Boring Contractor Insurance
Written by
Ann Herro has been writing about insurance and employee benefits for over 15 years. She has covered topics as easy as insuring a car, and as difficult as transparency in healthcare costs.
Reviewed by
Paul Martin is the Director of Education and Development for Myron Steves, one of the largest, most respected insurance wholesalers in the southern U.S.
Boring contractors use horizontal directional drilling, auger boring, and tunneling methods to install municipal, commercial, and residential utility pipe for the electric, telecommunications, oil and gas, sewer, water, and irrigation industries.
If you are a boring contractor, you know the importance of business insurance. It secures your project contract and gives you peace of mind while you are working. With appropriate boring contractor insurance, you can protect your business from property losses and lawsuits.
A local independent insurance agent can help you get the boring contractor insurance that you need.
Why Do You Need Boring Contractor Insurance?
Boring is a steerable trenchless method for installing underground pipes, conduits, and cables. Boring has become increasingly popular for both civic and residential projects, as well as for phone, utility, and cable companies. It is often less expensive than alternative methods, has a minimal environmental impact, and is conducive to various soil conditions and different types of jobs.
But while boring is generally considered to be less disturbing to surrounding areas, that doesn’t mean that things can’t go wrong on any project. Working on utility projects can be disruptive to surrounding homes or businesses. Your work can be responsible for property damage to nearby homes or properties, and it can lead to injuries to bystanders or workers. In these cases, you’ll have a lot to worry about.
That’s why boring is considered to be a high-risk type of specialty construction. Managing the risk associated with boring requires implementing best practices for safety, as well as protecting your business with customized business insurance.
Having the right boring contractor insurance protects your business from catastrophic litigation costs after an accident and a large claim. A comprehensive business insurance program designed for boring contractors protects you from employee errors, public injuries, property damage, pollution claims, and more.
A local independent insurance agent can help you get the tailored insurance you need.
What Does Boring Contractor Insurance Cover?
Boring contractor employees are constantly exposed to serious accidents due to the very nature of their work. The use of heavy equipment, the potential for cave-ins, the exposure to the elements, and the labor-intensive nature of work can all result in property damage, injuries, and serious financial losses. In the course of your work, you can cause damage to buried public utilities, encounter serious worker injuries, and damage third-party property or cause injuries to bystanders or other individuals on the jobsite.
Your valuable property (tools, equipment, etc.) is always at risk as well.
Boring contractor insurance should cover lawsuits and significant property losses. It provides the funds to pay for medical expenses, attorney fees, and repairing or replacing damaged property that you are responsible for. While your boring contractor insurance can’t prevent accidents and property losses from happening, it can protect you after a loss and help you survive for the long-term.
What Are the Key Insurance Policies for Boring Contractors?
Boring contractors need a package of tailored insurance policies, including the following.
Commercial general liability insurance
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance: This provides coverage for many of the liability exposures you face. It pays for medical expenses and property damage for third-party injuries and property damage caused by you or your employees. This may involve utility damage, displacement, and settlement of existing structures, blast damage, disrupting utility service to neighboring residences or businesses, foundation damage, pipe leaks, hazardous material spills, and more.
Products-completed operations liability insurance: This is typically included in your CGL and responds if you’re sued when work that you’ve completed is faulty and causes injuries to others. Completed operations insurance covers a contractor's liability for property damage or injuries to a third party once contracted operations cease. Contractors and manufacturers typically purchase additional or separate policies in amounts that have higher limits than what is provided in the CGL policy.
You’ll likely need proof of CGL coverage in order to be licensed by your state, as well as in order to submit bids and be chosen for work on any projects.
Excess liability coverage
Financial payouts for lawsuits often reach well over the $1 million limit on a typical CGL policy. Most of your customers will require you to have more coverage than that, or excess liability coverage, also known as an umbrella policy.
Commercial umbrella policy: A commercial umbrella insurance provides liability limits above and beyond certain other liability policies (CGL, commercial auto) at a more affordable cost than increasing the limits of several individual policies.
Commercial vehicle insurance
Commercial auto insurance: This covers your owned vehicles and drivers in the event of an accident or other vehicle damage that occurs. It provides coverage for property damage and bodily injury liability claims, vehicle damage, and medical bills, as well as any costs related to lawsuits due to auto accidents involving your vehicles.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Your employees are exposed to trench hazards, including cave-ins and the dangers of working in confined spaces. They are also exposed to falls, strains, lifting and back injuries, sprains, and exposure to hazardous substances.
Workers' compensation insurance: This protects your employees if they are injured on the job, or if they develop a work-related illness. It will help pay for an injured employee’s medical care, as well as any income that the employee loses if he or she cannot immediately return to work after the injury.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance: This covers your buildings, workspaces, and all kinds of commercial property including equipment, tools, office furniture, computers, and more if they’re damaged or destroyed by fire, smoke, theft, vandalism, or a weather event.
Business interruption coverage: This is typically included in commercial property insurance. It reimburses you for lost income and helps pay for certain ongoing expenses if you are temporarily unable to operate due to a covered loss (fire, weather, vandalism, etc.).
You’ll also need coverage for your valuable tools and equipment while they’re in transit to and from jobsites, and while they’re in use or stored at a site for the duration of a job.
- Equipment physical damage coverage: The heavy equipment that you use in boring contracting is expensive, and it costs a lot to repair or replace it. Equipment physical damage coverage covers the value of the equipment when it is damaged.
- Inland marine insurance: This protects your equipment, tools, portable computer equipment, and other supplies from theft, loss, or damage while they are in transit to and from worksites.
- Installation floater: This protects materials left at a job site to be installed but are damaged before you can do it. If, for example, you drop off equipment or materials at a jobsite to be used at a later time, but find them vandalized and broken the next morning, an installation floater will likely cover your losses.
- Tools and equipment floater: This covers any leased or owned specialized tools and equipment you use while they’re stored on the construction site. It can offer coverage for tools like hand tools, power tools, contractors’ gear (hard hats, goggles, etc.), shovels, and wheelbarrows. It can also cover equipment like compressors, generators, excavators, backhoes, and other equipment that you use.
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What Other Insurance Policies to Boring Contractors Need?
Boring contractors need a variety of other insurance policies to cover all of their unique risks.
- Employment practices liability insurance: This covers lawsuits related to discriminatory employment practices.
- Environmental liability insurance: This covers a variety of pollution exposures that you face.
- Contractors errors and omissions/professional liability insurance: This covers professional contractors, their partners, their employees, and the partnership or corporation for damage caused by providing or failing to provide professional services. You can be sued for providing erroneous advice or services, acts of negligence, or even omissions.
What Are Contractors Bonds and Do You Need them?
You might need a variety of contractors bonds, or surety bonds, depending on the size and scope of the projects that you work on. Bonds are very important for contractors who work on commercial building sites. And you may be required to have certain kinds of bonds in order to secure the required licensing that you need.
Contractors bonds can be essential for finding, securing, and performing work. They are typically used to guarantee some aspect of the bidding process or building project and ensure the project owner that you are fully licensed, insured, and prepared to complete the project as promised.
Every type of bond is unique and tailored to a specific project. It’s likely that you’ll need various types of contractors bonds for most of the jobs that you do.
How Much Does Boring Contractor Insurance Cost?
Boring contractor insurance costs will vary depending on the size of your business, the number of employees you have, and how much commercial property (buildings, tools, and equipment) you have. Because of the high-risk nature of boring, your business insurance may be more expensive (and more difficult to get) than other types of contractor insurance.
Insuring your business is complex. The types of coverage you need and can qualify for depends on several variables. You may need to find coverage through a specialty insurer who specializes in businesses like yours.
An independent agent who has experience working with boring contractors can help you decide the types and amounts of coverage you need for your business. The choices you make will determine your cost of coverage.
Find and Compare Quotes
An independent agent can work with you one-on-one to determine the types and amounts of coverage you need. Your agent can get quotes from multiple insurance companies so you can evaluate the cost and coverage options and make the best choice.
Benefits of an Independent Agent
Our agents simplify the search process for finding the right boring contractor insurance. They’ll walk you through the handpicked policy options and explain the details.
Most importantly, they’ll be there for you when claim time comes. They know the ins and outs of the process and will make sure your claim is handled appropriately.
Save on Business Insurance
Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.
The Lowdown on Online Quotes
Online quotes can be tempting. They are fast and easy to get — but are they accurate? And are you getting quotes for the right coverage? For business owners, choosing speed over accuracy can cost you.
Online quotes can’t and don’t see the whole picture. They can omit important coverage that will leave you devastated if something unexpected happens. And they can leave out cost-saving opportunities that an agent can help you take advantage of.
Instead of getting an online quote, find an independent insurance agent now, and get one-on-one consultation and affordable options for the best coverage for your unique needs.