Rig, leads and hammers
Damage to the rig plus leads, hammers, augers and casing, generally scheduled as separate items.
Pile Driver Insurance
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Pile Driver Insurance
Cover for piling rigs, hammers and driven or bored pile work.
Piling has a liability profile most plant work does not: vibration and ground movement can damage the buildings next door without the rig ever touching them. Standard liability wordings commonly exclude vibration and removal of support, so it has to be dealt with deliberately. Rigs are also tall, heavy and prone to expensive stability incidents while walking or setting up.
What is it?
Piling equipment covers driven pile rigs with impact or hydraulic hammers, vibratory hammers on excavator mounts, continuous flight auger rigs, and bored pile rigs with kelly bars and casing. Australian work spans residential screw piles, bridge and wharf piling, and deep foundations on commercial sites. Rigs are high value, usually financed, and work under project contracts with their own insurance requirements.
What does pile driver insurance cover?
Vibration and support
Damage to neighbouring property from vibration or removal of support, which standard liability wordings commonly exclude.
Underground services
Striking power, water, gas or comms while driving or boring, which is frequently excluded or separately worded.
What affects the cost?
- Rig and hammer values
- Proximity to existing buildings
- Residential, civil or marine work
- Dilapidation surveys and vibration monitoring
- Project contract requirements
Worth raising on the call
- Vibration, weakening and removal of support are the exclusions to check first on any piling liability policy.
- Pre-start dilapidation surveys on neighbouring buildings make disputed claims far easier to resolve.
- Rig overturn during walking or setup is a high-severity loss that some wordings condition heavily.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Cracking in the house next door
A neighbouring brick home develops cracking during a two week driven pile program and the owner lodges a claim. Without a pre-start dilapidation survey these matters commonly turn into a dispute about which cracks were already there, which is why insurers ask about surveys before they quote.
Rig topples while walking
A rig with the leads up walks across a soft, poorly prepared pad and goes over onto its side. Overturn losses on piling rigs are high severity, and the recovery, crane hire and mast straightening often cost more than the initial damage assessment suggests.
Auger hits an unmapped water main
A continuous flight auger rig bores into an unmapped water main and floods the basement excavation and the works already in place. Both the utility's repair costs and the damage to your own partly completed works come into play, and they usually sit under different policies.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether the vibration and removal of support extension requires pre-start dilapidation surveys and vibration monitoring to be in place before work starts.
- Worth confirming whether damage to piles you have already installed belongs to the plant policy or to a contract works policy.
- Worth confirming whether a hammer or vibro unit hired in and fitted to your excavator is covered while it is in your possession.
Common questions
Does public liability cover cracking to neighbouring houses from piling?
Standard liability wordings commonly exclude damage caused by vibration, weakening or removal of support, so it usually needs a specific extension. Where the extension is available it typically carries its own limit and conditions, often including dilapidation surveys and monitoring. It is the first thing worth checking on any piling liability policy.
Do I need a dilapidation survey before starting a piling job?
It is standard practice on urban jobs and is often required either by the contract or as a condition of the vibration extension. A dated photographic record of the neighbouring buildings before you start makes a disputed claim far easier to resolve, and its absence often makes it far harder. It is generally cheap insurance in its own right.
Do I need contract works insurance for a piling contract?
It depends on the contract and on who is arranging cover for the works. Many principals take out a project policy and note subcontractors on it, while on smaller residential jobs the piling contractor may need their own. Reading the insurance clause before you sign is the reliable way to know which situation applies to you.
What does piling rig insurance cost?
It depends on the work as much as the rig. The main drivers are rig and hammer values, how close you work to existing buildings, whether the work is residential, civil or marine, whether dilapidation surveys and vibration monitoring are standard practice, contract requirements, and claims history.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See mobile plant machinery insurance for the wider picture.
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