Business liability
Pays for fitting damage and damage to objects you work on at the customer's home, plus injuries caused by faulty furniture, stairs and fittings.
Insurance broker / Business types / Construction and trades
Insurance for joinery and cabinetmaking workshops in Germany
In a joinery, your wealth sits in the workshop: panel saw, CNC router, edgebander and a store full of timber and boards. At the customer's home you add fitting work, between a marble windowsill and a designer kitchen. This page explains which insurance your workshop needs and what it costs.
The question almost everyone asks first
Is my customer's kitchen insured if it burns in my workshop?
Usually not under public liability, because things in your care or being worked on are excluded there or only covered up to a limit. For other people's furniture, doors and fronts in your workshop you need third-party property expressly included in your contents insurance. Ask about it before you store customers' pieces.
What goes wrong in this trade
- 01
Workshop fire
Shavings, dust, lacquers and extraction systems: fire insurers put joinery workshops into high hazard classes. A fire destroys machines and orders at the same time.
- 02
Machinery breakdown
A CNC router or an edgebander costs six figures. If the control unit fails, production and delivery dates grind to a halt.
- 03
Fitting at the customer's home
A dropped hammer scratches the glass worktop, a drill hits a pipe, the fitted kitchen does not fit and the wall has to be redone.
- 04
Customers' property in the workshop
Antique furniture for restoration, doors for lacquering: what customers entrust to you is often worth more than your own equipment.
- 05
Fingers and hands
Circular saws and surface planers cause the most serious hand injuries of any trade.
- 06
Faulty installations
A tall cupboard that comes away from the wall, or a staircase with a step that gives way, leads to injuries you are liable for.
Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.
The insurance you need
Essential
Business contents
Without fire and burglary cover for machines, timber and board stock, a workshop fire would be the end; include customers' property here.
Strongly advised
Machinery breakdown
Pays for repairing the CNC router, edgebander and extraction after operating errors, short circuits or material defects.
Business interruption
Keeps the business alive if the workshop stands still for weeks after a fire or machinery breakdown.
Commercial buildings
If you own the workshop building, it needs its own buildings insurance.
Cargo insurance
Covers finished furniture and tools on the way to the customer if something breaks or is stolen in transit.
Depends on the business
Occupational disability
A serious hand injury can end your work at the machine; income protection keeps your earnings going.
Cyber insurance
For workshops whose CNC programs, orders and drawings sit on networked computers.
What it costs: example prices
Liability is comparatively cheap for joiners. The bigger item is protecting the workshop and machines, because woodworking counts as a higher fire risk.
| Insurance | Example | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Business liability | €50,000 turnover, €5 million cover | about €70 to €510 a year |
| Business liability | €250,000 turnover, €5 million cover | about €95 to €1,300 a year |
| Business contents | Machines, timber and boards worth €150,000 | about €600 to €1,800 a year |
| Machinery breakdown | CNC machining centre worth €180,000 | about €800 to €2,000 a year |
| Business interruption | Loss of income for up to twelve months, together with contents insurance | about €200 to €700 a year extra |
For comparison: Liability and workshop contents cover for a small joinery cost about as much per year as one made-to-measure solid wood interior door.
Guide prices excluding German insurance premium tax, as of September 2026. Liability comes from published tariff comparisons; contents, machinery and business interruption are guide values from our quoting practice and depend heavily on extraction, fire protection and the building. We obtain the exact quote for you.
Sources of the price examples
Our suggestions: three packages
01
Start
For: joiner working alone, small workshop, fitting at customers' homes
- Business liability
- Business contents
Together about €400 to €1,100 a year
Request this package02
Workshop
For: three to ten employees with a range of machines
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Machinery breakdown
- Business interruption
- Cargo insurance
Together about €1,800 to €4,500 a year
Request this package03
Manufacturer
For: own building, CNC production and contract furnishing
- Business liability
- Business contents
- Commercial buildings
- Machinery breakdown
- Business interruption
- Cargo insurance
- Cyber insurance
Together about €4,500 to €11,000 a year
Request this packageThe worst day in the joinery
Six claims that joinery workshops really experience, all on a single Wednesday. Go through the day and see who pays.
Damage so far€249,600
-
The CNC router stops with a spindle failure. The repair takes three weeks.
-
While fitting a door frame, a hammer falls onto the customer's glass kitchen worktop.
-
In transit, a finished built-in wardrobe slides on the load bed and breaks.
-
A fitter damages historic marble windowsills in a period villa.
-
A wall cupboard fitted last year tears out of the wall and injures the customer's shoulder.
-
A spark in the extraction system sets the shavings silos on fire. Workshop and board store are covered in soot, the business stands still for two months.
Which package would you have had?
Illustrative amounts before any excess. Whether and how much is paid depends on the policy terms.
Practical tips from your broker
- Have third-party property in your workshop expressly included in your contents insurance, with a sum that covers your largest customer orders.
- Insure machines at new value; older machines often have a high replacement price.
- Fitting damage and damage to objects you work on at the customer's home must be included in your liability policy.
- Combine contents and business interruption insurance so that wages and fixed costs keep being paid after a fire.
- Ask about discounts for spark detection, extraction outside the building and a fire alarm system.
- If you build stairs, windows or fire doors, say so expressly: the liability risk is higher than for furniture.
Why NAMMERT for your business
Workshop and liability considered together
For joiners, the biggest gaps lie between liability and contents insurance. We compare both across several insurers and close the gap in between.
We know timber
Many yachts whose claims we settle ourselves as a boat insurance underwriting agent have timber interiors. We know what a surveyor will say about materials and workmanship.
One contact person
Workshop, vehicles, employees and your private provision all come together with us.
Family business since 1989
We are an owner-managed company ourselves and talk to you as equals, not from a call centre.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
What insurance does a joinery workshop need?
Essential are public liability and contents insurance for the workshop, machines and materials. With expensive machines, add machinery and business interruption insurance.
How much does liability insurance cost for joiners?
Published comparisons show about €70 to €510 a year for €50,000 turnover and about €95 to €1,300 for €250,000 turnover, depending on insurer and excess.
Is customers' furniture in my workshop insured?
Only if third-party property is expressly included. Public liability usually excludes things in your care.
Does insurance pay if my CNC machine breaks down?
Contents insurance only pays for fire, water or burglary. Operating errors, short circuits or material defects are covered by machinery insurance.
Why is fire insurance more expensive for joiners?
Wood dust and shavings ignite easily. Insurers therefore charge higher premiums and set conditions, for example on extraction and cleaning.
Do I as the owner have to join the Berufsgenossenschaft?
Membership of BGHM, the statutory accident insurer, is compulsory for your employees. As the owner you can insure yourself voluntarily, which makes sense if you work at the machines yourself.
NAMMERT insurance broker
Request quotes for Joinery
The recommended covers are already ticked. Change what does not fit; we obtain quotes and come back with a comparison. You can write in English.
Thank you, we have your request.
We will be in touch within one working day. If it is urgent: +49 3375 29 12 77.
Related trades
Will the insurer pay if a roof structure starts to sag years later?
Who pays if a wall of my stand falls over and injures visitors?
Who pays if the double-glazed unit breaks while I am fitting it?
Official classification
This page covers the following classes of the German WZ 2025 (identical to NACE at four digits):
- 16.21 Herstellung von Furnier-, Sperrholz-, Holzfaser- und Holzspanplatten
- 16.22 Herstellung von Parketttafeln
- 16.23 Herstellung von sonstigen Konstruktionsteilen, Fertigbauteilen, Ausbauelementen und Fertigteilbauten aus Holz
- 16.24 Herstellung von Verpackungsmitteln, Lagerbehältern und Ladungsträgern aus Holz
- 16.25 Herstellung von Türen und Fenstern aus Holz
- 16.26 Herstellung von festen Brennstoffen aus pflanzlicher Biomasse
- 16.27 Veredlung von Holzwaren
- 16.28 Herstellung von sonstigen Holzwaren sowie Kork-, Flecht- und Korbwaren
- 31.00 Herstellung von Möbeln
- 95.24 Reparatur und Instandhaltung von Möbeln und Einrichtungsgegenständen
Source: Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), WZ 2025. All business types
Boat or yacht? Here we are not the broker but the underwriting agency, with our own policies and our own claims handling.
Boat insuranceNAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH, insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37. For boat and yacht insurance we act as underwriting agency, not as broker. Statutory disclosure (German) · Updated