Contractor Insurance in Texas

What contractor insurance covers in Texas

Contractor insurance is a set of policies rather than one product, and a Texas trade contractor usually carries four.

The four policies on a Texas contractor’s program:

• General liability for injury to someone outside the crew and damage to property the business does not own
• Tools and equipment coverage, written as inland marine, for the gear that moves between jobs
• Commercial auto for the truck or van, especially once the title names the company
• Workers compensation for an employee hurt on the job, which is elective for most private Texas employers under Texas Labor Code §406.002

A commercial umbrella sits above the first three when a contract asks for higher limits than the primary policies carry.

The certificates a Texas general contractor asks for

A general contractor will not let a sub on site without paperwork, and the request is usually four documents rather than one.

What gets asked for:

• A certificate of insurance, which Texas Insurance Code §1811.051 bars from altering or extending the policy it names
• An additional insured endorsement, which extends the policy to the general contractor and does change coverage
• A waiver of subrogation, which gives up the insurer’s right to recover from the general contractor after it pays
• Primary and non-contributory wording, which puts the sub’s policy ahead of the general contractor’s

The license asks too. Texas Occupations Code §1305.159 makes an electrical contractor prove financial responsibility, and §1302.102 leaves the insurance on an air conditioning and refrigeration license to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation rule. Bring the subcontract to the call, not the certificate request.

Tools, equipment and the truck on a Texas job

Tools and equipment are the loss general liability pays nothing toward, which is why a Texas trade contractor carries them on an inland marine form instead.

Where the coverage sits:

• Small tools, on a scheduled or blanket inland marine limit
• Larger equipment such as trenchers, lifts and compressors, whether owned, rented or borrowed
• Materials and supplies in transit, or stored at a job site before installation
• The vehicle itself, on commercial auto, once the title names the company

Overnight theft and job-site loss are what the inland marine limit answers. Read the per-item cap inside a blanket limit, because the cap usually decides whether a stolen laser level is paid in full.

What Aulona Insurance Group can place

Aulona Insurance Group places coverage for Texas construction trades statewide, with liability and umbrella as the strong lines rather than the package.

Trades the agency writes:

• Electrical, plumbing and HVAC
• Carpentry, masonry, concrete and drywall
• Painting, flooring and insulation
• Landscaping, fence and gate, door and window
• Solar installation and handyman services

General contractors, excavation and paving are workable and harder, with more underwriting questions on each submission.

Inside the small-business program: annual gross revenue under $5 million, total W-2 payroll under $5 million, loss history under $20,000 with no more than two incidents in three years, no prior carrier cancellation and no bankruptcy filing. New contractors are accepted.

Where Aulona Insurance Group is not the right fit

Aulona Insurance Group has no market for roofing or siding contractors on the agency’s package lines. Roofing and siding is a no-market problem rather than a pricing one, and a commercial auto question for either trade is answered on the recorded call.

Other trades and operations with no market here:

• Towing operators, auto dealerships and gas stations
• Marijuana and cannabis businesses
• Surplus-lines risks, which sit outside what Aulona Insurance Group writes in-house

General contractors, excavation and paving are workable rather than excluded, and the size band in the section above decides those: revenue, payroll, loss history, a prior cancellation and a bankruptcy filing.

What moves the price of a Texas contractor policy

The premium on a Texas contractor policy is set by the insurer, not by Aulona Insurance Group.

What a contractor’s submission is priced on:

• The trade classification, which separates an electrician from a mason before anything else is considered
• Annual receipts, plus payroll and any cost paid to subcontractors
• Work at height, and whether the crew works residential or commercial projects
• Claim history, where the size of past losses matters more than the count
• The limits, the umbrella layer, and the endorsements a subcontract forces onto the policy

Aulona Insurance Group publishes no premium on this site and does not rank insurers by price. The number comes from the insurer that agrees to write the risk, on the call with Luka Cenaj.