Insulation Contractor Insurance

Insulation contractors install insulation materials at residential or commercial locations. The materials are installed in new or existing buildings in order to reduce or prevent the leakage or transfer of heat, moisture, and sound. Insulation helps building owners and homeowners conserve energy and create a healthy environment, and it is also used for fireproofing. 

Your customers hire you and trust your expertise in ensuring that their properties are properly insulated. It’s also important for you to complete your projects on time and as promised, without mishaps. 

But if something goes wrong, the consequences can be devastating for you and for your customers. That’s why you need insulation contractor insurance to help you mitigate your risks and protect your business.

A local independent insurance agent can help you assess your risks and find the right business insurance policies that are tailored to your industry. 

Why Do You Need Insulation Contractor Insurance? 

Insulating materials may consist of batting, rolls, or rigid materials that are installed in spaces between interior and exterior walls and in foundations. In some cases, insulation material is blown into attics and other empty spaces. It may also be wrapped around boilers, piping, and plumbing fixtures to retain heat and prevent freezing.

It’s a fact of life that problems can occur and mistakes can be made. An employee might damage a client's property during the insulation installation process, or a vendor or customer might trip, fall, and sustain an injury on your premises. You could install the wrong type of insulation in a building, or your crew members could get into an accident on their way to or from a job. 

In any of these cases you’d be responsible for medical bills and property damage that you’ve caused, and you might even be sued for additional damages. And the potential for problems doesn’t end there. You face property losses (losses to tools, equipment, and other valuable commercial property) from a variety of sources, including fire, theft, severe weather, and vandalism. Your workers are exposed to dangerous environments and other job-related illnesses and injuries. You could cause some type of environmental damage in the course of installing, removing, or disposing of insulation materials. 

Insulation contractor insurance protects your business from these and other risk exposures. When you work with an experienced independent insurance agent, he or she can find insurance companies who specialize in covering insulation contractor businesses. You likely need a variety of property and liability insurance policies in order to be sure that you are protected. 

General Liability Insurance for Insulation Contractors

Insulation contractors must carry commercial general liability (CGL) insurance. CGL insurance protects you from having to pay out of pocket for damage or legal fees if your services happen to cause damage to any of the homes or businesses you work on. It offers broad protection for a wide variety of negligence claims and lawsuits. 

If, for example, a vendor slips and falls while delivering supplies to your business, your insurance will cover the cost of any related medical care, as well as any legal costs that may arise if the person sues you. 

You face a variety of other liability risks as well. The equipment you use and the work that you do can be dangerous, and the process of installing or blowing insulation can result in damage to the building or even illnesses for residents or others on the premises. The customers, employees, or members of a customer's household can be injured by tripping or falling over tools, power cords, building materials, and scrap.

CGL policies also include product liability insurance. This covers you if one of the products you install is harmful to a customer or anyone else who comes into contact with it. Product liability insurance covers your financial responsibility for losses or injuries to a user, buyer, or bystander caused by a defect or malfunction of your product. 

You also have “completed operations” exposures that are covered by your CGL policy. For example, improper installation of insulation around building mechanicals (electrical wiring, heating ducts and piping, and plumbing) can cause or aggravate a number of conditions including electrical fires, water seepage, or growth of mold. If your work leads to a problem like this, you could be sued and your CGL policy would respond.

Some clients may require proof that you have CGL coverage before they will work with you. 

What Other Types of Liability Coverage Do Insulation Contractors Need? 

Your insulation contractor insurance package may contain the following additional types of liability coverage as well: 

• Cyber liability insurance: This provides coverage in the event of a data breach involving your business. It helps pay for the costs of notifying affected clients, as well as public relations and investigation costs, and more. 
• Commercial umbrella insurance: This is also known as excess liability coverage, and provides supplemental liability protection beyond the limits of certain other liability policies. This policy can be invaluable for that once-in-a-lifetime judgment rendered against you. 
• Employment practices liability insurance: This covers you if an employee sues you for discriminatory employment practices.

You also have high environmental exposures due to the removal, transport, and disposal of waste and old insulation materials from projects that you’re working on. Some of these materials may contain lead-based paints, asbestos, or other hazardous elements. 

There are numerous ways that your business can cause an environmental hazard at a worksite, in water runoff, during transport, on your own premises, and even at a waste disposal site if certain procedures and rules aren’t followed. 

Your independent insurance agent can help you find policies to help you mitigate your environmental exposures. You may need a single policy or a combination of policies to cover all of the ways in which you handle chemicals and waste. 

• Contractor pollution liability coverage: This protects you from third party claims for damage caused by pollution that arises from your operations.
• Contractor professional liability coverage: This covers professionals, 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. For an insulation contractor, this could mean lawsuits that result from jobsite modifications, construction management services, and other advice or services that lead to damage or a loss for the customer. 
• Premises pollution liability coverage: This covers claims arising from pollution released at, on, or emanating from a specific schedule location, such as your business premises or at a specific jobsite. 

You can also discuss your need for transportation pollution liability coverage, depending on what, how, and where you transport potential pollutants. This is over-the-road pollution insurance, which means that it covers pollution conditions caused during transportation, loading, and unloading of potential contaminants. 

Property Insurance for Insulation Contractors

Insulation contractors need several types of property insurance to protect against property losses. 

You likely have owned or leased office space or warehouse space where you perform administrative tasks and store all of your equipment, supplies, materials, vehicles, and more. Your physical space likely serves as a home base for your employees, and may be filled with valuable furniture, computer equipment, and other commercial property that is susceptible to theft, vandalism, fires, storms, and certain other causes of loss. 

Many insulation materials are highly combustible. Even those that are not combustible will decompose and produce heavy smoke and toxic fumes in the event of a fire. What’s more, the insulation materials may be stored in a building with several ignition sources, such as heating units, electrical wiring, and mechanical equipment. 

Commercial property insurance protects buildings and their contents, including computers, office equipment, furniture, and all of your commercial property (whether it is owned or leased) if it is damaged by fire, smoke, theft, vandalism, or some other covered peril. If, for example, someone vandalizes the outside of your building, breaks in, and steals tools and equipment, your commercial property policy will help to pay for the repairs to your building as well as the cost of replacing stolen or damaged property. 

If you sustain damage that forces you to temporarily close or relocate, business interruption coverage will reimburse you for ongoing expenses (rent, salaries, etc.) and lost income during the closure or relocation period.

You may also need additional property coverage for your business. Talk to your independent insurance agent about your need for the following. 

You also need coverage for your contractors equipment, tools, insulation, and supplies that are in transit from job to job and that are in use or stored at a jobsite. Inland marine insurance covers these tools, equipment, and supplies while they are in transit. And if any of your tools are stolen from a jobsite, inland marine insurance will cover the cost of replacing the tools.

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Commercial Auto Insurance for Insulation Contractors

Your work crews travel from jobsite to jobsite in commercial vehicles owned by your business. Your commercial vehicles must be covered with commercial auto insurance. If one of your drivers causes an accident, it covers bodily injury and property damage that the driver is at fault for. 

Commercial vehicle insurance for insulation contractors covers your cars, trucks, and any other vehicles you use for business. In addition to liability coverage, it provides collision, comprehensive, and uninsured motorist coverage. 

Your commercial auto insurance can be tailored to your needs, and your coverage and premiums will be based on how your vehicles are used and who drives them. Each vehicle owned by your business or used for business purposes can be listed separately on your business auto policy, with corresponding coverage for each vehicle that can differ depending on the vehicle’s characteristics and the coverage it requires. 

If you have employees who drive personal vehicles for business purposes, talk to your insurance agent about your need for non-owned auto liability insurance. 

Workers’ Compensation Insurance for Insulation Contractors

Your workers may be exposed to a wide variety of accidents, injuries, and illnesses resulting from their work. They may handle asbestos and lead-based paints. And insulation products can produce eye, nose, throat, skin, and lung irritants, as can vapors, fumes, and toxins from adhesives, coatings, and solvents. Some employees may experience immediate effects from exposure to these materials, while others might sustain long-term damage to their lungs or other medical problems. 

What’s more, they work on ladders and scaffolding, in cramped spaces, with dangerous equipment. They risk severe injury or death from falling, being struck by other objects, or being injured by the equipment that they’re using. 

If one of your employees gets injured while on the job, you’re responsible for paying for his or her medical expenses. What’s more, he or she may not be able to work until fully recovered, leaving the employee without his or her income. 

Workers’ compensation insurance protects your employees and your business from the costs associated with work-related injuries and illnesses. It provides coverage for medical care and income protection for an injured worker while he or she is unable to work. Workers’ compensation insurance also helps protect employers from lawsuits by injured employees. 

Each state has workers’ compensation insurance laws. Most states require nearly every business that has employees to provide this coverage. Your state’s workers’ compensation statutes determine the amount of benefits injured workers are entitled to, which impairments or injuries are covered, how those impairments will be evaluated, and how medical care will be delivered. 

How Much Does Insulation Contractor Insurance Cost? 

Your costs for insulation contractor insurance will vary depending on the unique characteristics of your business such as the location, the number of employees, the value of your commercial property (building plus contents), whether or not you own your building, and how many vans or commercial vehicles you own and operate. 

Insulation contractor insurance could cost several thousands of dollars per year, or more. The amount of coverage you need and the deductibles you choose also impact your insurance costs. 

Find and Compare Quotes

An independent insurance 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 insulation contractor insurance. They’ll walk you through the handpicked policy options and explain the details and options.

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. 

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.