Income Protection for Builders
Most trades can be replaced on a job for a few weeks. A builder cannot, because the builder is the job.
You priced it, you hold the contract with the client, you booked the groundworker and the roofer, you know what the drawings actually mean, and you are the one who signs off what gets paid for. Take that person out and the site does not slow down, it stops.
Income protection pays monthly while you are unable to work. For a builder it is the cover that keeps a household going while a business that depends entirely on one person sits idle.
The short answer
A builder running their own jobs is not just another pair of hands, they are the person holding the contract, the programme and the money. If a builder stops, the site stops: subcontractors move to other work, the client has an open roof and a part-built extension, and nobody is invoicing. Income protection replaces a monthly amount while you cannot work, and for a builder the figure needs to reflect the business standing still rather than just a wage going missing.
What actually stops you working
- Back and shoulder injuries, because most builders are still on the tools as well as running the job
- Falls from scaffolding, ladders and through openings on part-built structures
- Hand injuries from power tools, which stop both the work and the paperwork
- Heart problems and stress-related illness, which this trade carries more of than it admits
- Anything affecting driving, since a builder is in the van between sites, merchants and clients all day
- A long illness, which is worse here than a sharp injury because the contract keeps running
Sick pay, if you get any
None, and the position is worse than for a subcontracted trade. A self-employed bricklayer who stops simply earns nothing. A builder who stops is still liable under a contract, may still owe subcontractors for work done, and may face the client appointing somebody else to finish at your cost. The money does not just stop coming in, it can keep going out.
Why the definition of incapacity decides it
A builder is one of the few on this list who can plausibly keep working while injured, because part of the job is phone calls, pricing and supervision. That cuts both ways. It can keep a business alive through a broken wrist, and it also means an insurer may argue you are capable of your occupation when you cannot do the physical half of it. Be clear at application about how much of your week is on the tools rather than in the van, because that is the fact the definition gets applied to.
The Contract Does Not Stop When You Do
This is what makes a builder's position different from every other trade on this site, and it is the reason the sums are bigger.
A subcontractor who is injured stops earning. A builder who is injured stops earning and continues to owe. There is a contract with the client that assumes the work will be finished, subcontractors who have done work and expect paying, materials ordered and sitting on site, and in some cases a retention or a penalty for overrunning. None of that pauses because you are in hospital.
So the amount of cover a builder needs is not simply what they take home each month. It is enough to keep the household running while the business is not generating, with some awareness that the business may be making demands of its own at the same time. That is a conversation worth having with real figures rather than a round number.
Half Your Week Is Not On The Tools, And That Matters
Builders usually describe themselves as on the tools, and most are, for part of the week.
The rest is pricing, ordering, chasing deliveries, managing subbies, dealing with the client and the building inspector. That mix is genuinely useful when something goes wrong, because a builder with a damaged knee can often still run a job from the van for a few weeks, which is not an option for a roofer. It also creates a specific insurance risk: if your occupation includes a substantial amount of work you can do sitting down, an insurer assessing whether you can do your own occupation has more to point at.
The answer is not to dress the job up as more physical than it is. It is to describe the split honestly at application, so that what is on the policy matches what you actually do, and to understand which half of the job the definition will be tested against.
If you stop
The subcontractors are the problem. A groundworker or roofer booked for your job has other work waiting and will not sit idle for six weeks, so your gang disperses within a fortnight. When you are fit again the job needs rebooking from scratch, in whatever order people are free, and the client has spent that time living in a building site and talking to other builders.
Common questions
What happens to a building job if the builder is off sick?+
It stops, and then it disperses. Subcontractors booked for your job have other work waiting and will not sit idle for weeks, so the gang breaks up within a fortnight and has to be rebooked in whatever order people are free. Meanwhile the client is living in a part-built house and talking to other builders. That is why a builder's cover needs to reflect the time to get a job moving again, not just the time to recover.
Do self-employed builders get sick pay?+
No, and the position is worse than for a subcontracted trade. A self-employed builder who stops has no income, and unlike a subbie may still be liable under a contract with the client, still owe subcontractors for work already done, and still have materials on order. The money does not only stop coming in, it can keep going out. Income protection replaces a monthly amount regardless of what the business is doing.
I run jobs rather than working on them. Can I still get income protection?+
Yes. Income protection is about your ability to do your own job, whatever that job involves, and a builder who mostly manages is simply a different occupation from one who is laying blocks all week. What matters is that the description on the policy matches the reality, so describe the split between physical work and running the job honestly at application rather than defaulting to either extreme.
How much income protection does a builder need?+
Work it from what the household costs and how long the business would take to start generating again, rather than from an average month's drawings. Builders consistently underestimate the second part, because a job that stopped does not restart the day you are fit: the subbies have gone, the programme has slipped and the client has lost confidence. Bring your actual figures and we will size it properly.
Does it cover stress or a heart problem rather than an injury?+
Income protection responds to being unable to work, whatever the medical reason, so illness is treated the same way as injury. That matters for builders specifically, because the pressure of carrying contracts, cash flow and other people's wages produces a fair amount of stress-related and cardiac illness in this trade and very little of it gets talked about. As with any condition, what counts is declaring your medical history accurately when you apply.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.
- How income protection worksDeferred periods, how claims are paid and what it costs.
- Income protection for bricklayersOne of the trades you are booking, with its own risks.
- Income protection for groundworkersWho starts your jobs, and what stops them.
- Keyman insuranceWhen the business, not the household, is what needs protecting.
- Talk to an adviserTell us how much of your week is on the tools.