What Insurance Should an Exterior Cleaner Have?

Public liability insurance: the baseline

Public liability insurance covers damage a contractor accidentally causes to your property, a cracked patio slab, a broken window, damaged guttering, as well as injury to third parties during the course of the work. Reputable contractors typically carry cover in the range of £1-5 million, and should be able to provide a certificate or policy summary on request without hesitation.

Without this cover, if a contractor causes accidental damage, you may have no realistic route to recovering the cost beyond a small claims dispute with an individual who may not have the means to pay anyway. This is genuinely the single most important thing to verify before hiring anyone for exterior work.

Working-at-height and specific risk cover

Any work involving ladders, roof access, or pole systems used at significant height carries its own risk profile, and some public liability policies specifically exclude or limit cover for working at height unless it's explicitly included. Ask directly whether their policy covers the specific type of work being done, roof cleaning is a different risk category from ground-level pressure washing, and a generic policy might not cover both.

For roof and gutter work specifically, this matters even more because falls from height are one of the most serious risks in exterior cleaning work, and a contractor without proper cover here is taking a real gamble with both their own safety and your liability exposure if an accident happens on your property.

Other credentials worth checking alongside insurance

For any job involving chemical treatments, roof moss biocide, render soft washing, ask whether the operator is biocide trained, since these are regulated substances requiring correct handling and application knowledge. Asbestos awareness training is relevant for older roofs, particularly certain roof tile types and outbuildings, where disturbing asbestos-containing materials without proper awareness poses a genuine health risk.

None of these credentials replace insurance, but together they build a picture of a contractor who takes the work, and their responsibilities, seriously rather than treating it as a low-barrier side hustle.

How to actually verify what you're being told

Don't just accept a verbal assurance that someone is insured; ask to see a current certificate or policy document, which any legitimate contractor keeps readily available and is used to being asked for. If a quote comes in noticeably cheaper than others, it's always worth asking directly whether that's because insurance and training costs have been skipped, since that's a common reason for the gap.