A contractor’s professional liability insurance offers protection against errors and mistakes committed on the job, as well as other damages during a construction project, for both contractors and third-party hires like architects, designers, and engineers.
General Liability Insurance for Contractors
Contractor general liability insurance helps defend you against third-party allegations of physical harm or property damage resulting from commercial activities. Carpenters, roofers, general contractors, and other construction workers may be required to have general liability insurance by their employer, the city, or the state.
Obtain more about general liability insurance for construction companies and contractors, as well as how to find the best business insurance, by reading the information below.
What types of contractors need general liability insurance?
Contractors, tradespeople, and construction businesses that may need this type of liability coverage include:
- General contractors, masonry contractors, concrete contractors, drywall contractors, excavation contractors, paving contractors, and permanent yard contractors
- Handymen, roofers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, welders, painters, landscapers, appliance repair specialists, and house inspectors.
- Businesses that remove debris remove snow and ice, provide tree services, and do interior and exterior construction.
Before agreeing to engage with your company, clients could want you to provide documentation of general liability insurance. You could be required to provide a COI, or certificate of insurance, in accordance with the terms of your contract.
Similarly, your city or state may mandate that you satisfy general liability insurance requirements when applying for a permit or license for that work based on the project or kind of construction your firm undertakes.
What does general liability insurance for contractors cover?
General liability insurance often covers the following dangers for contractors:
- Bodily injury. You might be responsible for a client’s injuries if they are hurt while on the project site where you are performing construction work. Your general liability insurance may assist in defraying related legal, medical, and settlement expenses if the other party sues you.
However, employee injuries are not covered by general liability insurance; instead, you must get workers’ compensation insurance.
- Property damage. When remodeling a client’s home, you run the risk of accidentally damaging some of their furnishings and being held accountable for it. If the customer decides to file a claim for the property damage, your general liability insurance may pay for the cost of replacing or repairing the furniture as well as any associated legal fees.
Only third-party property damage will be covered under a general liability policy. To safeguard your company assets, you must get commercial property insurance.
- Personal and advertising injury. General liability coverage might aid in defraying litigation and settlement expenses if an employee of your contracting business makes false claims about another general contracting business and that business sues you for slander.
Additionally, copyright infringement and libel-related personal injury claims may be covered by your insurance.
- Completed operations liability. You could still be responsible for the damage if you undertake plumbing repairs at a client’s house and a pipe you installed bursts a few months later since you were responsible for the job.
Contractor general liability insurance might assist in paying your legal fees and any awarded damages.
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