What would be a good amount of general liability insurance to carry? The most expensive piece of equipment I work on around here is a mid 2000s John Deere 750J.
Just a thought, and I'm not saying I have any expertise in the field at all, but I'm not sure the value of the equipment should be the determining factor. What happens if something goes wrong and that piece of equipment damages something a whole lot more expensive?
True. One sand plant down here contacted me about working on thier high reach equipment. I turned them down. Had to have workmans comp. (I'm my only employee). Had to have $6 mil general liability policy. And $500,000 on my truck. They couldn't guarantee enough work just to pay for insurance.
I am now carrying 2 million. The reason being the large timberland owners require this for all contractors. Its not about the value of the equipment its really about what a failure on a piece could do to other property or a person. I feel my largest risk aside from having a person injured or killed is forest fire from cutting and welding on equipment in the field.............TIO
As far as cost after being in business for 5+ years with zero claims it computes to about 1% of gross estimated revenues..............TIO
Yea mine is based on revenue
The other side of the equation is what kind of assets (net worth) do you have to protect? No point in carrying top of the line insurance if you've got nothing to protect, or you wouldn't survive paying the premiums.
I have a home and 500 acres to keep.
so hopefully you have a AWSOME accountant & a better insurance agent to help you figure this out & set up a separate S corp for each!!!! its wise to check around every 4 years on insurance good agent told me that bout 4 years ago it saved me $$$$$ that year. getting ready to do it again to..... I have found that workmans comp is getting to be a "have to have" to get the big (read good paying) jobs with the big companies nowdays, even being a "1 man show"... as far as $500,000 on your truck like the agent told me in her office that day " just imagine your truck rolls over & all the doors get tore off the box, whats it take to buy all that stuff back?" gives you something to think about at night it made me sit & think!!!!!
I have 10 mil aggregate. My best customer wanted me to up it from 5 and they give me enough work to justify it. but 3 mil is a good start.
Yes workmans comp is getting to be a must. I have had to sign several waivers. Haven't even started to check into it yet. Shopping for general liability now.
It also requires an exact inventory with part numbers of all your tools. I had some stuff stolen out of my truck a few years ago and what a pain in the ass! I had a seperate 70k$ policy on my tools and I got a 600$ check for 1400$ of tools because I hadn't turned in an exact inventory with part numbers before the claim. They would only pay 100$ per item. Big f'ing joke is what I thought