Choosing the Right Contractor With the Right Insurance

Insurance certificates and endorsements can be overwhelming and confusing; which may explain why sometimes insurance is overlooked when choosing a contractor. Maybe it's due to the size of the job or the contractor's insurance seems to be in order. Sometimes the contractor's agent does not fully understand the type of work its insured is doing. Regardless of the reasons, verifying insurance is one of the most important aspects when choosing a contractor. This and future blog postings can be a useful guide to assist you with your selection process along the way.

General Liability - Covers claims against third party bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, and advertising.

1. Additional Insured Endorsements are also very important; in the event of a claim the contractor must provide you with legal defense if you have the correct Additional Insured Endorsement in place.
2. Be aware of exclusions such as condominium / townhomes if working in H.O.A.'s, or earth movement exclusions if any ground work such as trenching or subterranean waterproofing is involved. Orang Coast does not have these exclusions. 
3. Umbrella policies take over where the General Liability and Auto policies coverage ends. Umbrella policies are important where there is a greater chance of a large loss, such as work in high rise buildings. OCBS carries a $3,000,000 umbrella limit which means it has $4,000,000 liability limits of coverage on General Liability, Auto, and Pollution (which includes mold).

Auto Liability

1. Beware of personal policies with low limits, a $1,000,000 limit is the industry standard on commercial policies.
2. The certificate preferably should name "any auto" or "owned, hired autos, and non-owned". OCBS has "any auto" as part of its coverage. without "any auto" a contractor's employee using his own vehicle may not have sufficient coverage. 

Workers Comp

1. $1,000,000 employer's liability limit plus $3,000,000 umbrella coverage.

Other

1. Pollution coverage that extends to microbial growth ("mold"). This is especially important for environmental / remediation contractors to have.

Orange Coast Building Services, Inc. meets and exceeds all of these requirements and also has both Pollution (including mold) and Professional Liability coverage.