Builders general liability
Eight coverages do the work for a building business. They answer different questions, and buying one does not cover the others. Here is what each pays for, where each stops, and who actually needs it.
Pays for injury or damage your work causes to other people. The policy your contract asks you to prove, and the one almost every builder carries first.
Pays medical costs and lost wages when one of your own employees is hurt. Required in nearly every state once you have staff, and separate from general liability.
Covers the trucks and trailers used for work. A personal auto policy excludes business use entirely, and it will not cover the tools inside.
Covers the tools themselves, in transit and on site, including theft. General liability never does, which is why this is a separate policy.
Property coverage on a structure while it is being built. Usually carried by the owner rather than the builder, and often required by the construction lender.
A guarantee rather than insurance. License bonds are a condition of licensure in most states, and bid, performance and payment bonds attach to specific projects.
Adds limits above your general liability and auto policies, for the larger projects where the contract requires more than your underlying limits provide.
For claims that your work was done wrong, whether or not it actually was. Separate from general liability, and relevant if you design, specify or advise.
Start with what your contract requires, because that is what will be checked before you are allowed on site. General liability comes first for almost every builder. Workers compensation follows the moment you have employees. Commercial auto matters as soon as a vehicle is used for work. Tools coverage matters as soon as your tools are worth more than you could replace out of pocket. The remaining four depend on your operation: builder's risk if you carry the structure during construction, bonds if you hold a licence or bid public work, an umbrella if you take on larger projects, and professional liability if you design or advise rather than only build.
General liability responds when you hurt someone or damage property. Professional liability responds when you cost someone money by getting the work wrong. A crew that drops a beam on a car needs general liability. A builder who under-specifies a foundation needs professional liability.
No. Insurance pays a claim and that is the end of it. A bond pays the project owner, and then the surety recovers what it paid from you. That is why a surety looks at your finances rather than your loss history, and why a bond is closer to credit than to underwriting.
Check. The contract should say which party carries it, and if the owner carries it you may not need your own. The failure mode is both parties assuming the other has it, and the gap is only found after a loss.
Tools, by a wide margin. Builders assume general liability covers their equipment because it covers everything else. It does not cover anything of yours.
Tell us your trade, payroll and the states you work in. A licensed specialist will follow up with real numbers.
