Once a slab's poured and built on, a defect isn't a redo, it's a demolition.
Concreting is one of the first trades on site and one of the hardest to fix once everything else is built on top of it. A slab that cracks or subsides after the frame, the plumbing, and the tiling have gone in is a serious, expensive problem, not a quick patch. Cover sized to that risk.
Where a concreter actually gets exposed
Concreting carries real on-site risk, particularly where excavation is involved, but the exposure that matters most is what happens to the slab or footing after it's cured and everything else has been built on it.
The slab that cracks under what's built on it
A slab you poured for a new home starts cracking noticeably once the walls and roof are up. An engineer traces it to inadequate compaction or reinforcement, and fixing it now means working around a completed structure.
Excavation risk on a residential site
Preparing footings for a driveway job, an excavation trench isn't adequately secured and a passerby or another tradesperson is injured near the site.
Concrete truck damage to a driveway or verge
A concrete truck pouring a driveway job damages the client's existing paving or the council verge while manoeuvring on site.
Who's going to ask you for it
Builders check this early, given how hard it is to fix
Because concreting is a foundation trade, head contractors tend to set the requirement upfront:
- Head contractors and builders typically want $10M-$20M public liability before engaging a concreter.
- Insurers on the head contractor's policy often want product liability specifically confirmed, not just public liability.
- Councils may require evidence of cover for driveway or footpath crossover work.
The exclusion concreters assume is covered
A slab that cracks or subsides after other trades have built on it is the most expensive kind of claim in this trade, because fixing it means undoing work that's already been done by everyone else. That's a product liability exposure, and given the potential cost, it's worth confirming it's genuinely included rather than assumed to be part of a basic policy.
Common questions
A slab I poured is cracking after the house is built on it. Is that covered?
Only if product liability is included, not just public liability. Given how expensive it is to fix a slab after other trades have built on it, this is worth confirming specifically rather than assuming it's covered.
Why does concreting carry a higher exposure than some other trades?
Because a concreting defect is discovered after the most work has already been built on top of it. Fixing a slab issue on a finished house is far more disruptive and expensive than fixing most other trade defects at the same stage.
Does this cover excavation for footings?
It can, but tell us if excavation is a regular part of your work so we can confirm it's specifically included.
What if the engineer's specification I followed was wrong, not my pour?
That's part of what gets worked out during a claim investigation, establishing whether the failure was in the specification, the pour, or the site conditions.
I mostly do driveways, not structural slabs. Does that change my cover?
It affects the risk profile, since driveways generally carry lower severity than structural slabs under a building. Tell us the mix of work you do and we'll size the cover accordingly.