Property Maintenance Insurance for maintenance contractors
Insurance for property maintenance contractors running planned and reactive work for managing agents, landlords, housing providers and commercial occupiers. Compare multi-trade cover built around your operatives, subcontractors, vans and service contracts.
- Multi-trade liability for plumbing, electrical, roofing and fabric repairs
- Loss of clients' keys and damage in occupied homes and premises
- Limits and terms that satisfy framework and term contracts
Reviewed October 2026 by the MyBusinessComparison.com editorial team
What is property maintenance insurance?
Property maintenance insurance is a multi-trade package for building maintenance contractors who keep buildings in repair for clients under planned and reactive maintenance arrangements. Most packages join up public and products liability, employers' liability, loss of keys, tools, contract works and, where you manage compliance or specify repairs, professional indemnity.
Maintenance firms work in other people's buildings every day: occupied flats, trading shops, offices and empty units between lets. That brings risks a single trade does not face, such as escape of water from a plumbing repair flooding the floors below, a set of master keys going missing, or a vulnerable tenant alleging something went missing during a visit.
Insurers want to see the full list of trades you carry out, how much is subcontracted, which clients you work for and what your contracts demand. Most of the pricing follows from that.
Property maintenance cover at a glance
- Suits
- Maintenance contractors with operatives, vans and term or framework contracts
- Main sections
- Liability, employers' liability, loss of keys, tools and contract works
- Must have
- Employers' liability for operatives, supervisors and office staff
- Trade specific
- Multi-trade work, escape of water, clients' keys and occupied buildings
- Often required by
- Managing agents, housing providers, retailers and facilities managers
- Not the same as
- Handyman insurance, which is built for smaller domestic jobs
What does property maintenance insurance cover?
A maintenance contractor's policy has to cover every trade your teams carry out. These are the sections most firms combine, each with its own limit and conditions.
Public liability
Injury to tenants, staff and visitors, and damage to clients' buildings and contents during maintenance visits, from a dropped ladder in a shopping centre to water damage below a leaking repair.
Read more about public liability insurance
Completed repairs
Claims made once a job is signed off, such as a fitting that fails a week later or a roof repair that lets in water during the next storm.
Read more about products liability cover
Employers' liability
Injury to your operatives and supervisors across every trade they perform, including labour-only operatives you engage and supervise directly.
Read more about employers' liability insurance
Loss of keys
The cost of changing locks and replacing access fobs when clients' keys, master keys or access cards held by your firm are lost or stolen. Standard liability sections rarely include this.
Contract works
Repairs, refurbishments and void property works in progress, plus materials on site, until they are handed back to the client.
Read more about contractors' all risks insurance
Professional indemnity
Claims that you specified the wrong repair, missed a defect in a condition survey or failed to carry out a scheduled compliance inspection you were contracted to manage.
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Tools and van stock
Power tools, access equipment and the parts each van carries for reactive call-outs, insured on client premises and in secured vehicles.
Read more about business equipment insurance
Employee dishonesty
Theft by an employee from a client's premises or from your business, a real concern for firms whose operatives work unsupervised in tenants' homes.
Read more about crime and fidelity insurance
Additional cover maintenance contractors often need
- Fleet insurance: liveried vans and supervisors' cars insured together under one renewal
- Commercial legal expenses: contract disputes, late payment and employment claims
- Management liability: protection for directors facing allegations of mismanagement, plus employment disputes
- Unoccupied property: where clients need cover for the empty buildings you refurbish between lets
Which maintenance contractors is this cover for?
This page is for firms that run maintenance as a service with schedules, response times and several operatives. These are the contractors we arrange it for most often.
Cleaning and soft services too? If you also provide cleaning or grounds work, see facilities management insurance or browse trade insurance.
- Building maintenance contractors: multi-trade teams looking after the fabric, services and grounds of offices, schools, retail units and residential blocks under term maintenance contracts, often with an out of hours helpdesk
- Contractors for commercial landlords: repairs and planned works across office, retail and industrial portfolios, often instructed through a managing agent acting for commercial landlords
- Residential lettings and block maintenance: reactive repairs in tenanted homes and communal areas of apartment blocks for landlords with property portfolios, with access through keys or fobs held by your firm
- Social housing repairs contractors: responsive repairs and void works for housing associations and councils, usually under term or framework agreements
- Retail and multi-site maintenance: out of hours repairs to shopfronts, shutters, lighting and fixtures for retail and restaurant chains
- Facilities management subcontractors: hard services delivered for a facilities management company under its contract terms
- Planned preventative maintenance firms: scheduled inspections and servicing of gutters, roofs, doors, drainage and building fabric across a client's estate
- Compliance and safety check providers: gas, electrical and fire safety checks arranged for landlords, where missed inspections can lead to claims; firms doing the gas work themselves may need gas fitters insurance
- Maintenance for schools and care settings: work in occupied schools, care homes and other healthcare premises with vulnerable people, where vetting and supervision matter to insurers
How much does property maintenance insurance cost?
Premiums follow the trades you carry out and the turnover and wages behind each one. These are the points underwriters examine for maintenance firms.
Trade mix
Insurers rate each trade separately, so the split between decorating, plumbing, electrical, roofing and drainage work matters more than total turnover.
Heat and height
Roof repairs, gutter work and any hot works, such as torch-on felt or soldering, are the activities that push the premium up most.
Subcontracted work
How much you subcontract, whether those firms hold their own cover and whether you check it, all affect the rating.
Clients and limits
Framework and term contracts often require higher liability limits than a firm would choose for itself, and the limit you carry drives the cost.
Keys and access
The number of properties you hold keys for, and how you store and sign out keys, affects loss of keys and dishonesty cover.
Claims history
Past escape of water, fire or injury claims, and the controls introduced since, are looked at carefully.
What property maintenance insurance will not pay for
These are the exclusions most worth checking before you sign a maintenance contract.
- Trades not declared to the insurer, such as gas or roofing work taken on to fill a gap in a contract
- Putting your own defective repair right, although the damage it causes to the client's building is normally covered
- Disturbing asbestos, which most policies exclude or tightly limit, so surveys and procedures matter
- Hot works carried out without meeting the policy conditions
- Penalties or deductions for missed response times under a service contract
- Damage to the part of the building you are working on, under some policies, unless extended
- Liveried vans while being driven, which need their own vehicle cover
Property maintenance cover or handyman insurance?
Both cover work in other people's buildings, but they are built for very different businesses.
| Feature | Property maintenance contractor | Handyman cover |
|---|---|---|
| Typical clients | Managing agents, landlords, housing providers and commercial occupiers | Homeowners, lettings and small local businesses |
| How work arrives | Term contracts, schedules and job tickets with response times | One-off jobs booked directly |
| Trades covered | Several declared trades, often including subcontracted specialists | General small repairs within set limits |
| Liability limits | Often set by the client's contract | Usually chosen by the business |
| Keys and dishonesty cover | Usually needed for keys held across many properties | Sometimes added where a firm holds customers' keys |
| Design and compliance cover | Often needed for surveys, specifications and managed inspections | Rarely needed for straightforward repairs |
How to get property maintenance insurance quotes
Maintenance risks are priced trade by trade, so a full breakdown gets firmer terms.
Split turnover by trade
Show how your turnover and wages divide between each trade, and which trades are subcontracted.
List your main contracts
Note each significant client, the type of property and the liability limits and insurance clauses in the contract.
Describe your key control
How many properties you hold keys or fobs for, how they are stored and how they are signed out.
Show your safety controls
Asbestos procedures, hot works permits, working at height arrangements and operative vetting.
Compare cover, not just cost
Check declared trades, loss of keys limits, asbestos terms, heat and height exclusions and dishonesty cover.
Speak to a contractor specialist
Outline your contracts, trades and operatives, and a broker who insures maintenance contractors will look for terms.
Compare quotesProperty maintenance insurance FAQs
How much does property maintenance insurance cost?
It depends on the trades you carry out, your turnover and wages for each, the share of subcontracted work, your clients' required limits, the keys you hold and your claims history. Roofing and hot works usually weigh most heavily.
What is the difference between property maintenance and handyman insurance?
Handyman cover is built around general repair jobs booked by homeowners and small businesses. Property maintenance insurance suits contractors working under term contracts for agents, landlords and commercial clients, with multiple declared trades, higher limits and extras such as loss of keys.
Do I need to declare every trade my operatives carry out?
Yes. Insurers price each trade separately and some, such as roofing, gas and electrical work, carry more weight. A trade left off the proposal may not be covered, so tell the broker about occasional work as well as your core trades.
Does the policy cover lost keys for client properties?
Only if loss of keys cover is included. It pays for changing locks and replacing fobs when keys you hold are lost or stolen. Firms that hold keys for many blocks or commercial sites usually need a higher limit than a standard extension provides.
Is water damage from a plumbing repair covered?
Damage to the client's building and contents caused by your negligent work is normally covered under public or products liability. The cost of putting the repair itself right is usually excluded, and some policies apply a higher excess to escape of water.
What liability limit do managing agents and housing providers ask for?
Contract terms usually fix a minimum limit of indemnity for public liability, and many also expect employers' liability and, for some services, professional indemnity. Requirements vary, so collect the insurance clauses from each contract and share them with the broker.
Are subcontractors covered by my property maintenance policy?
Labour-only subcontractors you direct are usually treated as employees. Specialist subcontractors are normally expected to carry their own liability insurance, and insurers often make checking it a condition of your cover.
Does the policy cover work involving asbestos?
Most policies exclude or tightly limit asbestos. Maintenance firms working in older buildings need clear procedures to check asbestos records before work starts. If your teams carry out any asbestos-related work, raise it with the broker at the outset.
Is property maintenance insurance right for building maintenance contractors?
Yes. Building maintenance contractors usually buy this package, as it joins liability, keys, tools and contract works for several trades under one policy. Insurers ask which trades you carry out yourself, which you subcontract, and whether any hot work, roofing or gas work is included.
How do I get a property maintenance insurance quote?
Start an enquiry from this page and a broker experienced with maintenance contractors will arrange a call. Expect to be asked for turnover and wages by trade, your main contracts and their insurance clauses, how keys are held and your claims record.
Compare cover for your maintenance business
Multi-trade liability, keys and contract cover arranged for firms that look after other people's buildings every day.