Contractors All Risk Insurance
Construction projects carry risks that general property and liability policies were never designed to handle. Contractors All Risk (CAR) insurance is built for builders, civil contractors and developers. It covers the contract works, your plant and equipment, and third-party liability under one specialist policy.
Cover from the start of works to the end of the defects period
A wall that came down before practical completion
An illustrative example of how Ardent can make the difference in a time of need.
Partly built blockwork collapsed in high wind on a residential development. The works had not been handed over, and the head contract left the builder carrying them until they were.
We had checked the contract works section before the job started and confirmed the sum insured covered the contract value plus escalation. At claim time we pulled the weather data to establish the cause.
The rebuild and the clean-up were paid. The delay costs were met under the extension we had added at placement.
This is an illustrative example. Every claim is assessed by the insurer on its own facts and under the terms of the policy.
Our Contractors All Risk experts
QPIB · Dip. Fin. Serv. (Ins Broking) · ANZIIF (Snr Assoc) CIP
Mining, aviation, construction, retail and property
Steve has 40 years in insurance, most of it in construction and civil engineering, with underground mining, aviation, national retail and property development alongside. He is one of Ardent's founders, works from inside a client's business and keeps those relationships for the long term.
QPIB · Dip. Fin. Serv. (Ins Broking) · Dip. Integrated Risk Management · ANZIIF (Snr Assoc) CIP
Risk management and program design
Stephen co-founded Ardent and has 17 years in insurance, with clients from sole traders to multinational corporates. He works through the risks a business faces and helps decide what to avoid, reduce, retain or insure, balancing cover against cost. He has served on the committee of NIBA's NSW Mentoring Program.
Cyber, property, motor fleet and technology
Kye has two and a half years in insurance broking, after working in retail management, and is studying for his diploma in insurance broking. He looks after a general book of clients, with a focus on cyber, property, motor fleet and technology. Clients find him thorough, efficient and understanding.
What a client says about Ardent
Professional, great communication and went the extra mile to get me the best outcome they could. Thanks Stephen and team.
Contractors All Risk FAQ
Both options exist. A project-specific policy is arranged for a single contract and provides a defined limit of indemnity for that project's value, which suits large, one-off developments. An annual CAR (sometimes called a contract works annual policy or open declaration policy) is suited to contractors undertaking multiple smaller projects throughout the year, where declaring each project would be impractical. Ardent assesses your project pipeline and recommends a structure that suits it.
Head contracts typically require the principal (the client), the head contractor, and often all sub-contractors to be noted as insured parties. Ardent structures the policy to meet your contractual obligations, noting sub-contractors as insured up to their respective contract values and making sure the principal's interest is protected. Failure to correctly note all parties is one of the most common errors in construction insurance and can lead to declined claims.
CAR policies exclude the cost of rectifying defective workmanship, design or materials. The cost of doing the work correctly is a business risk, not an insurable event. CAR policies do cover resulting damage: if defective work causes a collapse or fire that damages non-defective parts of the works, that consequential damage is covered. The distinction matters when a claim arises, and Ardent's claims team works to recover everything the policy responds to.
The maintenance or defects liability period (DLP) begins at practical completion and typically runs for 12 months, during which you remain responsible to the principal for defects. A maintenance period extension to your CAR policy covers sudden and unforeseen damage occurring during this period, for example storm damage to completed roofing. Without this extension, you may face out-of-pocket costs for damage that isn't technically defective workmanship but occurs while you still hold risk. We seek to include DLP extensions where they are available.