Insurance checklist for Houston contractors

Describe the work precisely

Short answer: begin with a complete description of every trade, customer, project type, job-site activity, service area, and maximum project size. General contractor, roofer, electrician, plumber, HVAC contractor, remodeler, and artisan subcontractor are not interchangeable insurance risks.

Tell the agent about demolition, excavation, roofing, hot work, structural work, design responsibility, residential versus commercial projects, occupied buildings, heights, hazardous materials, and work outside Texas. Incomplete descriptions can produce a quote that does not match the operation or a premium audit that surprises the contractor later.

Build general liability around operations and completed work

Commercial general liability can address covered bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury. For contractors, both ongoing operations and products-completed operations matter because damage or injury can emerge after work is finished. The TDI commercial general liability guide explains these coverage categories and why exclusions and endorsements matter.

Read exclusions and endorsements for the actual trades. Common areas requiring attention include damage to the contractor's own work, residential work, roofing, subsidence, water intrusion, pollution, EIFS, height, subcontracted work, and designated operations or projects. CGL is not a warranty for defective work and does not replace workers' compensation or commercial auto coverage.

Use the contract as an insurance checklist

Provide actual owner, general-contractor, lease, and subcontract agreements before binding. They may require specific limits, additional insured status, primary and noncontributory wording, waiver of subrogation, completed-operations protection, or a particular policy period. In plain language, additional insured status can extend specified protection to another party; primary and noncontributory wording can affect which policy responds first; and a waiver of subrogation can limit an insurer's ability to recover from a named party. The exact forms control.

A certificate of insurance is evidence of policies at a moment in time. It does not rewrite the policy or create an endorsement. Ask the agent to identify which policy forms satisfy each requirement and flag obligations that insurance cannot or does not address. An insurance agent can explain the proposed coverage forms, but legal counsel may be needed to interpret the contract or resolve obligations that extend beyond insurance.

• Required limits and aggregates
• Additional insured for ongoing and completed operations
• Primary and noncontributory wording
• Waiver of subrogation
• Per-project aggregate
• Notice requirements
• Professional or pollution liability
• Builder's risk or installation coverage

Account for employees and subcontractors

Texas private employers generally are not universally required to carry workers' compensation, but contracts, project owners, or specific circumstances may require it. The TDI workers' compensation guide explains the Texas framework. Workers' compensation and occupational-accident alternatives do not create identical legal protections. Confirm the arrangement with the agent and qualified legal or employment advisers.

Describe every employee and subcontracted trade. Request current certificates and required endorsements from subcontractors, use written agreements, and maintain a renewal-tracking process. The contractor's policy may treat uninsured or inadequately insured subcontractors differently, and subcontractor costs may affect the premium audit.

Separate vehicles from mobile equipment

Personal auto policies may not cover vehicles used in a contracting business as expected. List titled vehicles, trailers, permanently attached equipment, employee vehicles used for errands, rented vehicles, and vehicles supplied to employees. Commercial auto, hired and non-owned auto, and motor-carrier filings may apply in different situations.

Discuss how the policy distinguishes autos from mobile equipment such as certain lifts, loaders, or machinery. Liability while equipment travels, operates, or is transported may cross policy boundaries.

Protect tools, materials, and work in progress

Tools and materials frequently move among a shop, vehicle, storage yard, and job site. Commercial property alone may not follow them. Inland marine can cover certain movable property; contractors equipment coverage can address listed machinery; an installation floater can follow materials awaiting installation; and builder's risk can cover qualifying work in progress. The useful form depends on who owns the property, where it moves, and who bears the contractual risk of loss.

Create an itemized schedule for high-value equipment and confirm theft requirements, unattended-vehicle restrictions, valuation, rented or borrowed equipment, employee tools, flood, wind, and named-storm deductibles.

Consider professional, pollution, cyber, and crime exposures

A contractor that designs, selects systems, provides engineering-like advice, or assumes design responsibility can have a professional exposure beyond ordinary bodily injury and property damage. Pollution exposures may arise from fuel, chemicals, dust, mold, asbestos, or contaminated runoff. Relevant coverage is often separate or endorsed.

Electronic payments, payroll, customer records, connected job-site systems, and fraudulent change orders create cyber and crime risks. Ask how social engineering, funds transfer, ransomware, data restoration, and notification expenses are handled.

Prepare for Houston weather and interruption

For each Houston-area project, record whether the site, shop, storage yard, and equipment route have distinct wind, surface-water, extreme-heat, power-interruption, or access exposures. A loss can stop work at a job site even when the contractor's office is undamaged. Identify which property is insured at each location, what event must cause the interruption, and whether flood or wind is excluded or separately covered.

Maintain emergency contacts, off-site records, equipment photographs, serial numbers, data backups, and a plan for protecting active projects. Business-income coverage should reflect how long it would take to restore facilities, replace specialized equipment, and restart operations. Ask whether interruption at an active job site, utility failure away from the insured premises, restricted access, or damage to a key supplier can trigger coverage; a standard policy may not treat those events alike.

Build a clean submission

Organized information helps agents approach appropriate markets and makes proposals easier to compare.

• Operations narrative and five-year revenue history
• Payroll by employee duty and state
• Subcontractor costs by trade
• Largest current and completed projects
• Vehicle, driver, tool, and equipment schedules
• Five years of currently valued loss runs
• Licenses, safety program, and quality controls
• Sample customer and subcontract agreements
• Current policies and requested effective date

Use this quote comparison worksheet

Fill in the policy form or endorsement, not just an agent's verbal description. Use each row as a question when you compare quotes.

Sources and official tools

Texas-specific guidance on this page was reviewed against these official consumer resources.

• TDI commercial general liability guide

  Official Texas explanations of CGL coverage, exclusions, premium audits, and insurer types.

• TDI workers' compensation guide

  Texas workers' compensation purchasing and employer guidance.

• TDI professional liability FAQ

  Differences between general and professional liability and contract requirements.

• TDI workers' compensation agreement forms

  Official general contractor, subcontractor, motor carrier, and owner-operator agreement forms.

• TDI insurance resources for businesses

  Texas commercial insurance and regulatory resources.