RICS has insurance guide

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched a insurance guide to help builders, surveyors and sub-contractors on a construction site get correct cover.

Areas of cover include:

• Material damage
• Consequential losses
• Third party liabilities stretching far into the future
• Non-negligent liability. To complicate things further the responsibility for arranging the insurances will usually rest with several different parties.
• Environmental insurance
• Latent defects

Construction Insurance aims to help project management surveyors, quantity surveyors, building surveyors and all other property professional.

RICS President, Max Crofts said: "Insurance should be taken very seriously and we would stress the importance for its consideration early on in the procurement and construction process. As a general rule the earlier that decisions are made about insurance, the better it is. Expensive mistakes can be avoided; there is more time to find the best markets and less chance of duplicating covers or paying unnecessary premium. This guidance note is one of a series to be published in the next few months, covering various aspects of property and construction. It is a vital part of the RICS role in keeping members up to date with best practice."