NY Contractor Insurance
In today’s litigious society, the need for contractors to have adequate insurance protection is paramount. Without being properly insured, they take on the risk of incurring a huge loss as the result of a lawsuit.
That is why it’s more important than ever for every contractor to protect themselves from accidents or injuries that may occur during the course of work at a jobsite or even after the job is completed.
What Does a NY Contactors Insurance Policy Cover?
Your company can get either a Business Owner Policy (BOP) or a General Liability Policy (GL).
Business Owner Policy (BOP): A BOP includes 3 primary protections:
- General Liability: Protection from loss for financial harm caused to a third party. This includes a third party being injured at a jobsite due to you or your employee’s negligence. Or, bodily injury/property damage caused as a result of faulty workmanship, defective products, or faulty installations of services provided to your customer.
- Business Property: Covers items such as buildings, building contents, tools and scheduled/unscheduled equipment.
- Business Interruption: Pays for loss income and extra expenses when your company cannot operate due to a covered peril, such as a fire, and may even have to relocate temporarily.
General Liability Policy (GL): Includes only liability and not business property or business interruption protection.
Your NY Contractor General Liability Policy protects you in 2 very important ways
- Claim Settlement or Judgment: As we all know, accidents do happen, even for companies that stress and practice safety standards for employees, customers, vendors, or anyone who may have interactions with that company. Say for instance you are a home remodeler working in a client’s kitchen and step away for lunch leaving some tools on the floor. The client wanders in to inspect the kitchen, trips over a tool and suffers a head injury as a result of the fall. A claim is filed and depending on a number of factors relating to that head injury could be for an amount of a million dollars or more. If you have a million dollar or higher limit amount for your liability protection, you’ll be protected. This example points out just how easy it is for an accident to happen. It’s a legitimate action for an accidental bad injury, that’s what insurance is for.
- Fraudulent Claim Defense: Unfortunately, fraudulent claims for fake injuries occur more often than they should. Consider this, a man pretending to be a potential customer walks into a retail store where you are doing some electrical work for your client and intentionally trips himself over your ladder, falling to the floor. The next thing you know, you are being sued for $800,000 dollars for the fraudster’s spinal injury. Your insuring company jumps into action reviewing the claimant’s medical records which show no signs of a spinal issue or any other injury. The claimant is requested to see your insurer’s own doctors and refuses to do so. Your insurer also finds out that the fraudster has several other personal injury cases pending in other states. Thankfully, the retail store has interior security cameras which clearly show the man had intentionally tripped himself. The fraudster’s attorney now withdraws the lawsuit to your relief and you realize that without your liability protection, you would have had to pay out of our own pocket up to tens of thousands of dollars to mount your defense. Think of it this way. General Liability helps to safeguard against costly settlements for bodily injury and/or property damage caused by the negligence or “alleged” negligence of your company. Virtually every type of concern has exposure whether it’s an office or retail setting, or companies that work onsite at residential homes, commercial properties, or municipal projects. It also protects the insured by mounting a defense, especially important in fraudulent or frivolous lawsuit actions.
- Bodily injury caused to a non-employee
- Slip and fall accidents
- Property damage
- Product liability
- Copyright infringement
- Slander and libel
Who Should Get NY Contractors General Liability Insurance?
- Landscapers
- Plumbers
- Electricians
- Carpenters
- Painters
- Excavators
- Pavers
- HVAC
- Masonry
- Home Remodeler
- Handyman
- +More
How Much Does NY Contractors Insurance Cost?
There are many variables that determine the cost of your NY Contractor Insurance such as:
- Business Type: Companies with a higher risk of third party injury or damage to client property will pay more for GL protection than a business that presents a lower risk of incurring injuries and property damage. For instance, a roofing company will pay more for GL than a landscaper company.
- General Liability Policy Limits: The typical limit carried for a small company is $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate for the year. Of course, higher limits or adding an umbrella will cost more.
- BOP or GL-Only: A Business Owner Policy (BOP) which covers general liability (GL), business property and business interruption will cost more than a GL-only policy.
- Equipment and Tools: Covered equipment such as backhoes, excavators, graders, and skidsteers among others either need to be added as “scheduled” equipment or written on a separate Inland Marine policy. Collections of small tools, usually under $5,000 to $10,000 are typically added to a BOP under a package endorsement as “unscheduled” equipment. Small tool collections over $10,000 can be added to the policy as unscheduled or written on a separate Inland Marine policy. In any event, the more added equipment value, the more premium charged.
- Commercial Auto: Companies that use their own vehicles for their work must have commercial auto insurance. The cost will vary depending on the vehicle type, number of vehicles, amount of coverage, business type, and driving record of the individual or individuals driving the vehicle.
- Workers Compensation: Companies with employees are required to carry workers compensation. The cost can vary widely depending on the amount of total wages paid to employees and the business type. Same as with GL, workers compensation will cost much more for a roofer per wage dollar paid than for a landscaper because the risk and severity of injury is higher for a roofing company employee than that of a landscaper.
So how much does NY contractors insurance cost? We hate giving a cliché answer such as we really won’t know until we gather your information, requirements, and needs, but it’s the only way we can tell. But, in general, if you’re a single person company with no employees that just needs General Liability, we write policies for as low as $600 per year, depending on the type of business. For larger companies with employees that require GL, property coverage, commercial auto, and workers compensation, that number will rise into the thousands per year.
What we can say for certain regarding the cost is that we will work with you and help guide you to the most cost efficient solution that also keeps you financially protected. We have hand-picked our NY business insurance companies for both price and options to make sure we present you with the very best deal with can find.
Looking For The Best Contractors Insurance In New York?
We service clients for NY Commercial Policies in the Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Latham, Clifton Park, Saratoga Springs, Cohoes, Watervliet areas as well as the entire state of New York. Each one of our clients is given a dedicated expert to work together to proficiently address all your concerns. Whether you are simply looking for the Best Contractors Insurance Quote in New York or want a thorough consultation for your company’s needs, we are here to help.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for NY Contractor Insurance
Every business is unique and we can work with you to customize the limit amounts that are right for your company. Keep in mind that if you plan to work as a subcontractor under a general contractor (GC), the GC will most likely require at a minimum $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate annual limits.
We have access to wide range of GL limits from $300,000 up to $2,000,000 and have options to add an additional layer of liability protection at amounts up to $5,000,000 depending on the type of business along with other underlying factors.
A COI is typically a one-page document that exhibits the policy details of your liability coverage. It is used to verify that you have the business insurance you claim to have. It displays the types and limits of coverage, the issuing insurer, your policy number, the named insured, and the effective and expiration dates. When requested, it will also include the name and address of the required certificate holder or additional insured party.
We provide COI’s at no charge to our insureds. If you’re customer or GC requires to be listed as an “additional insured” on the certificate, we can provide that service as well. We utilize several insurers that offer a policy endorsement for “blanket additional insured” status.
An additional insured refers to anyone other than the policyholder who is covered by the policy. It might be limited to a single event or it could last for the policy's lifetime. The additional insured has the same coverage and is on the same policy as the named insured. Construction agreements frequently require contractors to add other parties to their liability policies as additional insureds.
A certificate holder is someone whom you have provided a certificate of insurance. The COI is proof that you have insurance at that point in time. A certificate holder's only right is to receive notification if the policyholder makes changes or cancels. He or she does not have any coverage rights and cannot make a claim on your policy.
Many people assume that GL covers the insured’s own business property against theft, considered a first party loss, but it typically only protects against third party losses due to the insured’s negligence. It would not extend to insured’s own business property. But, if the insured carries property coverage on their own tools and equipment, theft is normally a covered peril and would provide protection against the theft of their tools and equipment.
Commercial general liability insurance is required by most counties for companies operating in New York State. It’s much needed protection, without it, you are putting your company at great risk. Judgments, settlements, legal defense fees and court costs can be extremely expensive totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars or even more. Also, more and more potential customers are requiring to see proof of coverage, without it, finding consistent work may be difficult. Bottom line, the risk is just to great to not hold a policy in our opinion.
This is liability insurance that provides coverage to contractors and building professionals for construction errors. It protects both types of professionals in case construction errors occur during construction of a building project. Errors and omissions associated with performing professional services can result in costly time delays, budget overruns, rework, and third-party bodily injury and/or property damage. Such liability can result from services performed by the contractor or by parties for whom they are legally liable, such as design and engineering firms. This protection can be invaluable, particularly for those companies that construct and provide services off of others designs and blueprints.
For example, say a masonry company is hired by a GC to construct a loading dock and does not follow the design blueprint resulting in a loading dock that needs to be rebuilt because of both structural and usability deficiencies. The masonry company is now required to have the loading dock demolished, removed, and rebuilt at a cost in the hundreds of thousands.
For example, say a masonry company is hired by a GC to construct a loading dock and does not follow the design blueprint resulting in a loading dock that needs to be rebuilt because of both structural and usability deficiencies. The masonry company is now required to have the loading dock demolished, removed, and rebuilt at a cost in the hundreds of thousands.
Construction projects can be risky, especially when you consider all of the variables that might go wrong, such as physical injury, delays, and other risks that might not be avoidable. A hold harmless agreement is an agreement in which one party assumes the potential liability for injury and thus relieving another party of the risk. In more layman’s terms, a hold harmless agreement in a construction agreement is a clause that states one party (usually the subcontractor) will not hold the other party (usually the GC or project owner) legally or financially responsible for losses incurred or accidents and negligence caused to the other party while working under the written agreement.
There is no one best company. It all depends on your specific qualifying factors. Factors such as your business type, GL requirements, property coverage and property needs among others all come in to play when we search for your top options. Our experience and lineup of companies allow us to dig in to find the optimal company for you.
We cannot guarantee the absolute best proposal, but we do guarantee to put our best effort forth and manually rate with our targeted companies for your specific qualifying factors. We have the experience, the companies, and an excellent track record at providing very competitive rates for contractors on their policies.
Yes. All of the companies with do business with offer multiple payment options including 1-Pay, 2-Pay, semi-monthly, quarterly, and monthly options.
You never have to come to the office. In fact, most of our interactions are done over the phone, although we love meeting people in-person if convenient for you.
Contact us today at 518-783-0105 to speak with one of our trusted agents about your New York Contractor Insurance & answer any questions you may have and provide you with a quote.
Contact us today at 518-783-0105 to speak with one of our trusted agents about your New York Contractor Insurance & answer any questions you may have and provide you with a quote.