A real home builder policy
A builder of new single-family homes we insure pays $3,562 a year for workers' comp, written with The Hartford.
Each line is one real policy we placed, not an average or a range. Your price depends on your payroll, the type of work, your state and your claims, and we can't promise a price until we see your details.
Your own crew
Your policy covers the people on your payroll: supervisors, carpenters, laborers and office staff. Each kind of work has its own class code and rate, so split your payroll by what people actually do. Supervisors who don't do physical work and office staff are usually rated lower than people doing the building.
- Payroll for field workers by type of work.
- Payroll for supervisors who don't do physical work.
- Payroll for office staff.
Your subcontractors
Each sub's own workers' comp should cover that sub's workers. You confirm it by collecting a workers' comp certificate before the sub starts and checking that the dates cover the job.
When a sub has no coverage, two things can happen. At audit, your carrier can count what you paid that sub as your payroll and charge premium on it. And if one of the sub's workers is hurt, you can be held responsible. Florida, Georgia and North Carolina all say this in their own rules; New York presumes a worker doing construction for a contractor is that contractor's employee unless the contractor proves otherwise. See the state pages below for each rule and its source.
- Get a workers' comp certificate from every sub before work starts.
- Check that the policy dates cover the whole job.
- Use your state's coverage lookup where one exists.
- Keep certificates with your payroll records for the audit.
If you sub out all the work
If you have no employees and sub out every job, check your state's rule before deciding you need no policy. Even when the law doesn't require one, property owners and lenders may ask for a workers' comp certificate.
What we need to quote
Send the items below, plus what you paid subs last year and how many of them carry their own workers' comp.
- Annual payroll, split by the type of work each person does.
- Number of full-time and part-time employees.
- Years in business.
- Claims in the past few years, or a note that there were none.
- Whether your subcontractors carry their own workers' comp.
Your startup action list
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Use this guide for planning. Confirm requirements and current fees with the agencies serving your address. Coverage depends on the policy and insurer; this guide does not confirm that a particular operation is eligible.