Employers Liability

Contractor's Insurance For A Family Business.

My family owns a construction company. For as long as I can remember, we've worked in construction. When I was young, we built farm silos. By "we" I mean my dad and brothers, with a little help thrown in from the kids. Now we build houses, pole barns, sheds, and that sort of thing. As I've grown older, I've come to see how complex being a business owner can be. Just the contractor's insurance is enough to boggle my mind. When I was a kid, I had no idea that Dad even had insurance, let alone that it was necessary for him to run an effective, safe business.

I asked him the other day about his contractor's insurance and the kind of policy he has. I had been thinking about my own insurance, and realized that personal and contractor's insurance are in some ways similar, but that contractor's insurance is much more complex.

For example, he talked about the kinds of liability insurance that would be helpful for a contractor like himself to have. First, there is general liability insurance. If a contractor's insurance policy includes general liability, the contractor as well as their employees, and agents are covered. Of course, customers have the right to legal recourse if they have been wronged. However, contractor's insurance, like general liability, protects the contractor from financial loss in the case of a lawsuit. It can be purchased by itself or in combination with other kinds of contractor's insurance.

Another kind of contractor's insurance he has is worker's compensation. This is essential for companies whose workers do dangerous work. For example, my family's business when I was young was to build farm silos. The men on our crew had to carry heavy blocks of cement all day, work with power tools, and work high up in the air. Worker's compensation was there in case of bodily injury while working on the job. It payed them no matter who was at fault for the accident or injury. Contractor's insurance that covers a worker's bodily injuries, the medical costs of that injury, and protection against lost income for the worker is essential.

His contractor's insurance also includes coverage for commercial automobiles and trucks. This kind of contractor's insurance covers autos and trucks the contractor owns, or trailers attached to them, and bodily injury or property damage that might happen while they are in use.

As you can see, contractor's insurance is a complex thing. There are many areas and kinds of protection, and the kind of business one had determines the kind of insurance one needs. For my family, contractor's insurance has been a huge help.