A general contractor sends over a subcontract for a tenant improvement job. The insurance section runs half a page. It wants general liability at a stated limit, workers’ compensation, additional insured covering ongoing and completed operations, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory wording.

You forward it to your agent and ask whether your policy already does all that.

Most contractors find out what they need this way — from a contract, with a job waiting. Here is the version worth knowing beforehand.

General Liability, and What It Will Not Do

General liability is the base of every contractor program. It responds to bodily injury and property damage your work causes to others, and it pays to defend you.

Two exclusions define its edges, and both surprise people at claim time.

The “your work” exclusion means the policy does not pay to redo your own defective work. The failed installation is your obligation. What responds is the resulting damage — the flooring ruined by the leak, the ceiling that came down, the contents destroyed.

Care, custody, and control excludes damage to property in your control and to that part of the property you are working on.

The practical version: general liability pays for what your work damaged, not for the work itself. That distinction determines your out-of-pocket cost on most claims.

Workers’ Compensation Has Different Rules in Construction

Florida treats construction differently from every other industry, and this catches contractors constantly.

In most businesses, a sole proprietor is automatically exempt from carrying workers’ compensation on themselves. In construction, that is not the case. Sole proprietors and partners in the construction industry generally cannot exempt themselves the way other business owners can.

Corporate officers and LLC members in construction can apply for an exemption, but only if they meet ownership requirements and actually file with the state. An exemption you assumed you had, but never filed, does not exist.

Two further points. An exemption does not satisfy a general contractor — many require actual coverage regardless. And employee misclassification carries tax and wage consequences separate from insurance.

The Audit Is Where Uninsured Subs Cost You

This is the single most expensive surprise in contracting, and it is entirely preventable.

When your insurance company audits your books, any subcontractor who cannot produce a valid certificate showing their own general liability and workers’ compensation is typically treated as your employee. Their entire contract value gets added to your payroll and rated at your trade’s rate.

For a contractor running several subcontracted crews, that produces additional premium arriving months after the work, with no way to bill it back.

Collect certificates before mobilization, confirm the dates cover the full project rather than just the start, and keep them. Verifying at audit — after the sub has moved on and the policy has lapsed — does not help.

What Contracts Actually Require

A certificate is not one thing. Contracts specify separate items, and a certificate showing adequate limits can still fail if one is missing.

Additional insured status puts the contractor on your policy. Confirm whether it covers ongoing operations only, or ongoing and completed operations — completed operations is the endorsement that responds years later, and it is the one most often absent.

Waiver of subrogation prevents your carrier from pursuing them after paying a claim.

Primary and non-contributory wording makes your policy respond first, before theirs.

Each is a separate endorsement. Getting the contract to your agent before signing prevents a jobsite waiting on paperwork.

Completed Operations and the Statute of Repose

Construction claims arrive late. Water intrusion behind finished work, installations that fail, defects discovered during a later renovation.

Completed operations coverage responds to claims from work already finished, and for most trades it carries the largest exposures.

Florida’s statute of repose was shortened from ten years to seven by Senate Bill 360 in 2023, generally running from the earliest of the certificate of occupancy, certificate of completion, or abandonment of construction. The limitations period separately allows four years from discovery of a latent defect.

Confirm two things: that your completed operations limits meet your largest contract requirement, and that there is no gap between the coverage in force when past work was performed and what you carry now.

Vehicles

Personal auto policies generally exclude or limit business use. Driving to jobsites, hauling material, and towing a trailer are business use.

For a contractor with employees, hired and non-owned auto matters too — it responds when someone uses a personal vehicle for company purposes, which happens whether or not you authorized it.

Related coverage: Business Auto Insurance

Tools and Equipment

A commercial property policy covers property at a described premises. Your tools live at jobsites and in trucks.

Contractors equipment coverage, written on an inland marine form, follows the equipment — in transit, at jobsites, in overnight storage. Theft from trucks and jobsites is persistent throughout Florida, and homeowners policies exclude business property.

If you purchase material for a customer’s project that sits at the site before installation, that belongs on an installation floater rather than either policy.

Umbrella

Umbrella coverage sits above general liability, auto, and employers liability, providing higher limits when an underlying policy is exhausted.

For most contractors it becomes necessary at the point commercial contracts start requiring it — which happens earlier than most expect, particularly on association, institutional, and property management work.

Related coverage: Commercial Umbrella Insurance

What Changes as You Grow

The program that fit a two-truck operation does not describe a company running three crews on multiple projects.

Hiring changes workers’ compensation exposure and your audit. Adding vehicles changes auto. Taking on commercial and association work raises required limits and adds endorsements. Moving from residential into tenant improvement or condominium work changes the contracts you sign.

Reviewing coverage when the business changes, rather than at renewal, is what keeps the program matched to the work.

Related coverage: General Liability Insurance · Workers’ Compensation Insurance · Commercial Property Insurance · Builders Risk Insurance

Bring the Contract

Prestige Insurance Group works with contractors throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach County, Orlando, Tampa, the Treasure Coast, and across Florida — on service, repair, remodeling, and tenant improvement work across the trades.

If a contract is what brought you here, send the insurance section itself rather than a summary. What it specifies determines what has to be issued.

Miami: 305-969-8776 Orlando: 407-993-2331 Stuart: 561-983-4333

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This article describes general insurance concepts and Florida statutory provisions as of publication. It is not legal advice. Workers’ compensation exemption eligibility is fact-specific — confirm your status with your agent and the applicable state agency.