What contractor insurance costs, and what actually drives the price.
There is no single price for contractor insurance, because it is built from your trade, payroll, limits, and loss history. What we can do is show how each coverage is priced and explain what moves each one, so the quote you get makes sense.
Want the real number? Get a quote. Want to understand the biggest lever first? See the class codes.
How each coverage is priced
What follows is the rating basis for each line and what moves it. We do not publish premium ranges, because a credible range needs a defined population, geography, limits and sample period, and a figure without those reads as more precise than it is. Your number comes from underwriting your operation.
| Coverage | How it is priced | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| General liability | Rated on your receipts or your payroll, by trade classification | Trade, revenue, limits, completed-operations exposure, loss history |
| Workers compensation | A rate per $100 of payroll in your assigned class; Washington rates most classes per hour worked instead | Class code, payroll, experience modifier, state |
| Commercial auto | Rated per vehicle, by type, use and operating radius | Number and type of vehicles, driving records, radius, limits |
| Tools and equipment | Rated on the scheduled or blanket value of the gear | Value of gear, theft exposure, on-site and in-transit coverage |
| Commercial umbrella | Rated on the underlying policies and the limit your contracts require | Underlying exposure, trade hazard, limit required by contracts |
| Builders risk | Rated on the project's completed value, for the project term | Project value, construction type, term, location |
Pricing basis and underwriting factors only, not quotes or a guarantee of price. Actual premium is determined by underwriting your specific operation and varies by trade, state, payroll, limits, and loss history.
Workers comp is usually the biggest line
For most contractors with employees, workers compensation is the largest single insurance cost. Classification and payroll set the base, which is why the same revenue can produce very different premiums: a roofing payroll and a clerical payroll are worlds apart in rate. From there your experience modification, your state's rates or loss costs, the carrier's own pricing and your loss history all move the result. Washington works differently again, rating most risk classes per hour worked rather than per dollar of payroll. If you want to understand or lower your cost, the class code is still where to start. See our contractor class-code reference for how it works.
Why high-hazard trades pay more
Roofing, framing, and excavation carry more injury and completed-work exposure, so both workers compensation rates and general liability pricing run higher, and fewer carriers compete for the work. A specialist market that actually wants your trade will price it more fairly than a carrier taking it reluctantly, which is a large part of what an independent agency does for you.
What actually determines your number
Six things move a contractor's premium more than anything else: your trade and its class code, your payroll and revenue, the limits your contracts require, your loss history and experience modifier, the size and type of your vehicle fleet, and the state you work in. Two of these, class code and loss history, are where accuracy and good records pay off directly. We work all six.
Two of those variables have their own breakdowns: what drives contractor general liability cost, and what drives builders risk cost, which is priced per project rather than annually.
Getting a real number
Knowing how a line is rated tells you what to ask about. A quote tells you the price. Because contractor pricing varies so much by carrier appetite, the practical move is to shop the program across markets that fit your trade rather than take the first number. We do that, confirm your class codes and limits, and give you a real quote you can build a budget on.
If you want to go deeper before you talk to anyone, we cover how much contractor insurance costs and the ways to lower a contractor premium, ranked.
Reviewed for insurance accuracy by Richard Sweet, Vantage Point Risk. Last reviewed October 19, 2026. How we review this.
Common questions.
How much does contractor insurance cost?
Why is my workers comp so much higher than another contractor's?
What makes contractor insurance more expensive?
Why do you not publish price ranges?
Get a real number, not a range
We shop your program across carriers that fit your trade, confirm your class codes and limits, and give you a quote you can budget on.
See what your program actually costs.
Tell us your trade, payroll, and the limits your contracts require and we will shop it and give you a real number.