Most people want a single answer to what insurance a contractor needs, but the honest answer is a stack of coverages matched to your work. Here is the practical version.
The core coverages
Almost every contractor builds on a few pieces. General liability covers third-party injury and property damage and the completed-operations exposure from finished work; it is the coverage your contracts name most. Workers compensation covers employee injury and is required in nearly every state once you have employees. Commercial auto covers your vehicles, including the hired and non-owned exposure when crews drive their own trucks. Tools and equipment covers the gear that travels to every job.
What contracts add
Contracts often require more than the basics. An umbrella raises your liability limits to the one, two, or five million that larger jobs demand. Additional insured status, a waiver of subrogation, and per-project aggregate are endorsements contracts require, and they must be on the policy, not just on a certificate. Builders risk covers projects under construction when an owner or lender requires it.
What your trade adds
The specifics depend on how you work. A roofer needs careful exclusion review; an excavator needs pollution and equipment coverage; a solar installer needs errors and omissions for design and performance; an HVAC contractor needs an installation floater. The trade, not a generic checklist, decides the rest of the stack.
Subcontractors
If you use subs, their insurance is part of yours. Uninsured subs can fall to your liability and your workers comp audit, so requiring proper limits, additional insured status, and their own workers comp, and verifying it, is part of a complete program.
The fastest way to know what you actually need is a coverage review: we map your trade, contracts, and operations against the coverages and tell you what is missing.
What contractors often get wrong
Contractor coverage is mostly about meeting job requirements and surviving the audit.
- No additional-insured endorsement when a general contractor requires one.
- Treating a certificate of insurance as actual coverage for the GC.
- Not collecting workers comp certificates from subs, which inflates the audit.
- Overlooking completed-operations claims that arrive after the job is done.
- Missing commercial auto or tools and equipment coverage.
- No bond or umbrella when a license or contract requires it.
What Vantage Point looks for when reviewing this
When we review a contractor, we check that general liability carries the right additional-insured and completed-operations terms, that workers comp and subcontractor certificates are in order to control the audit, that commercial auto and tools are covered, and that any bond or umbrella your licenses and contracts require is in place.
Questions to ask your advisor
- Which coverages does my trade actually call for beyond general liability?
- Do my contracts require limits or endorsements my current policy does not carry?
- Is completed-operations coverage in place for claims that arrive after the job?
- Are my subcontractors verified so they do not fall to my liability or audit?
- Does a license or contract require a bond or umbrella I do not yet have?
Want guidance first? Compare your coverage. Already know what you need? Get a quote.