Archive for the ‘hairdressers insurance’ Category

Entrepreneurial UK in full flow.

Friday, December 24th, 2010

It is Christmas Eve, half past ten in the morning and we are still getting new business insurance enquiries. If you look at some of the press, particularly the left leaning ones, UK plc is in a sorry state. But, those of us in the know, who have jobs that let us see what is happening day in day out, can see that the UK is slowly, very slowly, hauling itself back on an even keel.

We cannot possible lay all the blame on the previous Labour government for the economic stagnation and recession of the past few years. They are responsible for most of it though, if they had only realised that it is the private sector that always has and always will fund the public sector. Yes, we need a public sector to run the country, but you cannot survive without generating work and jobs.

This is slowly happening and we are seeing more and more new business start ups. We have arranged two hairdressers insurance policies, a handful or porperty owners and a few commercial combined covers. UK plc has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, it is just that at times the government has suppressed it’s ability to shine. As we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the big thaw the UK needs, we can see that the private sector is slowly starting to rise to the challenge.

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Hairdressers insurance – laminate flooring contents or tenants improvements?

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

If you have a hairdressers insurance policy, this blog question may make about as much sense as a martian story book. But, you should consider the question, as it applies to your policy wording.

If you have a policy, or are looking for a quote, you will need to know the replacement costs of all contents in the building you trade from, that either belong to you, or you are responsible for.

It is very easy to work out how much your stock costs, if you have a stock control system. You can probably work out fairly easily how much your movable contents, such as chairs, sofas, computers etc will cost to replace. You are also probably responsible for what insurers call tenants improvements. If you do not own the building, you will not need to insure the structure (unless you have a full insuring and repairing lease, which we have talked about before).

So, you don’t need to insure the “bricks and mortar” but, if you have made any improvements to the building, that you would not necessarily take with you if you moved, then you will need to insure them. If there was a fire or a flood, these improvements will/could be damaged and you will be financially out of pocket.

One of the biggest costs, is your flooring. Most business insurance policies will have the option of including a separate item for tenants improvements, because they are cheaper to insure, because the likelihood of theft is much reduced.

If you have a laminate floor, nowadays you can have two types. Either one that is fitted, permanently, or you can have one that you could effectively take with you if you moved, almost like carpet tiles. Depending on the type of floor you have, your contents (if it is movable) or tenants improvements (if it is fixed) sum insured needs to be increased to account for this. A decent, hard wearing, shop suitable laminate floor can cost up to £10,000 for a reasonable sized shop. Make sure that you have adequate cover, speak to your broker for advice, that is what they are there for.

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Hairdressers salon insurance – work away

Monday, September 13th, 2010

If you have a salon insurance policy in place, you are likely to have cover in place for public liability. Most policies include this as a standard part of their cover.

Public liability insurance is exactly as it suggests, it provides financial cover for you, the insured, for any legal liability you may have for injury, illness, disease or damage to people or property. So, if someone comes into the salon and slips on some spilled shampoo, they can claim that you were negligent because you should have reasonably foreseen this would happen and should have cleared it up.

Interestingly, if you spilled the shampoo and then less than a split second later someone slipped, you are still likely to found liable.

But what happens if one of the services you provide involves working at someone else location? Many hairdressers and salons are offering as many different services as possible. Partly, this is to help the business grow and partly, it is a business survival issue. Many businesses are doing all they can to expand their range of products and services. For hairdressers, salons or beauty salons, there is the chance that you will be offering a full wedding package which can include visits to the brides home.

Whether you like it or not, there is always a chance that there could be damage caused by you. Chances are of course slim, but a bit of bleach on a bit of carpet can me more than a bit of a few thousand pounds.

If you do have the entrepreneurial spirit and are offering a wide range of services, please make sure that broker and/or insurer are aware. A business insurance policy is designed to be flexible, but insurers need to be kept in the loop at all times.

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Salon insurance – treatment cover

Friday, May 28th, 2010

If you own a salon, hairdressing business or barbers, you need to ensure that your hairdressers insurance policy includes an important element of cover.

Most commercial insurance companies will offer cover, or quotes, based on a standard shop insurance contract. There are certain changes and alterations to the cover, that they will make, to provide the protection that a salon would more usually require.

Under the package policy, you will get public liability insurance cover, this is better explained as third party liability insurance. If you injure, cause illness or damage any third party property or person, you will need public liability insurance. As far as a hairdresser is concerned, this can cover three areas.

Firstly, through the products you supply. Secondly if someone slips, trips or falls (for example) and thirdly, if you cause injury through application or treatment to scalps or skin.

This last part is excluded from the standard shop policy we mentioned above. What happens is that this cover is extended or expanded to cover hairdressers treatment insurance. Most insurers will provide cover for a fixed limit any one claim. Usual limits are £50,000 or £100,000 any one claim. It is very, very rare that claims exceed £15,000, but you never know. Half of the cost of the claims usually fall to the solicitor that is appointed by the claimant. The potential costs are not affected by inflation, particularly where a solicitor is involved.

You need to make sure that your cover is as wide as possible, to prevent the business losing out. As usual, you should speak to a business insurance broker as they are independent experts who will search and scour the market for you.

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Salon insurance – how wide is your public liability cover?

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Salon insurance is available for most types of beauty related trades, primarily hairdressers, barbers and beauty establishments.

Your policy will include different covers, including public liability insurance. There is an important distinction with this cover, it either includes “treatment insurance” or it doesn’t.

But what does this actually mean? Public liability is your responsibility, at law, as the business owner, for injury, illness, disease or damage to third party persons or property.

But, treatment cover is usually excluded. Therefore, if you apply the wrong strength of hair dye or the cream you use on someones skin burns them, then you will, in this day and age, more than likely receive a complaint or a claim.

You would be amazed at how much pain people can suddenly be in once they have spoken to a solicitor. A slight itching on their scalp can turn into three weeks off work and lots of pain and suffering. Why? Because there is always the potential that they will get some money from you.

This is where you need to ensure, without fail, that your salon or hairdressers insurance policy includes wider treatment cover. If you have a policy, dig it out and speak to your broker or adviser and get them to confirm that you have this cover and the amount insured. If you do not have it, make sure that it is added to your policy very, very soon!

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Hairdressers insurance – non-employees public liability cover

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Many salons, whether hairdressing, beauty or nails, do not operate in the traditional manner.

Instead of a salon owner employing staff directly, they are now renting out a chair. A self employed hairdresser, can pay a weekly rental to the salon owner for the use of the premises, the “chair”, water and electricity. Everything else, such as shampoos, use of equipment and stock are the responsibility of the party that actually rents the chair.

This means there are responsibilities on both the salon owner and the party renting, to arrange hairdressers insurance. The salon owner, will more than likely already have their own package policy in place. But, read into the depths of the policy wording and it will specifically exclude, under the liability section, cover for people that are not deemed to be employees.

The rent a chair person therefore needs to ensure that they have their own public liability insurance policy in place in case they cause injury, illness, disease or damage to any third party person or property.

The salon owner meanwhile must advise their insurers, for the sake of clarity, that they are renting out chairs in the salon. Most insurers accept this, some restrict cover (ie theft and 3rd party) and others simply won’t insure them.

As ever, your better to deal with a broker who will be able to help and guide you through the whole insurance process.

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Salon insurance – vital protection for your hard work

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The step from trainee to salon owner can take many years, but it is a rewarding path which many people choose to take. All too often in employment people become disillusioned with working for someone else and feel that happiness lies with running their own business.

Realistically, most people know that this is never going to be easy, over the years as businesses grow and grow, your asset and investment becomes more and more valuable.

This is why, you should always have an adequate salon insurance policy in force. Your clientele are you life line, if for any reason you have to close you run the risk of customers going elsewhere and not coming back. For this reason you want a policy that is going to pay at market value and to be quick at the whole process.

Most salons are single owner or partnerships, so you would ordinarily require a small business insurance policy specifically for hairdresssers or beauticians. You do need to take care to ensure that the cover you arrange has the correct amounts insured for all of the assets and contents that belong to you.

What you have to do, very simply, is to consider how much it would cost to replace your contents, computers, stock and all improvements you have made to the premises if there were a fire and all was destroyed. It is not a nice thought, but you must be meticulous in the process.

You should err on the side of caution and consider the worst case, more expensive, replacement cost. If you are VAT registered, you should include the extra 17.5%. As far as improvements to the premises are concerned, think about partitions, flooring and other building work that you have paid for.

Then, speak to an independent business insurance broker and ask them to go through the quote request process for you.

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Salon insurance – public liability for rent a chair

Monday, February 1st, 2010

A few years ago, the following scene which I saw in my hometown, was replicated throughout the UK. If a new shop was opening up, there was at least a 20% chance that it was going to be a hair or beauty salon. It just seemed to be that the “in” thing to do was to open a salon.

We have seen though that this was partly a combination of easy investment money from the banks and easy spending from Joe or Joanna Public. Salons have survived the past few years though, many through diversification.

If a salon has a nuber of “chairs” they will rent one out at a fixed fee to an individual. That individual can then undertake as much hairdressing as they wish, with the money in excess of the weekly fee they pay for the chair, going to them as profit.

This is happening more and more, but you do need to consider the terms and conditions of your salon insurance. The person renting the chair does not work for you, is not paid wages and is not therefore covered under your policy.

What you need to do is insist, as part of the lease terms for the rent a chair, that they have their own public liability insurance. Quite a few UK underwriters wil do this cover for around £75 per annum. The person needs to be over 18, have at least two years experience and be claims free. This is less than £1.50 so don’t accept any excuses that they cannot afford it, insist on them having adequate protection.

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