Brushes, rollers and ladders
Decorating looks gentle from the outside. In practice it means hours of overhead rolling, cutting in from steps, moving furniture and sanding woodwork. Shoulders, necks and wrists carry most of the strain, and a slip from a ladder or tower is the injury that stops decorators most suddenly.
Exterior painting adds height and weather. Older properties bring dust from preparing old paintwork, which is why good extraction and masks matter. Solvent use is lower than it once was, but it still comes up.
Bookings, not a salary
Most decorators are sole traders working for homeowners, landlords and builders. Many have a diary booked weeks ahead and a quieter spell after Christmas. When you are ill, those bookings either wait or go to someone else, and nobody pays you in the meantime.
Employed decorators working for councils, housing associations or maintenance firms may have sick pay, but it often reduces after a few weeks. Either way, a plan for lost income matters more than the job's gentle reputation suggests.
- Keep a note of your quieter months when planning savings
- Choose a waiting period that ends before your buffer runs out
- Mention any commercial or industrial painting at height
- Tell the insurer if you spend time quoting or supervising
Where decorating sits with insurers
Insurers sort occupations into risk classes. Interior decorating often sits in a lighter manual class than roofing or bricklaying, while exterior work at height or industrial painting may be rated more heavily. The class affects your premium and the claim definition.
A decorator rated in a lighter class has a better chance of being offered own occupation cover, which pays if you cannot work as a decorator. Ask which definition applies before you buy.
Life insurance for decorators
A life policy pays out a lump sum if you die before it ends. Most decorators buy it to protect a mortgage or to support a partner and children. The trade itself has little effect on life cover pricing, so getting it in place while you are younger and healthy tends to matter more than anything about the job.
Joint policies pay out once, on the first death. Separate policies for each of you usually cost slightly more, though both can pay. We can explain which suits your household.
How Hi Tomorrow helps decorators
We find out where you work, how high you go and how your year runs, then compare the insurers on our panel. Because decorating is rated differently by different insurers, comparing can make a real difference to your terms.
Plenty of decorators assume their trade is too light to need cover, until a fall or a frozen shoulder proves otherwise. We can show you what a sensible level of protection looks like for your age before you decide whether it is worth it. We help with the forms and, if you need to claim, we help you with the insurer.