What You Should Know About Contractors Insurance

1. A Comprehensive Guide To Contractor’s Insurance Don’t let risk get in the way of your business!

2. What kind of risks do contractors face? • Contractors take on different works and each work possesses unique risks. • They could face small issues like missed deadlines, missed payments, bad weather. • Or big problems like job sites accidents, maintenance, and structural failures.

3. What is contractors insurance? • Contractor insurance provides commercial insurance solutions to protect the business from bearing substantial financial debt. • Therefore, you should consider having a contractor business insurance to protect your contractor business and the employees.   

4. Who needs contractors insurance? • Independent Contractors • Landscapers • Handyman • Construction Contractors

5. What policies do you need? Business Owners Policy (BOP) • A Business Owners Policy is a combination of general liability insurance and commercial property insurance.  • BOP provides coverage against general liabilities that occurs during the normal course of business. Such incidents include theft, fire, customers injuring themselves on construction sites, any property damages within the work premises.       • BOP also covers any items owned by a third-party but kept under temporary care of the business. 

6. Workers Compensation Policy • Workers compensation is an insurance that provides monetary benefits for disabilities or injuries sustained in the course of their employment.  • It also includes a portion of lost wages for employees who become ill or injured during the job.     • The factors that influence workers’ comp are the level of threat employee face in the workplace, annual payroll. 

7. Commercial Auto Policy • Also known as Business auto policy it provides coverage for the vehicle owned by the business. • Covers lawsuits for injuries or property damage for which the business is responsible. • It will protect you in cases if your auto causes any damage to the property not owned by you, if someone sustains an injury due to your negligence, costs for vehicle repair.

8. Commercial Property Policy • Commercial property policy provides coverage for personal property, warehouse, office space and buildings owned by the business. • It provides coverage against theft, fire, vandalism, weather events. • It also protects equipment, tools and inventory related to the work even if they are on lease.

9. Commercial General Liability Policy • General liability insurance protects business against claims due to unexpected events. • It provides coverage in case of injury or damage caused by a business’s operations or services. • For example, a customer could trip over a toolbox on the work premises hurting themselves or your client’s furniture break while remodeling, general liability policy covers all the damages incurred.

10. Professional Liability Insurance • Professional Liability insurance provides coverage for any professional mistakes that occurs during the project. • It is a must for claims of errors and omissions. • For instance, a contractor might move past his deadline for a project and the client might take legal actions against the contractor. Professional liability insurance covers such losses.   

11. Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) • EPLI covers legal expenses when employees take any legal actions against contracting business. • EPLI covers issues regarding harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, discrimination.    

12. Inland Marine Policy • Inland marine policy protects tools and equipment from theft, loss, and damage while they are in transit from one site to another. • It also covers the costs for repairs if an employee mishandles equipment. For instance, while on site, your company’s bulldozer hits a tree by an employee’s negligence. Inland marine insurance would then cover the damages.  

13. Business Interruption Insurance • Business interruption insurance helps cover lost income when business has to shut down temporarily due to covered perils. Contractors can boost the coverage by introducing endorsement. • The industry of the business, previous claims and location affect the eligibility of business income policy.

14. Contractual Liability Policy • Contractual liability policy provides coverage against liabilities that policyholders assume before signing a contract. • Contractors perform different works for third party, leaving room for accidents and mistakes. Contractual liability policy protects from such risks.

15. Commercial Umbrella Policy • Umbrella insurance provides additional benefits when the limit of applicable policies is exhausted. • It is useful when the amount of claim exceeds the amount of coverage from other policies.   

16. Cyber Liability Policy • Cyber insurance provides coverage for any damages caused by data breach. • Contractors often record sensitive data and information about clients and employees. • Data breach coverage helps in the payment costs of notifying client, managing public relations, and advertising in good faith.

17. Cost of Contractors Insurance • Multiple factors influence general contractor insurance cost. Such as: • Type of work • Employees • Coverage needs • Vehicles • Location • Claims history