Contractor Insurance Checklist for Washington County Builders

The Washington County build cycle hasn't slowed — Desert Color, Ledges, Sienna Hills, Long Valley, and the Hurricane corridor are all generating steady residential and light-commercial work. Independent subs and small GCs are the backbone of all of it, and the difference between getting on a bid list and getting kicked off one is usually a 30-second insurance check. Here's the policy stack every contractor working in Washington and Iron counties should have in place.

1. General Liability (GL)

The foundation. Covers third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from your work. Almost every GC in Southern Utah requires a $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate limit and will refuse to onboard you without it. Make sure your policy:

• Includes products-completed operations coverage (claims arising after the job is finished).
• Allows you to add additional insured endorsements with primary/non-contributory wording — most GCs require this.
• Doesn't carry residential or new-construction exclusions you don't realize are there.

2. Workers' Compensation

Utah requires workers' comp if you have employees. Even if you operate as an owner-only LLC, many GCs will require you to either carry comp or sign a Utah Labor Commission exemption form. We can issue either pay-as-you-go or traditional comp through carriers that specialize in trades pricing.

Watch out for misclassified 1099s. Utah audits this aggressively. If your "1099 subs" don't carry their own comp, your policy will be charged for them at audit — and the surprise bills are brutal.

3. Commercial Auto

Personal auto policies exclude business use. The minute you're hauling materials, towing a trailer, or driving employees to a job site, you need a commercial auto policy. The Hurricane-to-St. George commute generates more business-auto claims than people realize.

4. Inland Marine (Tools & Equipment)

GL doesn't cover your own tools and equipment getting stolen out of a truck at a job site. Inland marine — sometimes sold as a "contractor's equipment floater" — does. We see $10K–$50K tool theft claims regularly across Washington County. The premium is usually modest.

5. Builder's Risk (project-specific)

When you're the GC on new construction, the structure itself needs builder's risk coverage during the build. We write monthly and annual builder's risk policies and can coordinate with the property owner's permanent homeowners coverage at completion.

6. Umbrella / Excess Liability

$1M underlying GL is the minimum to get on most bid lists. Larger projects, HOA work, or anything with a public space increasingly requires $2M–$5M. An excess liability policy is the cheap way to stack on top of your GL and commercial auto.

Common gotchas we see

• Wrong class code. A "general contractor" code costs very differently than a "roofing" or "framing" code. Misclassification can cause an audit surprise — or a denial.
• Exclusions for residential work. Some cheap online GL policies exclude single-family residential. Read your policy.
• Subcontractor warranty. Many policies require you to collect COIs from your subs. Failure to do so can void a claim.
• Out-of-state work. If you cross into Arizona or Nevada for a job, your policy needs to be endorsed for it.

Whether you're an owner-only sub bidding your first job in Coral Canyon or a 30-employee GC running multiple builds, we'll structure the right stack and re-quote it annually. Request a free contractor insurance review.