CAR inserted into the contract and were surprised as it had never been mentioned previously during our meetings and emails. I therefore wanted to check if this was standard as I would have expected the contractor to cover all risks to their work.