Trade coverage
Hot materials, heavy equipment, and traffic control produce burn, injury, and property damage exposures. Work zone strikes and burns can be severe.
General liability responds to two different things for your trade. The first is injury or damage caused while you are working, which for paving and asphalt work is a vehicle striking a worker in a poorly marked work zone. 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.
Small residential paving is often admitted; highway, municipal, and high-limit work is usually placed in surplus lines because of severity and traffic 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; road and municipal 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 paving and asphalt is high.
Small residential paving is often admitted; highway, municipal, and high-limit work is usually placed in surplus lines because of severity and traffic exposure.
In order of how often we see them: A vehicle striking a worker in a poorly marked work zone; Hot asphalt burning a worker or a bystander; A paving machine damaging a curb, utility box, or driveway apron.
These four come up repeatedly: Pollution coverage for fuel and runoff; 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.
