Trade coverage
Heavy equipment, formwork collapse, and poured-in-place defects produce both severe worker injuries and expensive structural claims. A single pour failure or utility strike can generate a large loss.
General liability responds to two different things for your trade. The first is injury or damage caused while you are working, which for concrete contractor work is formwork failure during a pour, injuring a worker or damaging an adjacent structure. The second is a claim that surfaces after you have finished, known as completed operations, and it is the half of the policy most often missing from a cheap quote.
Mixed: standard residential flatwork is often admitted, while structural, high-rise, and high-limit work frequently moves to surplus lines because of severity and equipment exposure.
These are the loss scenarios that drive claims for this trade, in the order we see them.
Each of these changes what the policy actually pays. Request them at quote stage.
General liability on its own leaves gaps that show up as denied claims rather than as missing coverage.
$1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate is common; structural, commercial, and high-rise concrete work often requires $2M/$4M or higher. That is the limit, not the premium. The premium depends on your payroll, your state, your subcontractor use and your claims history, and it moves most with the hazard of the trade itself, which for concrete contractor is high.
Mixed: standard residential flatwork is often admitted, while structural, high-rise, and high-limit work frequently moves to surplus lines because of severity and equipment exposure.
In order of how often we see them: Formwork failure during a pour, injuring a worker or damaging an adjacent structure; A concrete truck or pump boom contacting overhead power lines; Washout runoff from a pour polluting a storm drain, creek, or neighboring property.
These four come up repeatedly: Limited pollution coverage; Additional insured with completed operations; Waiver of subrogation; Per-project aggregate. Get them written into the quote rather than requested after binding, because that is where the delays come from.
Alongside general liability: Commercial auto; Contractors pollution liability; Inland marine for heavy equipment; Workers compensation and umbrella.
Yes. Their policy defends them, not you. If your work causes damage, their carrier can pay the claim and then pursue you to recover it.
Classification and carrier appetite differ by trade, so it is worth seeing how yours compares.
Tell us your payroll, state and what your contract requires.
