Contractor Insurance Checklist

Before bidding your next job, organize the project, crew and vehicle details that matter for liability, workers’ compensation and commercial auto coverage.

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Define the work before discussing coverage

List your trades and the tasks you perform, including work you take on only occasionally.
Describe the types of properties and projects, heights or depths involved, and any work away from a fixed premises.
Identify who performs each part of the job and which work you arrange for others to do.

Bring the job requirements

Keep the contract’s insurance section and certificate deadline with the project details.
Note requests for additional insured status or specific endorsements, and send them to us to check.
Note any bond the job or the CSLB requires, from the license bond to bid and performance bonds; see contractor and surety bonds.
List tools and equipment, where they are stored and how they travel between jobs.
Describe vehicle ownership and jobsite travel, plus employee duties and payroll estimates.

Questions to settle before the start date

Does the policy description reflect the exact work on this job?
Which exclusions should I discuss for these activities?
What documents does the client need, and who will issue them?

File your answers with each project folder so the details are ready the next time a contract arrives.

Ready before the next bid

Contractors who keep these answers current can respond to a new contract’s insurance section within the bid window. Trades, tools, vehicles and crew details change, and an updated list means the conversation starts where your business is today rather than where it was last year.

For more background, read the contractor guide and the workers’ compensation page before your next project starts.

Subcontractor paperwork to collect

When you hire other trades, their coverage becomes part of your own picture. Before a sub sets foot on site, collect their certificate, confirm the dates run through their part of the job and file it with the project. A sub working without current coverage leaves open questions that land back on your desk.

Residential remodels versus commercial tenant improvements

A kitchen remodel in a Palo Alto home and a tenant improvement inside a San Jose high-rise office both count as renovation, but the paperwork reads very differently. Commercial jobs in towers and tech campuses arrive with a general contractor’s or property manager’s insurance section, after-hours access rules and building requirements. Residential work centers on the homeowner, their family and their belongings.

Mark on this checklist which kind of work makes up most of your revenue, and flag any project involving roofs, heights or excavation. Those details shape how a policy describes your operations, and they help you spot early which bids carry the heaviest insurance sections.

Payroll, revenue and the figures behind a quote

Contractor quotes lean on a handful of numbers: estimated revenue for the coming year, payroll by trade, the total paid to subcontractors and the value of tools and equipment. Rough figures work for a first conversation, provided they reflect the work you expect to win rather than last season’s slow months.

An owner who works in the field alongside the crew should note that separately from office staff. Field and office duties are described differently for workers’ compensation, and getting the split right at the start keeps later audits simple.

A few useful answers

Common questions

Should subcontracted work go on the checklist?

Yes. Note which parts of each job you arrange for others to perform, along with the work your own crew handles.

Why do subcontractor costs matter on a quote?

They show how much of the work other businesses perform. Bring the total paid to subs and their certificates, so the conversation reflects who does each part of the job.

What should I bring for a tenant improvement job?

The general contractor’s or landlord’s insurance section, the building’s access rules and the scope of work. Those three documents frame the questions for that project.

Related guides

Bring your questions to Mithril1.

Further reading: SBA business insurance guide.