contractor's insurance?

Please post when you find something out. thanks

I'll only share from my experience. I was a steel erection contractor in the State of Nevada for nine years. Started off as a garage operator, as you.

When I got my contractors license, liability insurance was difficult to find at an affordable price. I finally found it through the company that wrote my surety bond, and it was with a European company. It was reasonably priced in the 80's at about $400 per year. That was for one million dollars liability. It was required for me to enter any commercial property where they actually kept track of such things, and got me jobs I would have otherwise not have gotten, and other companies missed. At the end, I serviced 275 commercial properties in Las Vegas.

Fast forward to today.

Your worst nightmare is starting a fire or causing injury. You NEED a sizeable insurance policy to CYA.

That being said, if getting insurance isn't cost effective, then you must limit your market. You just can't do the risky jobs. Stick to stuff you can pick up and deliver, and not have to weld on site.

Just as with getting a contractors (or any other) license, it opens up new market niches that you couldn't do before. But then, it also expands your business, and it sounds like you want to keep this as a sideline rather than a main job.

It's just like going out there and driving a car without adequate insurance. DON'T DO IT! Even if you structure yourself legally to prevent catastrophic loss, there's the civil courts where you can be judged against with LESS evidence. And there's the pain of living with your conscience if you burn someone's house down or injure someone.

You're playing with fire here. Be careful.

HTH

Steve

Some companies specialize in contractor insurance. A specialty contractor insurance policy should only cost around $800 - $1200 per year. That should cover light construction and architectural detail. It all depends on your liability. If you are welding 4 story steel structures, then it will cost a lot more.

ABANA has a small business insurance carrier that works with them to supply insurance for members.

Up here in Canada my professional association OACETT offers liability insurance to certified members (those who pass its professional certiciation tests at a reasonable price. but because they certify electronics civil and manufacturing technologists (machinists tool and die and mechanical technologists all would fit in scope along wilth over 50 000 other members int he province they can leverage that

Anybody know if there is something like this in the states?

I'm not a full-time welder, so I d> Up here in Canada my professional association OACETT offers liability