Subcontractor Insurance
Whether you're subcontracting for a GC or hiring subs yourself, the insurance considerations run in two different directions. Here's what each side actually requires.
"Subcontractor insurance" for a handyman business actually covers two different situations: being hired as a subcontractor by a GC or larger company, and hiring subcontractors yourself for specialty work outside your own scope. The insurance considerations are different depending on which direction you're looking at.
If a general contractor or larger handyman company brings you on as a sub for a specific job or phase of work, they'll typically require you to carry your own general liability coverage and name them as additional insured on your policy — this protects them if your work causes a claim, without relying entirely on their own policy to absorb it. Expect to be asked for a certificate of insurance before you're allowed to start, and expect that certificate to need specific language naming them correctly.
Some GCs specifically require a waiver of subrogation as part of subcontractor agreements — this means your insurance carrier agrees not to pursue the GC to recover a paid claim, even if the GC shared some fault. It's a fairly standard request in subcontractor relationships and something we can build into your policy as an endorsement rather than something to negotiate job by job.
If you bring in a specialist for work outside your own scope — an electrician for something beyond minor repair, a plumber for a bigger job than you'd normally handle — you're now the one who needs a current certificate of insurance from them before they start. If a sub you hired causes damage or an injury and they weren't actually insured, that exposure can flow back to you, especially if you were the one who brought them onto the job and represented the work as covered.
Collecting a certificate from a subcontractor and actually confirming it's current, matches the work they're doing, and includes adequate limits is worth the few minutes it takes — a certificate that's expired or doesn't match the actual scope of work provides less protection than it appears to. This is especially true for any sub doing higher-risk work like electrical or structural changes.
Tell your carrier how much of your work involves subcontractors, in either direction, since this affects how your policy is rated. A business that's mostly direct labor is a different risk profile than one that regularly coordinates subs, and an accurate picture gets you coverage that actually matches your operation.
If a subcontractor you hired causes damage or an injury while working under your umbrella, the claim can involve both their policy and yours, depending on how the work was structured and what documentation was in place. A current certificate from the sub, ideally with you named appropriately, is what determines whether their coverage responds first or whether your own policy ends up absorbing more of the exposure than it should have to.
Requesting a certificate of insurance from a sub the morning they're supposed to show up puts you in a weak negotiating position — either you delay the job or you let them start uninsured. Building certificate collection into how you onboard any new subcontractor, before a start date is even set, avoids that scramble entirely.
Whether you're the sub or the one hiring subs, tell us about your specific arrangements and our agents will make sure your policy, certificates, and any required endorsements are set up to match — see our cost breakdown for how this factors into pricing, and our page on the employee-vs-subcontractor distinction if you're unsure which category your working relationships actually fall into — before a GC or client asks and you're scrambling to catch up.
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FAQ
Typically yours, as the party who performed the work — which is why the GC requires your own GL coverage and additional insured status rather than relying solely on their own policy.
It's an agreement that your insurance carrier won't pursue the GC to recover a paid claim even if they shared some fault — a fairly standard request in subcontractor relationships that we can build in as a standing endorsement.
That exposure can flow back to you, particularly since you brought them onto the job — which is exactly why verifying a sub's certificate before they start matters, not just collecting it as a formality.
It can — tell your carrier how much of your work involves subs in either direction so your policy reflects your actual risk profile rather than an inaccurate assumption.
Confirm the policy is currently active, the limits are adequate for the scope of work, and the certificate accurately describes the work they'll be doing — an expired or mismatched certificate offers less protection than it appears to.
Tell us whether you're subbing for others, hiring subs yourself, or both — our agents will make sure your policy and certificates match.