General Contractor Insurance
Most insurance agents will write you a general liability policy and move on. That is not a program. General contractors face a risk profile that is heavier than almost any other trade - massive completed operations exposure, high workers comp rates driven by physical demands and physical labor and jobsite hazards, expensive heavy equipment, and a constant need for surety bonds on public and commercial projects. If your agent is not building your insurance and bonding together, you are working with the wrong agent.
Grit Insurance Group is a national independent brokerage that specializes in contractor insurance and surety bonding. We build programs for general contractors across the country - from residential flatwork crews to structural GC operations bidding multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects. We handle the insurance, the bonds, and the strategy to grow your bonding capacity as your business grows.
Business Insurance › Contractors › General Contractor
What General Contractors Actually Need (And What Most Agents Miss)
General contracting is not a single trade - it is the management of every trade on the project. The exposures are broader, the liability is deeper, and the coverage gaps that destroy GC businesses are almost always where sub risk meets prime contractor responsibility. Here are the six core risks every general contractor carries.
1. Vicarious Liability From Subcontractor Work
This is the risk that defines general contracting. You hire subcontractors to perform work on your project. When that sub causes damage, injures someone, or performs defective work, the injured party sues the GC - not the sub. You are the deep pocket. You are the prime on the contract. You are the one the owner calls.
Vicarious liability means you can be held responsible for the actions of your subcontractors even when you did nothing wrong. Your GL policy needs to respond to these claims, but it also needs to work in coordination with your sub's insurance. That means requiring proper COIs, additional insured endorsements, and waiver of subrogation from every sub on every job. If you are not managing sub insurance compliance, you are self-insuring their mistakes.
2. Completed Operations Exposure
The project is done. The owner moved in. The punch list is closed. Then 14 months later, a roof leaks because the framing sub did not flash the penetrations correctly. A retaining wall fails because the excavation sub did not compact the backfill. The HVAC system causes mold because of a ductwork design coordination error. These are completed operations claims and they represent the longest tail of liability a GC carries.
Completed operations coverage is the part of your GL policy that responds after you leave the jobsite and the work is done. As the GC, you are responsible for the finished product - all of it - including the work your subs performed. Your completed operations limit should match your per-occurrence limit at minimum. Most commercial GCs need $2 million or higher. Cheaper policies reduce this limit or carry sub-limits that leave you exposed on the claims that matter most.
3. Builders Risk and Project Insurance
As the GC, you are typically responsible for carrying builders risk on the project. Builders risk protects the structure under construction, materials on site, and materials in transit from fire, wind, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. On most commercial and public projects, the contract requires the GC to carry builders risk.
The cost is project-specific - it depends on construction type, project value, location, and duration. A $5 million wood-frame residential project in a wildfire zone is a very different risk than a $20 million concrete tilt-up warehouse. Your agent needs to quote builders risk on every project, not carry a blanket policy that does not fit the job. Gaps in builders risk coverage can leave you personally liable for damage to a structure you have not been paid for yet.
4. Subcontractor Default and Insurance Gaps
Your insurance program is only as strong as your worst sub's insurance. When a sub shows up with a lapsed policy, inadequate limits, or no workers comp, every claim they generate becomes your problem. A sub's employee gets hurt and has no workers comp - the injured worker files against the GC. A sub causes property damage with no GL - the owner looks to the GC's policy.
Managing subcontractor insurance compliance is not optional for a GC. It is a core business function. You need a system to collect COIs before any sub sets foot on your jobsite, verify that coverage is active and limits meet contract requirements, confirm additional insured and waiver of subrogation endorsements are in place, and track expiration dates throughout the project. The GCs who get this right protect their own insurance program. The ones who do not pay for it in claims.
5. Multi-Project Aggregate Exposure
Most GL policies carry a general aggregate limit - the maximum the policy will pay across all claims in a policy year. A GC running five projects simultaneously can burn through a $2 million aggregate faster than a single-trade sub running one job at a time. One serious claim on Project A reduces the coverage available for Projects B through E.
Per-project aggregates solve this problem. With a per-project aggregate endorsement, each project gets its own aggregate limit. This is standard on most commercial GC programs and many project owners require it in their contracts. If your policy does not include per-project aggregates, every project you run is sharing the same pool of coverage - and one bad claim can leave every other project exposed.
6. Contract and Compliance Risk
GCs sign contracts that contain insurance requirements - minimum limits, specific endorsements, named additional insureds, primary and non-contributory language, and waiver of subrogation. These are not suggestions. They are contractual obligations. If your insurance does not match what the contract requires, you are in breach before the first shovel hits dirt.
Every GC contract should be reviewed against your current insurance program before you sign it. Your agent should be the one doing this review - not your attorney and definitely not you. The cost of adding an endorsement or increasing a limit is almost always less than the cost of being out of compliance when a claim hits.
Written and reviewed by the Grit Insurance Group team · Last reviewed August 12, 2026
Grit is an independent brokerage that places contractor insurance and surety bonds across the 31 states we write in, led by a principal holding the CIC designation with more than 30 years in insurance ownership. We came out of the trades we insure. Coverage and bond requirements are verified against each state's own statutes, rules and agency publications, and they are subject to current state code. Meet the team or call (801) 505-5500.
The Full General Contractor Insurance Program
Here is what a properly built insurance program looks like for a general contractor. Every line of coverage exists because GC work creates specific exposures that compound across every project and every subcontractor on the job.
General Liability
General liability is the foundation of every contractor insurance program. For general contractors, GL covers third-party bodily injury and property damage caused by your operations and your subcontractors' work. A visitor trips over debris on your jobsite. A crane load drops onto an adjacent property. A sub's excavation damages a utility line. As the GC, your GL policy is the first line of defense for all of it.
Standard limits for general contractors: $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. Most commercial and public project contracts require these minimums, and many owners require higher limits or per-project aggregates. Your policy should include strong completed operations coverage, blanket additional insured endorsements, primary and non-contributory language, and per-project aggregate endorsements.
GC rates are based on your project types, revenue, sub trades managed, and claims history. Underwriters know that GC claims involve multiple parties and tend to be complex and expensive. Your loss history and risk management practices directly affect your pricing.
Workers Compensation
Workers comp is mandatory in nearly every state once you have employees. For general contractors, the relevant class codes depend on what work your own crews perform. Class code 5606 covers construction executive and project management staff. If your crews self-perform trade work - framing (5403), concrete (5213/5222), demolition, or site prep - those higher-rated codes apply to those employees.
Workers comp rates for GCs vary significantly based on how much trade work you self-perform versus sub out. A GC with a crew of 10 framers and 5 laborers will pay substantially more than a GC with 3 project managers and an office staff. The more you sub out, the lower your direct comp costs - but you still carry exposure for sub injuries through vicarious liability.
Your experience modification rate (EMR) is the single most important number driving your workers comp cost. Every claim pushes it up. Every clean year brings it down. An EMR over 1.0 means you are paying a surcharge and may be disqualified from bidding on projects that cap the modifier. We help general contractors understand their mod, implement safety documentation, and build a path to a lower EMR over time.
Commercial Auto
General contractors operate mixed fleets - pickup trucks for project managers and superintendents, dump trucks and flatbeds if you self-perform site work, utility trailers hauling materials between jobsites, and sometimes heavy equipment transport. Commercial auto covers liability for accidents your drivers cause, physical damage to your vehicles, and medical payments.
Key coverage considerations for GCs: hired and non-owned auto coverage for when employees drive personal vehicles on company business, loading and unloading coverage, and proper liability limits that meet contract requirements. Most commercial projects require $1 million combined single limit at minimum.
Builders Risk
Builders risk is the coverage most unique to general contractors. It protects the structure under construction and all materials, fixtures, and equipment destined for installation. Fire, wind, theft, vandalism, water damage, and collapse are all covered perils on a properly written builders risk policy.
GCs typically carry builders risk because the construction contract assigns that responsibility to the prime contractor. The policy is project-specific - it covers one project for a defined construction period and is priced based on the total completed value, construction type, and location. Soft costs coverage, which pays for additional expenses like extended overhead, architect fees, and financing costs caused by a covered delay, is a valuable add-on that many GCs overlook.
Inland Marine and Equipment
If your company owns tools, equipment, scaffolding, temporary structures, or materials that move between jobsites, inland marine coverage protects them. Your commercial property policy does not cover equipment at job locations or in transit. Inland marine fills that gap.
For GCs who self-perform trade work, equipment values add up fast - forklifts, skid steers, generators, compressors, laser levels, power tools, and safety systems. Every piece should be scheduled on your inland marine policy with accurate replacement values. Equipment that is not scheduled is equipment that is not covered when it is stolen or destroyed.
Pollution Liability
Standard general liability policies contain a pollution exclusion. For general contractors managing construction sites, pollution exposure comes from multiple sources - stormwater runoff violations, fuel spills from equipment, disturbance of contaminated soil during excavation, lead paint or asbestos exposure during renovation, and dust from demolition and grading.
Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) fills the gap your GL policy leaves. Many commercial and public project owners now require the GC to carry CPL. Even when it is not required by contract, the exposure is real. If a sub's work triggers an environmental cleanup on your project, the owner looks to the GC first.
Professional Liability and E&O
If your GC operation provides any design services, value engineering, constructability review, or design-build delivery, professional liability coverage is essential. Standard GL policies exclude claims arising from professional services - a design error that causes a structural problem is not covered under GL.
Design-build GCs, firms that provide engineering or architectural coordination, and GCs who take on construction management roles all need to evaluate their professional liability exposure. This coverage is less common for traditional plan-and-spec GCs, but the line between construction and design continues to blur in modern project delivery.
Umbrella and Excess Liability
General contractors face higher aggregate exposure than almost any other trade because they manage multiple projects, multiple subs, and multiple coverage lines simultaneously. A $2 million GL aggregate can disappear in a single serious claim - a multi-story fall, a crane accident, a fire that destroys a structure under construction, or a sub default that triggers a cascade of third-party claims.
Umbrella coverage sits on top of your GL, auto, and employers liability policies and provides additional limits when underlying policies are exhausted. Most commercial GCs carry $5 million to $10 million in umbrella coverage. Large GCs on public and institutional work carry $25 million or more. Many project owners specify minimum umbrella limits in their contracts - $5 million is increasingly the baseline.
Surety Bonds
If you bid on public construction - federal, state, county, or municipal - you need surety bonds. The Miller Act requires performance and payment bonds on federal projects over $150,000. Every state has a Little Miller Act with similar requirements for state-funded work. Many municipalities require bonds on infrastructure and building projects regardless of project size.
General contractors need three types of bonds: bid bonds (guaranteeing you will honor your bid price), performance bonds (guaranteeing you will complete the project), and payment bonds (guaranteeing you will pay your subs and suppliers). Your bonding capacity - the total amount of work you can have bonded at one time - is determined by your financial statements, working capital, experience, and track record.
Building a bonding program is one of the most strategic things a growing GC can do. Every dollar of bonding capacity unlocks access to projects you cannot bid without it. We help general contractors build their underwriting file, position their financials for surety approval, and grow their bonding capacity over time. Learn more about contractor bonding with Grit Insurance Group.
Subcontractor Insurance Management
This is not a coverage line - it is an operational discipline that directly affects every other coverage on this list. The GC's insurance program is only as strong as the sub compliance program behind it. Here is what a proper sub insurance management system looks like:
- COI collection before work starts - no certificate, no access to the jobsite
- Minimum limits verification - GL at $1M/$2M, workers comp at statutory, auto at $1M CSL at minimum
- Additional insured confirmation - the GC and owner must be named as additional insured on the sub's GL policy
- Primary and non-contributory language - the sub's policy responds first, not yours
- Waiver of subrogation - prevents the sub's insurer from coming after the GC to recover claim payments
- Expiration tracking - policies lapse mid-project more often than most GCs realize
- Workers comp verification - confirm the sub has active coverage and is not using an exemption to avoid it
The GCs who build this system protect their insurance program, their EMR, and their ability to bid bigger work. The GCs who skip it eventually pay for it in claims, premium increases, and lost project opportunities.
How Much Does General Contractor Insurance Cost?
General contractor insurance costs vary based on revenue, payroll, project types, number of employees, claims history, and bonding requirements. Here are general ranges based on the size of the operation:
- Small residential GC (3-5 employees, under $2M revenue): $10,000 to $25,000 per year for a basic program including GL, workers comp, and commercial auto
- Mid-size commercial GC (10-20 employees, $5M-$15M revenue): $40,000 to $120,000 per year including GL, workers comp, auto, umbrella, and builders risk on active projects
- Large commercial/public works GC (20+ employees, $15M+ revenue): $100,000 to $400,000+ per year for a full program with GL, workers comp, auto, umbrella, builders risk, pollution, and a surety bonding program
Workers compensation and general liability are typically the two largest cost drivers. Your EMR, sub-to-self-perform ratio, project types, and geographic footprint all affect pricing. GCs who self-perform high-risk trades pay more for workers comp. GCs who manage subs effectively and maintain clean loss histories pay less across the board.
Your GC operation is too complex to run on a lightweight insurance program.
Whether you need general liability, workers comp, builders risk, umbrella coverage, or a full surety bonding program to bid public and commercial work, the Grit team builds insurance for general contractors who are scaling and need a program that keeps pace with their growth.
Call (801) 505-5500
Request a Quote | Take the Bond Scorecard
Grit Insurance Group serves general contractors in all 50 states. Concrete contractor insurance | Excavation contractor insurance | All trade contractor insurance
Coverage General Contractors Are Most Often Missing
- Per-project aggregate endorsement, ISO CG 25 03. A general contractor runs several jobs at once off one policy, and one shared aggregate means a bad loss on job one can leave nothing for jobs two through five. CG 25 03 gives each SCHEDULED project its own aggregate equal to the policy's general aggregate. Two catches: each project has to be specifically scheduled, and the form addresses ongoing operations without changing the products-completed operations aggregate.
- Builders risk. General liability is third-party liability coverage and does not pay for the structure you are building. Builders risk is property coverage on the work in progress, materials and labour. Who buys it is set by the construction contract and can land on the owner, the general contractor or both, with lenders often forcing the issue.
- Contractor's tools and equipment as inland marine. Your own iron and tools move between the yard, the truck and multiple jobsites, and neither general liability nor a building policy follows them there. Watch the limit and the scheduling rule, because a $5,000 blanket limit does not cover a real schedule.
- Professional liability for design-build and construction management. Once you take on design-build, means and methods decisions or construction management, the claim starts looking like a professional error rather than bodily injury or property damage, which is what general liability is built for. The trigger includes accusations of negligence or substandard work, budget overruns, delays and breach of contract.
What Your State Requires, and Who Has To Be Named
Most general contractor insurance pages say requirements vary by state and stop there. They vary in ways that decide whether your filing is accepted. Grit verified these against each state's own statutes, rules and agency publications, and every state links through to the full breakdown.
| State | Liability minimum for licensure | Who must be named, and the catch |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Proof of current liability insurance, with no dollar minimum published | The Board itself at 445 Dexter Ave must be the certificate holder, and the insured name must match the applicant exactly. The $1,000,000/$2,000,000 figures you will find quoted are not licensing minimums - they come from Division of Construction Management Form C-8 Article 37, which governs state building contracts. Minimum net worth and working capital of $10,000 to license at all. |
| Arizona | None. A license bond instead, $2,500 to $100,000 by classification and volume | The ROC takes no insurance filing whatsoever. Residential contractors additionally pay into the Residential Recovery Fund or post a second bond of $200,000. Bond amount steps with contemplated gross volume, so growing past a threshold means raising the bond. |
| California | None for most licensees. LLCs: $1,000,000 cumulative, rising $100,000 per person of record above five, capped at $5,000,000 | B&P 7071.19, and the policy must come from an admitted California insurer or an approved surplus lines carrier. Every licensee posts a $25,000 bond; LLCs add a $100,000 employee bond. C-8 concrete, C-20 HVAC, C-22 asbestos, C-39 roofing and C-61/D-49 tree service must carry workers comp even with zero employees. |
| Colorado | GL $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate at PPRBD; Fort Collins $2,000,000 aggregate | There is no statewide license, so this is municipal. A lapse suspends the license automatically at PPRBD, and Fort Collins keeps a license current only while bond and insurance are. One PPRBD filing covers nine jurisdictions. |
| Georgia | GL $300,000 residential-basic, $500,000 light commercial and commercial | The Board in Macon as certificate holder. Binders, information pages, policies and declaration pages are all refused - it must be a signed certificate, and an individual applicant must be the named insured, not their company. Workers comp at three or more employees. |
| Idaho | GL $300,000 single limit, including products and completed operations | From an Idaho-authorized insurer. A floor set in 2006 and never raised, so treat it as the registration minimum rather than the coverage decision. No bond at all. |
| Illinois | Roofing: $250,000 property damage and $500,000 bodily injury, each occurrence | The license is cancelled without a hearing on the termination date of your bond, and on proof that insurance lapsed. No grace period. The amounts live in the rule at 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1460.20, not in the statute that most pages cite. |
| Kansas | Roofing registration: a liability certificate of not less than $500,000 | K.S.A. 50-6,125, and it is filed with the Attorney General rather than a licensing board, which is why roofers looking for a contractor board never find it. Kansas licenses no general contractors, so roofing carries the only statewide insurance minimum. Cities license separately. |
| Louisiana | GL $100,000 residential and home improvement, $50,000 mold remediation | A liability trust fund at the same amount is accepted instead of a policy. Commercial applicants file no insurance certificate at all. Workers comp required alongside. |
| Maine | None required for licensure | Maine licenses no general contractors at all. It regulates the contract instead, and a home construction contract over $3,000 must be written, with the down payment capped at one third of the price. |
| Michigan | None required for licensure | The widely quoted $100,000 figure is not in the law, and the statute it is cited to is about an unlicensed builder being unable to sue for payment. Nothing filters your competitors, so your own certificates carry the whole burden. |
| Mississippi | GL $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate | MSBOC as certificate holder, and the insured name must match the license name exactly. Workers comp at five or more employees. A Certificate of Responsibility holder must also disclose to the owner at signing whether they carry GL, in type larger than the rest of the contract. |
| Missouri | Statewide electrical license: $500,000 liability | And a bond posted with every political subdivision you work in. The state license removes local exams, never local bonds. Outside electrical there is no state license and no state minimum. |
| Montana | Montana-issued workers compensation | Montana does not accept another state's workers comp in construction. Your home-state policy does not travel, and contractors from Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas discover it after winning the job. |
| Nebraska | Workers compensation only, on an ACORD 25 | Department of Labor as certificate holder. If the coverage lapses you are removed from the registered contractor list until your agent files a current certificate. |
| Nevada | No GL minimum. Workers compensation is a condition of licensure | Industrial insurance compliance, or a signed exemption affidavit, must be on file to issue a license, to activate an inactive one, and to renew. An active license without comp on file is not a valid license. The license bond scales with your limit, and the Residential Recovery Fund covers homeowners in place of a GL mandate. |
| New Hampshire | None. No state general contractor license exists | Only electricians and plumbers are licensed statewide, so there is no board to file a certificate with. Requirements come from municipalities and from the owners and general contractors who hire you, which in practice means the contract sets your limits. |
| New Mexico | No general liability minimum in the rule | But workers comp compliance is a condition of license validity under Section 60-13-23, so a comp failure invalidates the license. Every license also carries a $10,000 bond, and it is a code bond rather than a contract bond. |
| North Carolina | None. The Board states there is no insurance requirement for licensing | Financial responsibility instead: working capital of $17,000 limited, $75,000 intermediate, $150,000 unlimited. A surety bond substitutes for the working capital entirely at $175,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000. Workers comp is still North Carolina law, it is simply not a license condition. |
| North Dakota | A liability certificate naming the Secretary of State as certificate holder | Plus Workforce Safety and Insurance verification. No dollar minimum is published, so the certificate itself is the requirement. |
| Ohio | $500,000 contractor liability insurance | Must sit in one contracting company name. The figure is set by the licensing board and published on its application, not fixed in the Revised Code, so confirm it at renewal rather than assuming last year's number. |
| Oklahoma | $50,000 GL per plumbing, electrical or mechanical license | CIB as certificate holder, and both the bond and the certificate must be in the individual license holder's name, not the company's. $50,000 is far too low for real commercial MEP work - meeting the minimum and stopping is the exposure. |
| Oregon | Scaled to your endorsement: residential $100,000 to $500,000 per occurrence, commercial $500,000 per occurrence to $2,000,000 aggregate | The CCB pairs every bond amount with an insurance amount, so the two move together. Hold both a residential and a commercial endorsement and you file two bonds but one policy, written at the higher of the two amounts. Commercial General Contractor Level 1 is an $80,000 bond with $2,000,000 aggregate; a number of surety sites publish $75,000 for it, which is out of date. |
| Pennsylvania | $50,000 personal injury and $50,000 property damage | HICPA registration through the Attorney General, required of anyone doing more than $5,000 of home improvement work a year. Registration is not a license - no exam, no financials, no experience - but your PA number must appear on every advertisement, contract, estimate and proposal, and non-compliance can make the contract unenforceable. |
| South Carolina | None for general or mechanical contractor licensure. Alarm and fire sprinkler registrations: $100,000 | That $100,000 gets quoted as though it covers every South Carolina contractor. It does not. GC and MC licensure runs on financials or a bond: Group 1 is a $20,000 bond for a $100,000 job limit, through Group 5 at $350,000 for unlimited. The bond is a full substitute for the CPA financial statement. |
| Tennessee | GL scaled to your monetary limit, plus workers comp unless exempt | The board publishes the schedule separately from the statute, so confirm the tier that applies to your limit rather than assuming. New since July 1, 2026: a bond of at least 50% of your monetary limit can replace the CPA-reviewed or audited financial statement entirely. Monetary limit is 10 times the lesser of working capital or net worth. |
| Texas | Air conditioning and refrigeration: Class A $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate; Class B $100,000 and $200,000 | No state general contractor license exists, so most trades face no state insurance minimum at all. The licensed trades do, and TDLR will not issue without it. |
| Utah | GL $1,000,000 per incident and $2,000,000 total | DOPL as certificate holder, plus workers comp or a Labor Commission waiver. Raised from $100,000/$300,000 effective April 20, 2026. The $3,000,000 aggregate you may have read about was the original proposal and was pulled back. |
| Virginia | None. Class A and B document net worth or equity instead: $45,000 and $15,000 | A financial statement, a CPA review or audit, or a surety bond on the Board's own form - any one of the three satisfies it. Class C has no financial threshold at all. Third-party sites publish per-class GL minimums for Virginia that appear nowhere in DPOR's application or instructions. |
| Washington | GL $200,000 public liability plus $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit | L&I as certificate holder. Washington runs a monopolistic workers comp system, so comp comes from the State Fund and never from a private carrier. Specialty contractors also post a $15,000 bond, general contractors $30,000. |
| Wyoming | None. No state contractor license exists | Cities and counties license instead, so the requirement changes by jurisdiction rather than at the state line. Casper, Cheyenne and Laramie each run their own program. Plan coverage around the owner's contract, because no state floor is going to set it for you. |
Three patterns travel to any state you work in. A lapse is a licensing event, not just an insurance one, and several states suspend or de-register automatically with no hearing. The certificate holder is state-specific, so naming the wrong entity gets the filing rejected even when the coverage is right. And in a growing number of states a surety bond is an accepted substitute for the financial statement - North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and, since July 2026, Tennessee all let a bond stand in place of CPA-prepared financials or a working capital test. That turns a bond into a way to qualify for a license, not just a box to check after you have one.
Grit verified every row above in all 31 states we write in, from each state's own statutes, rules and agency publications rather than from other insurance blogs. Several of the figures circulating online are misattributed - Alabama's are lifted from a state construction contract form, South Carolina's from a specialty registration, and Virginia's do not exist. Call (801) 505-5500 and we will confirm what your state actually requires before you file.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does general contractor insurance cost?
A small residential GC with 3 to 5 employees might pay $10,000 to $25,000 per year for a basic program. Mid-size commercial GCs with 10 to 20 employees and active bonding programs typically pay $40,000 to $120,000. Large commercial and public works GCs with 20 or more employees and full bonding programs can pay $100,000 to $400,000 or more. Workers compensation and general liability are the two largest cost drivers.
What insurance do general contractors need?
A complete GC insurance program includes general liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, builders risk, inland marine for tools and equipment, umbrella or excess liability, and surety bonds for public and commercial work. Depending on your operations, you may also need pollution liability and professional liability. Subcontractor insurance compliance management is also essential for protecting your program.
Are general contractors liable for subcontractor injuries?
Yes. Under vicarious liability, a general contractor can be held responsible for injuries caused by subcontractor work on their project, even if the GC did not directly cause the injury. This is why requiring proper insurance from every sub - including workers compensation, general liability with additional insured endorsements, and waiver of subrogation - is critical for protecting the GC's own insurance program.
Do general contractors need surety bonds?
If you bid on public construction, yes. The Miller Act requires performance and payment bonds on federal projects over $150,000. State Little Miller Acts impose similar requirements on state-funded work. Many municipalities require bonds on infrastructure projects regardless of size. General contractors on large commercial projects are also increasingly required to provide bonds. Most states require a contractor license bond before you can operate.
What is a per-project aggregate and why do GCs need it?
A per-project aggregate endorsement gives each project its own aggregate limit instead of sharing one aggregate across all projects in a policy year. For GCs running multiple projects simultaneously, this prevents one large claim on one project from reducing the coverage available for every other project. Most commercial project owners require per-project aggregates in their contracts.
How should general contractors manage subcontractor insurance?
Every sub should provide a certificate of insurance before starting work. Verify GL limits meet contract minimums (typically $1M/$2M), confirm workers comp is active, require additional insured and waiver of subrogation endorsements, and track policy expiration dates throughout the project. Subs without proper insurance create direct liability exposure for the GC.
If my subcontractor has no insurance, does my general liability cover the job?
Your policy responds to your liability, and as the general contractor you usually own the liability for work done on your behalf, so you are in the claim either way. Two separate things then go wrong. On the coverage side, the standard 'your work' exclusion reaches work performed on your behalf, which includes your sub's work, so if your policy lacks the subcontractor exception the carrier can deny a defect claim caused entirely by that sub. On the premium side, what you paid the uninsured sub gets charged back as exposure at audit, and the material deduction is capped at 50 percent of the invoice and only allowed if you kept original invoices splitting labour from materials. Collecting a certificate does not remove a sub from your audit, it moves that sub to the cheaper contractors-subcontract rate.
What is a per-project aggregate and do I actually need one?
Your general aggregate is the most the policy pays in a year across everything you do. Without a per-project endorsement, that one limit is shared by every job you have open, so two bad claims on one job can leave the rest of your work running on a limit that is already spent. The ISO endorsement is CG 25 03, and it gives each project listed on the schedule its own aggregate equal to the policy's general aggregate. Two things to check before you rely on it: each project has to be specifically scheduled, and the form deals with ongoing operations without changing the products-completed operations aggregate, so per-project protection for completed operations takes a separate endorsement. Owners frequently require it, and it is generally added for a modest premium.
The owner is putting us on an OCIP or CCIP. Can I drop my own policies?
No. A wrap-up consolidates general liability and excess liability, and often workers compensation, for the enrolled parties on that one project. It does not follow you anywhere else. Your own operations, your yard and shop, your other jobs, your vehicles and any professional exposure still need your own coverage. Wrap contracts are not standardised, the exclusions and enrolled-party definitions vary by program, and gaps between the wrap and your own policy are common. Have the actual wrap document read against your policy before you change anything, and get the credit you are owed for the coverage the sponsor is providing rather than assuming it.
