Quick answer: The Hartford reports that construction businesses pay about $1,351 a year, or $113 a month, for general liability insurance on average. Trade changes the number a lot: Insureon puts general contractors at $162 a month among its customers, while NEXT reports $125 a month on average for roofers. Your own price depends on your trade class, payroll or sales, how much you subcontract, your limits and your claims history.
This guide covers what contractor general liability (GL) costs by trade, what drives the price, what the policy covers and the exclusions that catch contractors, what general contractors require from subs, which states make GL a licensing condition, and how to lower your premium. If you are ready to price a policy, our contractor general liability page is the place to start.
How much general liability costs a contractor, by trade
Three sources publish contractor GL figures from their own books of business. They measure different things, so the table labels each one. NEXT's figures are averages for a stated share of its active customers, with limits from $300,000 to $1 million per occurrence. Insureon's figures come from policies bought or quoted through Insureon, typically at $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Read across a row with care: the same trade can show very different numbers depending on whose customers are counted.
| Trade | Published figure | Source and what it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Construction businesses (all trades) | About $1,351 a year, $113 a month | The Hartford, average for construction businesses |
| Contractors (all trades) | $83 a month, $990 a year | Insureon, data from more than 25,000 contractor customers, $1 million / $2 million limits |
| General contractors | $162 a month, $1,950 a year | Insureon, general contractors who bought through Insureon |
| General contractors | $77 a month on average, range $56 to $227 | NEXT, 93% of its general contractor customers |
| Roofers | $125 a month on average, range $63 to $665 | NEXT, 97% of its roofing customers, data updated October 2026 |
| Plumbers | $147 a month | Insureon, plumbing customers |
| HVAC contractors | $76 a month on average, range $53 to $196 | NEXT, 79% of its HVAC customers |
| Electricians | $61 a month, $732 a year | Insureon, electricians, $1 million / $2 million limits |
| Painters | $72 a month | Insureon, painting customers |
Two things stand out. First, general contractors show the widest spread between sources ($77 at NEXT against $162 at Insureon), which reflects different customer pools and limits rather than a mistake in either figure. Second, roofing has the widest range inside one source: NEXT's roofers run from $63 to $665 a month. Trade-specific detail lives on our pages for roofing, electrical, plumbing and general contractors.
What drives the price of contractor GL
Contractor GL is not priced like a flat subscription. The insurer picks a classification for your work, applies a rate to a premium base, and then adjusts for your history and the coverage you choose.
- Trade class. Each ISO classification code carries its own rate, set so that it reflects the hazards common to that class. A roofer and a finish carpenter with the same revenue will not pay the same.
- Payroll or sales. For contracting and servicing classes, IRMI explains that premium is usually developed by applying the rate per $1,000 of payroll. Some classes rate on gross sales instead.
- Subcontracting. Work you sub out can be rated on "total cost," which IRMI describes as the cost of work subcontracted to others at a rate per $1,000. Uninsured subs are the usual cause of a surprise at audit.
- Completed operations. Trades whose finished work can fail years later, such as roofing or foundations, carry more completed operations exposure and price accordingly.
- Limits and deductible. Moving from $1 million to $2 million per occurrence, or adding an umbrella, raises cost. A deductible lowers it.
- Claims history. Prior losses raise the rate. Our guide to how claims history affects your rates covers loss runs in detail.
- Residential vs. commercial work. Many carriers restrict or exclude residential construction, which narrows the market and raises price for contractors who do it.
What contractor general liability covers
Most contractor GL is written on the ISO commercial general liability occurrence form, CG 00 01, or a carrier's version of it. An occurrence policy responds to injury or damage that happens during the policy period, even if the claim arrives years later. Our guide to claims-made vs. occurrence policies explains why that matters.
The core coverage is third-party bodily injury and property damage you cause, personal and advertising injury, medical payments, and the cost of defending a covered suit. For contractors, the most important part is products-completed operations. IRMI describes this hazard as injury or damage that happens away from your premises and arises from completed work, and it has its own aggregate limit separate from the general aggregate. A deck that collapses two years after you finished it is a completed operations claim.
What GL generally does not pay for is fixing your own faulty work. Damage your bad work causes to other property can be covered, but the cost to redo the work itself usually is not. We cover that line in does general liability cover faulty workmanship. The standard form also excludes liability you take on by contract, with an exception for "insured contracts," covered in our contractual liability exclusion guide.
Common contractor exclusions to look for
Beyond the standard form, carriers add endorsements that cut coverage for contractors. Read the forms list on any quote, not only the limits page.
| Exclusion or limitation | What it does | Who it hits |
|---|---|---|
| Residential construction | IRMI describes it as removing coverage for operations on property intended for habitation. If a sub's policy carries it, the GC's additional insured coverage under that policy goes too | Commercial contractors who take some residential jobs |
| Action-over | Narrows or removes coverage for a third-party-over action: your injured employee collects workers' comp, sues the GC or owner, and that party passes the loss back to you by contract | Subs working under indemnity agreements, especially in New York |
| EIFS | Removes coverage for injury or damage connected to exterior insulation and finish systems. IRMI notes the ISO form (CG 21 86) is broad enough to reach other exterior work on a building with EIFS | Roofers, window, HVAC and plumbing contractors, not only EIFS installers |
| Subsidence / earth movement | Removes coverage for damage caused wholly or partly by earth or land movement, often defined very broadly | Foundation, grading, excavation and site work contractors |
| Classification limitation | Limits coverage to the classification codes listed in the policy, so work outside those codes is not covered. More common on policies for contractors with diverse operations | Anyone whose real work is broader than the class on their declarations |
Action-over matters most where the law puts heavy liability on owners and GCs. See our guides to the New York Scaffold Law and the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act for how state law changes who pays.
What general contractors require from subcontractors
If you sub for a GC or work for a property owner, the contract usually spells out insurance requirements. You need to meet them before you start work, and a certificate alone does not prove you do. The common requirements:
- Limits. $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate is the most common baseline, matching the limits Insureon reports on its typical contractor policy. Larger jobs often add an umbrella requirement.
- Additional insured for ongoing operations (CG 20 10). Covers the GC for liability arising from your work while it is in progress. IRMI notes ISO narrowed this form in 1993 to "your ongoing operations", so it does not reach completed work.
- Additional insured for completed operations (CG 20 37). IRMI describes CG 20 37 as the form that restored completed operations coverage for the additional insured. GCs ask for it because, as IRMI puts it, damage from a sub's work often does not show up for years.
- Primary and non-contributory. The GC wants your policy to pay first without seeking contribution from theirs. ISO's CG 20 01 endorsement provides this wording when a written contract requires it.
- Waiver of subrogation. Your insurer gives up its right to recover from the GC after paying a claim. See our waiver of subrogation guide before you sign one.
Since the 2013 ISO edition, additional insured coverage applies only to the extent permitted by law and is no broader than the contract requires. That means your contract wording and your endorsements have to match. Our guide to the additional insured problem explains what you grant when you add someone. If you hire subs, our COI checker works from your answers about a certificate and the contract and flags likely gaps.
GL insurance for subcontractors and premium audits
Contractor GL is usually priced on an estimate of payroll, sales or subcontracted cost, then audited after the policy ends. If your actual numbers were higher, you owe more. The biggest audit surprise is usually uninsured subcontractors: if a sub cannot show its own GL certificate, the carrier may count what you paid them as part of your exposure.
Collect a current certificate from every sub before they start, check the dates cover the job, and keep the records together. Our contractor premium audit guide covers how to prepare, and workers' comp for 1099 subcontractors covers the parallel issue on the comp side.
States that require GL for a contractor license
Several of the 16 states where Aiden is licensed make general liability a condition of a contractor license or registration. These are legal minimums, and most GC contracts ask for far more.
| State | Who it applies to | Minimum GL required |
|---|---|---|
| Maryland | Licensed home improvement contractors and applicants | At least $500,000, raised from $50,000 effective October 1, 2024 |
| New Jersey | Registered home improvement contractors | $500,000 per occurrence on an occurrence-form CGL policy |
| Florida | Certified and registered contractors | $300,000 liability and $50,000 property damage for general and building contractors; $100,000 and $25,000 for residential, roofing, plumbing and most specialty contractors |
| Washington | Registered contractors | $100,000 per person, $200,000 for more than one person, and $50,000 property damage |
| California | Varies by license and business type | See our California contractor insurance requirements guide |
Rules change, and cities and counties can add their own. Confirm with your licensing board before you apply or renew.
What to have ready for a contractor GL quote
- A clear description of your work, with the share that is residential, commercial, new construction and remodel
- Payroll by role and annual gross sales, current and projected
- What you paid subcontractors last year, and whether they carried their own GL
- Five years of loss runs from prior carriers (see how to get loss runs)
- Sample contracts or insurance requirements from your main GCs or clients
- Your contractor license number and any state minimums that apply
How to lower contractor general liability cost
- Get the class right. A class code that overstates your hazard costs money every year; one that understates it can leave you with a classification limitation problem at claim time.
- Report payroll and sales accurately. Overestimating raises your deposit; underestimating creates an audit bill.
- Insist on certificates from every sub. This is the single most common fix for audit surprises.
- Use written contracts with your subs that require their own GL, additional insured status for you, and indemnity.
- Run a documented safety program. Fewer injuries and property damage claims improve your loss history over time.
- Pick a deductible you can afford and match limits to what your contracts actually require.
- Shop the market at renewal. Different carriers treat the same trade very differently, as the spread in the cost table shows.
How Aiden Risk Solves Each of These Problems
Most contractor GL problems come from forms and fine print, not the headline price. Aiden Risk is an AI-native independent commercial insurance broker that pairs an AI risk engine built for commercial insurance, which analyzes 140+ signals about a business, with a licensed broker on every account.
| The problem | How Aiden Risk solves it |
|---|---|
| Published averages vary widely by source and trade | Your licensed broker shops your program across carriers, so you compare real quotes for your trade and limits. |
| Wrong class code or a classification limitation | Your broker reviews how your work is classified against what you actually do before the policy binds. |
| Exclusions such as residential, action-over or EIFS hidden in the forms | A coverage gap analysis checks the endorsements on every quote, and your broker explains what each one removes. |
| GC contracts requiring CG 20 10, CG 20 37, primary and non-contributory, and waivers | Your broker reviews contract requirements and lines up endorsements that match them before you start the job. |
| Audit bills from uninsured subcontractors | Your broker helps you set up certificate collection and reviews your exposure estimates before renewal. |
| Premium creeping up at renewal | The AI monitors your claims, payroll and policy changes through the year, and your broker remarkets the program when the numbers justify it. |
Aiden Risk charges no fee to work with it, with no platform fee or subscription; it is paid through standard carrier commissions. We place coverage across 100+ carriers and 13 commercial lines; our contractor insurance page covers how we approach contractors and the trades. Intake takes 5 minutes, and most straightforward businesses are placed in as little as 48 hours. We are licensed in 16 states, listed on our licenses page.
Key Takeaways
- The Hartford reports construction businesses pay about $1,351 a year, or $113 a month, for general liability on average; trade-level figures range from about $61 to $162 a month across NEXT and Insureon.
- Contractor GL is priced by class code on payroll, sales or subcontracted cost, then audited after the policy ends.
- Completed operations coverage, with its own aggregate, is the part of the policy that matters most for contractors.
- Check the forms for residential, action-over, EIFS, subsidence and classification limitation endorsements before you bind.
- GCs commonly require $1 million / $2 million limits, CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 additional insured status, primary and non-contributory wording and a waiver of subrogation.
- Maryland and New Jersey require at least $500,000 of GL for home improvement contractors; Florida and Washington set lower minimums.
FAQs
How much is general liability insurance for a contractor?
The Hartford reports construction businesses pay about $1,351 a year, or $113 a month, on average. Insureon reports $83 a month across its contractor customers and $162 a month for general contractors. Your price depends on trade, payroll or sales, subcontracting, limits and claims.
How much is general liability insurance for a roofing contractor?
NEXT reports that general liability costs 97% of its roofing customers $125 a month on average, with most paying between $63 and $665 a month. Roofing rates higher than many trades because of falls, water damage and completed operations claims.
Do subcontractors need their own general liability insurance?
Usually yes. Most GC contracts require it, often with $1 million per occurrence and additional insured status for the GC. If a sub has no GL, the hiring contractor's carrier may charge for the sub's work at audit.
What is the difference between CG 20 10 and CG 20 37?
CG 20 10 makes the GC or owner an additional insured for your ongoing operations, while the work is in progress. CG 20 37 extends additional insured status to your completed operations, after the job is finished. Many contracts require both.
Does contractor general liability cover faulty workmanship?
Generally not the cost to redo your own work. It can cover damage your faulty work causes to other property, and injuries it causes. Our faulty workmanship guide explains where the line falls.
Is general liability insurance required for a contractor license?
In some states. Maryland requires at least $500,000 for home improvement contractors, New Jersey requires $500,000 per occurrence for home improvement contractors, and Florida and Washington set lower minimums for licensed or registered contractors. Check your state board for your license type.
What limits do general contractors require from subs?
$1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate is the most common baseline, often with an umbrella on larger jobs. Read the contract, since it sets the limits, endorsements and certificate wording you must match.
How can a contractor lower general liability cost?
Make sure your class code matches your work, report payroll and sales accurately, collect certificates from every sub, run a safety program, choose a deductible you can afford, and compare carriers at renewal.
Need a GL policy that matches your trade and your GC contracts? Start with our contractor general liability page: a 5-minute intake, a licensed broker on your account, and limits and endorsements matched to the jobs you actually bid.
