Our Insurance Coverage Resources
Types of Coverage
General liability
A CGL policy may protect business owners against third-party liability, such as property damage and bodily injury. In industries such as construction, general liability may protect against damage caused to a third party’s property, construction defects, or bodily injury arising out of the contractor’s operations.
Bodily Injury
Provides coverage if you or someone you employ causes injury or death to a third party during the course of work. It provides medical care for the injured person and covers your legal defense if you are sued for damages.
- Med Pay – Provides coverage for incidental injuries up to the limits stated in your policy; the deductible is not applicable in many cases.
- Fire Damage – Coverage limits apply to your rented or leased premises only
Property Damage
Provides coverage if you or one of your employees causes damage to property belonging to others. This includes the building or property you are working on or any third‑party property.
Completed Operations/Product
Provides coverage in case a project you completed has an issue or causes damage. It can also extend coverage to any products you sell or distribute.
Advertising Personal Injury
Covers the risk of damaging another’s reputation or causing a loss through slander or false advertising claims.
Contract Liability
This covers you in a contract dispute. It is not always included in general liability coverage, so verify that you carry this coverage with your broker.
Workers Compensation
Covers medical and rehabilitation costs and lost wages for employees injured at work.
Auto Quotes
Provides coverage for your Vehicles, Drivers, Passengers, and other vehicles, as well as property damage. We offer personal and commercial policies. Many policies are liability only as required by law. However, there are additional coverages. There are six common coverage sections of a business auto policy. Some are required by law, and others are optional. They are as follows:
- Bodily Injury Liability – Coverage for injuries the policyholder causes to someone else.
- Property Damage Liability – Coverage for damage the policyholder causes to someone else’s property.
- Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP) – coverage for treatment of injuries to the driver or passengers of the policyholder’s car.
- Uninsured Motorist Coverage – Coverage for costs resulting from an accident involving a hit-and-run driver or a driver who does not have insurance.
- Collision – Coverage for damage to the policyholder’s car from a collision.
- Comprehensive – Coverage for damage to the policyholder’s car not involving a collision with another car (including damage from fire, explosions, earthquakes, floods, and riots) and theft.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Additional Coverages
- Non-Owned Auto Liability – Defined in a business auto policy as vehicles owned by employees and used for company business. For example, an employee uses his or her vehicle to run an errand while on company time. If the employee has an accident and causes injury or damage to a third party, the employer may be liable. Non-owned auto liability provides valuable protection in situations such as these.
- Hired Auto Liability – Provides liability coverage for vehicles you lease, hire, rent, or borrow in connection with your business.
- Any Auto Coverage – Extends liability insurance to hired and other non-owned vehicles, and also vehicles that are purchased during the policy term.
Construction Bonds
There are many types of contractor bonds; a California Contractors bond is required for $12,500 to be held with the CSLB; in addition to this bond, we also provide coverage for Bid, Payment, and Performance Bonds. A Bond, unlike Liability, is a guarantee of funds.
Per the Contractors State License Board of California
“A Contractor’s Bond is a requirement for the issuance of an active license, reactivation of a license, and for the maintenance of an actively renewed license (Business and Professions Code Section 7071.6). The bond is filed for the benefit of consumers who may be damaged as a result of defective construction or other license law violations, and for the benefit of employees who have not been paid wages that are due to them.”
“In addition to a Contractor’s Bond, a Bond of Qualifying Individual may be required for the issuance of an active license, reactivation of a license, and for the maintenance of an actively renewed license (Business and Professions Code Section 7071.9).
A Bond of Qualifying Individual is required if the license is qualified by a Responsible Managing Employee (RME). A Bond of Qualifying Individual is required if the license is qualified by a Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) who does not own at least 10% of the voting stock of the corporation.
If the RMO owns 10% or more of the voting stock of the corporation, they must complete and submit a Bond of Qualifying Individual Exemption Certification. If a license has more than one RME or RMO qualifying the license, each qualifier must comply with the qualifier bonding requirements.”
Insurance companies selling business insurance offer policies that combine protection from all major property and liability risks in one package. (They also sell coverages separately.) One package purchased by small and mid-sized businesses is the business owners policy (BOP). Package policies are created for businesses that generally face the same kind and degree of risk. Larger companies might purchase a commercial package policy or customize their policies to meet the special risks they face.
BOPs Include:
- Property insurance for buildings and contents owned by the company — there are two different forms, standard and special, which provide more comprehensive coverage.
- Business interruption insurance covers the loss of income resulting from a fire or other catastrophe that disrupts the operation of the business. It can also include the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.
- Liability protection covers your company’s legal responsibility for the harm it may cause to others. This harm is a result of things that you and your employees do or fail to do in your business operations that may cause bodily injury or property damage due to defective products, faulty installations, and errors in services provided.
BOPs do NOT cover professional liability, auto insurance, worker’s compensation, or health and disability insurance. You’ll need separate insurance policies to cover professional services, vehicles, and your employees.
Professional Liablity/E&O
Insurance that protects professionals such as accountants, lawyers, and physicians against negligence and other claims initiated by their clients. It is required by professionals who have expertise in a specific area because general liability insurance policies do not offer protection against claims arising out of business or professional practices such as negligence, malpractice, or misrepresentation.
Inland Marine
When shopping for contractor insurance, don’t forget about your valuable mobile assets like tools and equipment. Your tools are the trade, and without them, they can affect your contracting business, so it is important to have an insurance policy to protect those valuable assets.
Tools and Equipment Coverage, also known as Inland Marine Insurance, is designed to protect mobile property, such as skid loaders, generators, welders, and compressors. We can offer coverage for your rented or leased items as well. Inland Marine insurance can also protect high-value handheld power tools with comprehensive coverage and other small pieces of equipment used while operating your business.
Insuring yourself and your business properly with Inland Marine coverage for your tools and equipment is essential for small businesses that move equipment from site to site. As Property damage and theft have been on the rise, protecting your tools and equipment when they are on the move is another way Top Contractors Insurance Services can keep you focused on your job.
Builders Risk/Course of Construction
It is a specialty type of property insurance that provides coverage during the course of construction. Builders Risk Insurance can cover loss of labor, materials, fixtures, and other equipment on the construction job site.
Business Insurance
- Property insurance for buildings and contents owned by the company — there are two different forms, standard and special, which provide more comprehensive coverage.
- Business interruption insurance covers the loss of income resulting from a fire or other catastrophe that disrupts the operation of the business. It can also include the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.
- Liability protection covers your company’s legal responsibility for the harm it may cause to others. This harm is a result of things that you and your employees do or fail to do in your business operations that may cause bodily injury or property damage due to defective products, faulty installations, and errors in services provided.
BOPs do NOT cover professional liability, auto insurance, worker’s compensation, or health and disability insurance. You’ll need separate insurance policies to cover professional services, vehicles, and your employees.
Homeowners Insurance provides financial protection in the event that your home or its contents are damaged. It also provides protection if you or a family member are held legally responsible (liable) for the injuries to others or damage to their property. It’s also required by most mortgage lenders. There are different types of insurance policies that cover your home. They range from a basic policy to those that will provide a much broader range of protection.
Renters Insurance provides coverage on a ‘named perils’ (the events that a renters insurance policy identifies as covered) basis, which includes loss due to fire, lightning, windstorm, explosion, smoke, glass breakage, theft, hail, and more
Excess/Umbrella Coverage: Additional Coverage Limits
Refers to Liability Insurance that is in excess of specified other policies and also potentially primary insurance for losses not covered by the other policies. When an insured is liable to someone, the insured’s primary insurance policies pay up to their limits, and any additional amount is paid by the umbrella policy (up to the limit of the umbrella policy).
Excess coverage is similar in that it pays after an underlying primary policy is exhausted, but the critical difference is that excess policies are normally “follow form” policies that conform exactly to the coverage of the underlying policy, except that they add on their own excess limit on top of the primary policy’s limit. Umbrella policies tend to provide broader coverage over one or more primary policies in that they lack “follow form” clauses, their definitions of what is covered may be broader than the definitions in the primary policies, and they sometimes lack exclusions used in the primary policies.
Thus, an umbrella policy may cover certain risks from the first dollar of loss or liability incurred, which were never covered under the primary policies. For those risks that are left uncovered by primary policies but are covered under the umbrella policy, the latter is said to “drop-down” to cover them as primary insurance and fill in the gaps in the underlying policies. Hence, the “umbrella” nomenclature is a reference to the broader coverage of the policy.
Personal umbrella policies are typically made in excess of a person’s homeowner’s and automobile insurance. A commercial umbrella policy may be based on a commercial general liability (CGL) primary policy.
Wrap Policies
A liability policy that serves as all-encompassing insurance that protects all contractors and subcontractors working on a large project. Wrap-up insurance is intended for larger construction projects costing over $10 million. Two types of wrap-up insurance are owner-controlled and contractor-controlled.