Being a general contractor is great. The money is good, your working hours are flexible, and you are your own boss.
Being a general contractor, however, also comes with huge responsibilities. After all, as a general contractor, you are the person in charge of an entire project.
You are the main contractor, and itโs your job to oversee every single aspect of the project. You manage personnel and deal with suppliers and subcontractors. More importantly, you are responsible for reporting to clients on the progress of the construction project youโre running.
With all the employees, subcontractors, equipment, tools, and construction materials under your care, all of them must have the right type of construction contractors insurance coverage. Letโs take a look at how you, a general contractor, can benefit from contractors insurance.
Protection From Claims
As a general contractor, you are entirely aware of how dangerous construction work can be.
Construction workers are exposed to risks that could lead to them suffering injuries or even losing their lives. They could also cause an accident that could result in an injury to a third party visiting a job site. Damage to property is another thing that could happen within a construction site, like a wayward tool hitting the hood of a supplierโs delivery van.
As a general contractor, you have to make sure that your workers all have workerโs compensation insurance and general liability insurance coverage.
Workerโs compensation will cover not only the medical expenses of a worker injured while on the job but their lost wages as well. General liability insurance, on the other hand, will pay for personal injury or property damage claims that concerned third parties will likely make. With workers covered by proper contractors insurance, you are, in effect, shielded from liability in case of accidents at the construction site.
Protection For Tools, Equipment, and Construction Materials
If youโre the general contractor of a construction project, you are responsible for the tools, equipment, and construction materials on site. However, theft is a common occurrence on construction sites. They may also suffer damage over time because of negligence or accidents.
General contractors can protect themselves and benefit from buildersโ risk insurance, which may pay for the loss or damage of equipment, tools, and construction materials. With buildersโ risk insurance, general contractors wonโt have to take the loss.
Compliance With Regulations
Wherever you are in the United States, you will be hard-pressed to operate as a general contractor if you donโt have the right contractors insurance, mainly workerโs compensation and general liability insurance.
Most states require contractors to be appropriately insured. So if you have the right contractors insurance coverage, then you are fully compliant with state requirements, and therefore operating legitimately as a general contractor.
Added Reputation
Construction clients are so much smarter these days. They do their due diligence when theyโre looking for a general contractor to handle their building project, and one of the things they try to dig up is whether a prospective contractor is properly insured or not.
Naturally, candidates with appropriate contractors insurance coverage shoot right to the top of clientsโ lists. After all, clients these days fully understand that hiring insured contractors ensures that they have shielded from liability themselves should something untoward happen at the construction site.
Clearly, a general contractor benefits from the boost in the reputation that the right contractorsโ insurance policies can bring. With the added reputation, your construction companyโs chances of getting hired for projects also become better.
Peace of Mind
As stated above, being a general contractor is no picnic, with the countless things that could go wrong at any time as your projects move forward.
The job may have plenty of perks, but being a general contractor brings on a ton of stress as well. Some big general contractors may be able to handle claims and lawsuits against them financially, but for many smaller companies in the industry, a single accident without insurance coverage is all it would take to endanger their existence.
Of course, you wonโt have to worry about any of that as long as you have proper contractors insurance policies. Whatever happens at your construction site, you can continue your operations, knowing that you are covered. Your insurance provider will cover any claims that will be made against your company, and your company wonโt have to take a financial hit that could shut it down.
There is, indeed, no greater benefit to having contractors insurance than the peace of mind it can give you.
About the Author
ย Rachel Porter is the content specialist for Custom Contractors Insurance, LLC, an Arizona roofing and contractors insurance company. When not writing, she enjoys reading and mountain biking with her friends.