Builders Merchants Insurance for merchants and yards
Builders merchants insurance for independent merchants and branch networks with open yards, trade counters, forklifts and delivery lorries. Compare cover for your stock, your premises, the products you sell and the trade accounts you run.
- Stock in yards, sheds and showrooms on one schedule
- Products liability for goods you sell or import
- Delivery fleet, lorry loaders and goods in transit
Reviewed October 2026 by the MyBusinessComparison.com editorial team
What is builders merchants insurance?
Builders merchants insurance is a combined business policy for firms that stock and sell building materials to the trade and the public. It typically covers buildings, yard and showroom stock, loss of gross profit after damage, products and public liability, employers' liability, money, and goods carried on your own delivery vehicles.
Merchants sit between retail and wholesale, so the risks are a mix of both: customers walking through a working yard, forklifts moving among cars and people, high-value stock that is hard to secure, and a delivery fleet with lorry-mounted cranes offloading onto customers' sites. A policy built for a shop or warehouse alone usually misses part of that.
Builders merchants insurance at a glance
- Suits
- Independent merchants, specialist distributors and multi-branch groups
- Core sections
- Property and stock, business interruption, public, products and employers' liability
- Often added
- Goods in transit, money, trade credit, engineering inspection, fidelity
- Priced on
- Stock values, premises security, turnover, wage roll, fleet and claims
- Separate policy
- Delivery lorries and vans on a fleet policy
- Often surveyed
- Larger yards and branches, especially timber and open storage
What does builders merchants insurance cover?
Merchants are normally insured on a commercial combined policy made up of these sections, with values set branch by branch.
Buildings and yard
Warehouses, timber sheds, showrooms and yard surfaces, fences and gates, against fire, storm, flood, impact and malicious damage.
Read more about commercial property insurance
Stock
Timber, aggregates, bricks, plumbing and electrical stock, tools and showroom displays, including stock stored in open yards, which some insurers limit for theft.
Read more about commercial combined cover
Business interruption
The profit a branch would have earned if fire or flood shuts it, plus the extra cost of serving its accounts from another site during the rebuild.
Read more about business interruption insurance
Public liability
Injury to trade and retail customers in the yard and on the counter, and damage caused when your drivers offload onto customers' sites.
Read more about public liability insurance
Products liability
Claims from defective products you sell, cut or supply. Importing goods or selling them under your own brand can leave you answering for them as if you made them.
Read more about products liability insurance
Employers' liability
Injury to yard staff, drivers and counter staff, such as forklift accidents, falling stock and manual handling of heavy materials.
Read more about employers' liability insurance
Goods in transit
Materials on your own lorries and vans, including loads damaged when a lorry-mounted crane drops a pack during delivery.
Read more about goods in transit insurance
Money
Trade counter takings, cash locked in the safe overnight and banking runs.
Plant and lifting equipment
Forklifts, side loaders and lorry-mounted cranes, with cover for damage and breakdown and periodic thorough examination where needed.
Read more about engineering inspection cover
Covers merchants often add
- Trade credit insurance: protection when a contractor on a trade account becomes insolvent owing you money
- Fidelity cover: theft of stock or cash by your own staff, which most property sections exclude
- Cyber insurance: ransomware or outages that take down stock, ordering and till systems
- Product recall insurance: the cost of recalling a faulty own-brand or imported product
Which merchants is builders merchants insurance for?
Any business that holds building materials for sale and lets customers into the yard. These are the merchants who most often buy it.
Supplying a different trade? For general distributors see wholesale and distribution insurance, or browse the trades hub.
- Independent builders merchants: single or multi-branch general merchants serving local builders, often with a retail counter as well
- Timber merchants: racked and stacked timber, cutting and machining services, and a higher fire risk from sawdust and offcuts
- Plumbing and heating merchants: high-value boilers, copper and brass that attract theft, and products liability for what you sell
- Roofing and cladding merchants: slates, tiles, lead and sheet materials, with lorry loaders delivering to rooftop height
- Aggregates and landscaping suppliers: loose materials in bays, bulk bags delivered by crane, and shovels moving in the yard
- Kitchen, bathroom and tile showrooms: display stock, design services and fitting partners, which may bring in professional indemnity
- Electrical wholesalers: cable, fittings and controls supplied to electrical contractors on credit accounts
- Hire desks within merchants: tools and small plant hired to customers, which needs a hired-out plant section on the plant policy
How much does builders merchants insurance cost?
No two merchants are rated alike. Insurers look at the stock you hold, how you protect it, and how people and vehicles move around the yard.
Stock values and peaks
Maximum stock values at each branch drive the property premium. Seasonal increases can be agreed rather than insuring the peak all year.
Yard and building security
Perimeter fencing, gates, lighting, alarms and CCTV are assessed, with extra attention to metals and power tools.
Fire protection
Timber storage, cutting areas, battery charging for forklifts and housekeeping all affect the fire rating.
Turnover and products sold
Sales figures set the liability rate, and imported or own-brand goods attract a higher one.
Fleet and delivery work
The number of lorries, lorry loaders and drivers affects transit and liability terms, and the separate fleet premium.
Claims history
Underwriters study theft, forklift injury and delivery damage claims, and want to know what changed after each.
Where builders merchants insurance stops
Merchant claims are most often reduced or refused for the reasons below.
- Theft of stock from an open yard, unless the policy includes it and the security conditions are met
- Stock shortages found at stock-take with no evidence of a break-in
- Theft by employees, unless fidelity cover has been added
- Bad debts from trade accounts, which need trade credit insurance
- Lorries and vans while driven, which need motor cover through a fleet policy
- Damage to stock from damp, sunlight or slow deterioration in storage
- Products sent to some overseas markets, unless declared
Merchant combined policy or a shop or warehouse policy?
Merchants are sometimes insured on a shop package or a warehouse policy. This is how a policy built for a merchant compares.
| Feature | Merchant combined policy | Shop or warehouse policy |
|---|---|---|
| Open yard stock | Can be included with agreed conditions | Often excluded or very limited |
| Customers in a working yard | Rated for forklifts and vehicles among the public | Rated for a shop floor or no public at all |
| Lorry loader deliveries | Offloading damage and liability addressed | Rarely considered |
| Products liability | Set for imported and own-brand goods | Often a basic limit for resale goods only |
| Multi-branch | Each branch scheduled with its own values | May need several separate policies |
How to compare builders merchants insurance
Merchant proposals cover several sites and a fleet. Gathering this first saves time.
Schedule every branch
Address, building construction, rebuild cost, maximum stock and the split between inside and yard stock.
Describe your security
Fencing, gates, alarms, CCTV, key holding and how high-value stock is stored.
List what you sell
The product mix, any imports or own-brand goods, and any cutting, machining or hire services.
Detail the fleet
Vehicles, lorry loaders, forklifts and drivers, and how deliveries are planned and offloaded.
Pull together the numbers
Turnover, gross profit, wage roll, trade debtor book and claims history for each branch.
Quotes for merchants
List your branches, stock and delivery fleet so a broker experienced with merchant risks can compare insurers.
Get merchant quotesBuilders merchants insurance FAQs
How much does builders merchants insurance cost?
Stock values, yard security, fire protection, product mix, the delivery fleet and past claims all feed in. A timber merchant with an open yard is rated differently from a plumbing merchant with stock indoors, so quotes for similar turnovers can be far apart.
Is stock kept in an open yard covered?
It can be, but many insurers limit theft cover for stock outside a building and set conditions on fencing, gates, lighting and CCTV. Fire and storm damage to yard stock is more readily covered. Check the limits for each type of stock.
Does products liability cover goods I import?
It can, if you declare them. Importers and own-brand sellers can carry the same liability as a manufacturer, so insurers rate those products separately and may ask about quality checks and suppliers.
Who is liable if a lorry loader damages a customer's property during delivery?
Usually the merchant, if its driver or equipment was at fault. Whether the motor policy or the public liability policy answers depends on how each treats a lorry used as a tool of trade, and gaps between the two are common, so it is worth confirming both respond while the crane is offloading. Damage to the load itself is a goods in transit claim.
Are forklifts covered?
Forklifts used in the yard can be insured under the plant or engineering section for damage and breakdown. Injuries they cause fall under employers' or public liability. A forklift used on the public road also needs motor cover.
Can I insure against customers not paying their accounts?
Yes, through trade credit insurance. It covers unpaid invoices when a customer becomes insolvent or defaults, which matters to merchants whose trade accounts carry large sums owed by building firms.
Will an insurer want to survey my yard?
Often, yes, particularly for timber yards and branches with high stock values. A surveyor looks at storage, fire risks, security and yard traffic, and any requirements they set usually have to be completed by a deadline.
Can several branches go on one policy?
Yes. Each branch is listed with its own buildings, stock and interruption figures under a single policy, so the whole group renews together on consistent terms, although insurers may still set security or survey requirements branch by branch.
How do I get a builders merchants insurance quote?
Start from this page. Your details go to a broker who arranges merchant policies, and a branch schedule with stock values and security details, plus your product mix, fleet list and trading figures, lets them approach insurers in one go.
Ready to compare builders merchants insurance?
Stock, yards, deliveries and trade accounts covered together, placed by specialists in merchant risks.