Ballpark Cost Of General Liability Insurance?

PMW

I am just getting ready to renew my general contracting license after retiring from my job at an air force base where I have worked for the past 20 years. I let it expire in '95. I am out of the loop as far as what things cost right now and want to have an idea of what to expect. I got my general contracting license back in the 70's and have always ran a two man company. I am now looking to go back into business with my 23 year old son who is a framer. We will be partners in the business and plan on not having any employees and most of our work will be finish carpentry and some framing. What is a ballpark amount I can expect to pay for general liability insurance these days? Any answers are much appreciated, thankyou.

mtp

varies on location but you proly want to sit down for the answers

finehomes

Mine runs about $1,500 a month!!!!!

Floordude

I have Hartford GL insurance. It runs me $99 a month, if I make payments, and $1100 a year if I pay it in full.

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ProWallGuy

$1000 +/- annually for painting/hanging in MO.

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finehomes

So...so far I'm the only other General that has anwered his question??? Of course mine is way off the charts cuz I'm building several million a year in volume and builders rates are usually based on volume. I also develop land have to cover liability on any vacant land we have in inventory at any given time. Currently have have about 8 acres we are working on.

Anyway...hopefully some more generals will anwer so you can get a more realistic idea of what you can expect.

We Fix Houses

I was a licensed home improvement contractor in Maryland for ten years. I was in the mfg business for the past 8 years in NC until all the work went overseas. I'm now back in the trade in NC doing small - med sized jobs. Myself and a helper when needed.

I just researched and obtained GL coverage. Pretty much the same as before in Maryland. Mine is about 3% of gross sales for Carpentry NOC (no other class). Exclusive roofing, siding and a few other jobs will be assessed a greater amount upon the yearly audit.

The ins agent will ask about your biz and $ volume etc. I paid 1/3 up front.Then nine monthly payments. For a small acct the agent may ask you to move your auto and homeowners policy to them. In MD they did but they didn't ask in this latest go round.

PMW

Ok I sure appreciate everybodys answers. My goal is to have a small family business that my boy can take over in a few years completely and I can just spend most of my time fly fishing but still have a job when I feel like working. I actually enjoy the work quite a bit and so does my boy so getting rich isn't really the goal, but making a decent profit would be nice. I am located in Utah. I have a couple meetings set up with a couple differant insurance angents and I will see what they tell me. I was hoping I could get away with a year of general liability for 1,500 a year or less. When I get some actual numbers I will post them. Thanks again for everybody's responses.

RCPainting

Welcome to the forum PMW! Nice to another fellow Utahn here, a lot of the fine folks you'll meet here are from the east. What part of Utah?

finehomes

Utah as well here. You'll find it is getting harder and harder to find GL for general contractors here in utah. the company I was with for 10 years just up and dropped me and a bunch of other contractors about 5 years ago....just decided they didn't want to do contractor GL anymore. I am with a company in Salt Lake now Called The Buckner Company. Great to work with and very good rates. I'd highly recommend them if you need somewhere to go. My agent there is Beat (pronounced Bee Ought).... great guy and always available...which is always a plus.

If you are just mostly doing finish work ....I think your rates will be pretty decent as your volume of work will be relatively low. Start doing much framing and getting employees....and I think you will see it go up a bit.... Anyway....The market here is still going pretty strong...so its a good time to jump back in!!!! What part of the state are you in? I moved my business to Richfield from Utah County area a couple years ago.


Sam

Michaeljp86

mine is about $30 a month, but since Ive been license for a few months my policy is for making $10,000 a year and covers uo $300,000 I think it was. After 4 months Im supposed to change my policy if I think Ill make more then $10,000 this year.

PMW

Great, yeah I have heard that I should stay away from having employees so I am gonna try and just keep things small with me and my son. But yeah thanks for the advice on going with Buckner, I beleive they have an office here in Ogden. I am from the Ogden area.

dirt diggler

why do you plan on not having any employees?

AbeBarker

You know any Barkers from North Ogden? My peeps came over from Norfolk England and settled North Ogden.

I was paying here in very exspensive Massachusettes $900 per year which is scary cheap. I suspect if I was to make a cliam there would be a dogfight. but now that I'm paying subcontractors I'm to pay more based on the audit they will give me at the end of the year.

However I took a rental car up Ogden canyon last month and visited Huntsville Utah. Downright beutifull, freindly people and SLOW! Hope my info helps.

Abe Barker

PMW

Yeah, I am actually from Pleasant View which is next door to North Ogden. But yeah I know quite a few Barker families from Pleasant View and North Ogden. I beleive the Barker family was one of the families that settled Pleasant View as well back in the day. Yeah I enjoy it here, very beautiful place to live.

PMW

Well like I said, I am retired, and am more interested in starting small and getting a business rolling for me and my boy so he can take it over completely in a few years. I am sure once business started rolling in I would be open to hiring some employees, especially since my boy prefers framing to finish carpentry, but starting off I just hope I can find enough work to keep me and him busy. I have learned that bigger doesn't always mean better in construction, and from what I hear, workman's comp insurance is pretty pricey these days.

AbeBarker

Are they short, stocky, and do they enjoy a good fist fight? Or was this a trait carried by just my grandfathers family line?

RizzoMaryland

$2,000,000 General Liability
No workers comp
GC policy in Maryland

$61/month....

PMW

Wow!! That is a great rate!

Floordude

I need to shop around!!!!

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