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Carpenters Life Insurance Guide For 2024

Elaine Brookes Steve Case

Author: Steve Case - Insurance Expert

Reviewed & Fact Checked By: Elaine Brookes

Updated: 8th December 2023

carpenters life insurance

Do you work as a carpenter? You will undoubtedly be aware that statistically, the woodwork industry has one of the highest accident rates for any trade.

Despite the higher occupational risk, it is still possible to get life insurance if you work as a carpenter or a joiner, and it may cost less than you think. This article will explain why you should consider life insurance for carpenters, how insurers view carpentry as an occupation, and how to get the most competitive carpenters’ life insurance quote.

Without proper life insurance protection how would the following be covered?

  • Will Your Estate Be Free From An Inheritance Tax Bill When You Pass Away?
  • Provision Of Cash Gifts To Relatives?
  • Mortgages and Other Significant Financial Commitments. How Will These Be Repaid If You Die?
  • Outstanding Debts In Your Name
  • Planning For A Funeral

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How Does Life Insurance for Carpenters Work?

Life insurance is financial protection in the form of a lump sum that pays out should you die. The beneficiaries are named on the carpenters life insurance policy and are typically your dependents. For an insurer to pay out a lump sum, they will calculate a premium that you must pay that corresponds to the level of risk that you may die, as a carpenter. Insurance premiums are paid monthly throughout a life insurance for carpenters policy.

Why Does A Carpenter Need Life Insurance?

As a carpenter, whether working for a firm or as a self-employed carpenter with your own business, you will likely have bills to pay, loved ones to support and loans, mortgages, or other monetary obligations to repay.

If something happens and you die unexpectedly from your carpentry activities or in personal circumstances, who will pay your financial commitments?

If you have any of the following obligations, then you should consider carpenters life insurance:

  • Mortgage
  • Personal loans
  • Credit card balances
  • Car loans
  • Hire-purchase arrangements
  • Child-care costs
  • Private education or further education fees
  • One-income family or you are the breadwinner?
  • Business insurance

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What Are the Risks Involved Working as A Carpenter?

In the UK, statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/construction.pdf include carpentry and joinery as one of the highest risk occupations in the construction industry. From a life insurance for carpenters viewpoint, the risks for the occupation include but are not limited to the following:

Contact with dangerous machinery

Working with moving machinery and sharp manual tools such as saws is a daily occupational risk for a carpenter.

Falling from a great height

Carpenters may need to use access equipment to install woodwork, and it may involve varying degrees of height.

Issues with manual handling

If the proper safety procedures are not carried out, moving both tools and materials carries a degree of risk.

Improper use of machinery and tools

The failure to set up equipment properly and check it is working correctly can result in accidents.

A risk from falling objects

When carpenters work on building sites, it is essential to wear the correct protective equipment such as steel-capped boots and hard hats.

Working within confined spaces

Carpenters may need to work in a confined workspace, and it may expose risks such as a lack of oxygen.

Eye or skin injuries

Dust and debris from machinery and equipment pose a risk for carpenters to both eyes and skin.

Falls, slips, or trips

There is a risk of falling, tripping or slipping for carpenters working on roofs, attics, and other fragile floorings.

Exposure to asbestos

Asbestos exposure is a continual occupational risk working in buildings, and carpenters must know how to identify the risks.

How do Insurers View Life Insurance for Carpenters and Joiners?

Depending on your activities, working as a carpenter or joiner may be viewed as a higher-risk occupation by an insurer. Higher risk means that the premiums offered for life insurance for carpenters will be above standard provided insurance terms.

A joiner who works with wood in a workshop making objects like doors, staircases, and cabinets will have a different set of daily tasks to a carpenter who works at a location installing wood products.

For example, a joiner handling dangerous machinery daily to shape wood will have a different profile to a carpenter working for a building company that is continually working on high-rise developments installing and fitting products.

What Information Will an Insurer Need to Provide A Quote?

Due to the vast differing daily activities for carpenters and joiners, an insurance company will need to know the extent of your carpentry activities to provide an accurate quote. It is usually done through a fact-finding questionnaire.

A fact-finding questionnaire will ask a specific set of questions to help an insurance provider assess your level of risk for carpenters insurance purposes.

  • How long have you been a carpenter?
  • Do you work on a building site? If so, how long per week?
  • How often are you exposed to asbestos?
  • Do you handle cutting machinery? If so, how often?
  • Do you have to work at a height where rope and other access equipment is used?
  • Are you a smoker or a non-smoker?
  • How old are you?
  • Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions?
  • What is your height and what do you weigh?
  • Do you drink alcohol?
  • If so, how many units a week?
  • Do you participate in extreme sports?

If I am A Carpenter, How Can I Get The Best Life Insurance Quote?

An independent life insurance broker specialising in life insurance for carpenters and other higher-risk occupations is a good starting point to get the best carpenters life insurance quote. An independent broker does not tie to a particular insurer, meaning it can provide several impartial quotes.

Furthermore, a specialist broker will be experienced in asking you questions to find out the full extent of your carpentry activities, ensuring that quotes are accurate according to your work and personal circumstances.

All in all, it allows you to select insurance policies that aligns closely with your requirements at a competitive price.

Insurance Hero is an independent life insurance broker. We are insurance experts who provides cover for higher risk occupations, including carpenters life insurance. Contact us today on 0203 129 88 66, and one of our professional and friendly team will be delighted to give you a life insurance for carpenters quote.

Further Considerations When Taking Out A Life Insurance for Carpenters Policy

As well as using the services of an independent broker, there are several further considerations you should be aware of to ensure your carpenters life insurance coverage closely matches your requirements:

Type of policy

Term life insurance is lower cost than whole life insurance as it pays out within set dates and not any time you die.

Length of policy

When you take out a plan, depending on your age, the longer the plan’s term, the higher the cost of premiums. If you are older, there is more risk of disease or illness.

Pre-existing medical conditions

An insurance company must know about your medical history and if you have any pre-existing conditions. It may result in the medical condition being excluded from your plan or make the cost of carpenters life insurance much higher.

The sum-assured

As the payout amount (sum-assured) increases in size, then the cost of providing carpenters life insurance coverage will also increase.

Increasing cover

A life insurance for carpenters protection option where insurance policies increase with the annual rate of inflation set by the UK government using a benchmark called the Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Decreasing cover

The level of premiums decreases throughout your carpenter’s life insurance plan and is typically used for repayment mortgages where the amount owed reduces over time.

Level cover

A lower-cost option where the premium levels stay the same for the duration of the plan; by not factoring in inflation may see the payout amount worth less relatively throughout the carpenters life insurance plan.

How Much is Life Insurance for Carpenters?

Life Insurance for carpenters will depend on the extent of your carpentry activities and other factors, including age and medical history. It will drive whether an insurance company can offer you a life insurance for carpenters premium quote at standard terms or whether your daily activities are higher risk and require an increased monthly premium.

What About Carpenters Critical Illness Cover?

Critical illness has a long association with life insurance. It can often include an optional feature offered on a policy or taken out as a separate stand-alone plan.

Critical illness like life insurance is financial protection through receipt of a lump sum should something happen to you, again funded by monthly premiums throughout the policy. Critical illness differs from life insurance protection in that death is not required to receive a payout. If you diagnose with a critical illness listed on your carpenters life insurance plan and survive at least ten days from diagnosis, then you will be financially protected.

There are critical illnesses that have a long association with carpentry. They can be named at the start of a plan in addition to a list of diseases provided as standard by insurers.

Specific illnesses associated when applying for life insurance for carpenters and critical illness include:

  • Loss of hand or foot
  • Severe lung disease
  • Paralysis of a limb
  • Deafness
  • Blindness

A standard list of critical illnesses includes the following:

  • Heart attack,
  • Stroke
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Alzheimer’s disease or pre-senile dementia
  • Aorta graft surgery
  • Coronary artery by-pass grafts
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
  • Bacterial meningitis
  • Structural heart surgery
  • Benign spinal cord tumour
  • Traumatic brain injury

Insurance Hero is an independent life insurance broker who provides carpenters life insurance, critical illness and income protection and other higher-risk professions. To find more and get a quote from one of our professional team, contact us today on 0203 129 88 66.

What About Income Protection for Carpenters?

Income protection is different from life insurance and critical illness coverage. It does provide financial protection from the payment of a monthly premium. Still, instead of a lump sum payment, an insurance provider will provide a regular replacement salary should you be unable to work for a time.

The cost of income protection cover will depend on the level of replacement salary you need, when you need the replacement salary to start and how long you want the replacement salary to last.

For those working for a company, an employee handbook will outline the policy if you are unable to work. A company may, for example, maintain your salary for three months from when you stop working. It means the life insurance for carpenters coverage can be put in place to start when your employer stops paying your salary. 

If you are a self-employed carpenter with your own business, unless you have savings, then if you cannot work, you will not get paid. It may be best to put a plan in place that pays a salary as soon as you stop working, which will cost more.

Carpenters Life Insurance Summary

We hope this short guide has provided comfort that even if you work as a carpenter, it is possible to get carpenters life insurance protection at a reasonable price. Using a specialist independent broker who has experience in asking the right questions and having contacts with specialist underwriters is an essential first step you have undertaken to secure water-tight life insurance for carpenters policy.