Does a general contractor's insurance cover my work as a subcontractor?

Not usually. A GC's policy protects the GC, and its subcontract typically asks you to carry your own general liability and name the GC as an additional insured.

Is the L&I registration bond the same as insurance?

No. The bond is a registration requirement set by L&I; general liability is a policy you buy separately. L&I asks for proof of both.

What is stop-gap coverage?

Employer's liability coverage for claims outside the L&I policy. Washington's state fund does not include it, so it is bought separately, commonly as an endorsement.

Are tools stolen from my van overnight covered?

It depends. Commercial auto often excludes contents, and a shop property policy may not follow tools off premises; an inland marine floater is the usual place to look.

Business · By industry · Electrical contractors

Electrical contractor insurance in Washington

For electrical contractors in Washington, from a one-van service business to crews wiring new construction. The insurance questions follow the work: the subcontract a general contractor hands you, the fire that can follow a finished job, the tools in the van, the people on the ladder. One policy does not cover them all, so these are the areas to review.

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Who this page is for

Residential and commercial electrical contractors registered in Washington
Service and repair electricians working from vans
Lighting, low-voltage and electrical machinery installers

What to review

The questions that matter

General liability and what the subcontract asks for

A general contractor will usually want your certificate of insurance before an electrician sets foot on the site, and the subcontract behind that request sets the terms. General liability is the policy that responds when your work is blamed for an injury or for damage to property that is not yours. Read the subcontract for four common demands: the GC named as an additional insured, your policy primary and non-contributory, a waiver of subrogation, and limits above what you carry. Treat each one as a question to put to the policy, not an assumption about it.

Fire after the work is finished

An electrical contractor's largest liability question often arrives after the crew has left. A connection that fails months later can start a fire, and the claim may name each trade that touched the panel. That is the products-completed operations part of general liability: ask whether it is included, what its separate aggregate limit is, and whether any exclusion touches your kind of work or the part of the building you worked on.

Tools, testers and wire in the van

Meters, testers, benders, ladders and spools of wire spend their working life in a van or on someone else's site, and a property policy written for your shop may stop at the shop door. The usual answer is inland marine coverage, often sold as a tools and equipment floater, which follows listed items into the van, onto the job and into storage. Wire, fixtures and panels delivered to a site but not yet installed may need an installation floater of their own. Ask how items are valued and whether theft from a parked vehicle is covered.

Service vans and the cars employees drive

Each van or truck titled to the business belongs on a commercial auto policy, scheduled by vehicle. The harder question is the apprentice who drives to a supply house in a personal car: after a crash, the business can be named even though it did not own the vehicle. Hired and non-owned auto coverage answers for the business's liability in that situation and does nothing for the employee's own car. One more question for the policy: when tools are stolen out of the van, is that an auto claim or a floater claim?

Workers' compensation through L&I

Washington runs its own workers' compensation system. Most employers buy coverage from the Department of Labor & Industries, the state fund, rather than from a private insurer. L&I sorts each employer into one or more risk classifications according to the work done, attaches a base rate to each, and adjusts the result by that employer's experience factor. L&I's classification plan places electrical wiring in buildings in classification 0601, with electrical machinery installation as a subcode; confirm your own assignment with L&I, because the assignment follows the work performed, not the trade name. Employer's liability, called stop-gap in Washington, is not part of the L&I policy and is bought separately.

What Washington asks of electrical contractors

Electrical contracting is licensed by L&I in its own right. To engage in the business of the electrical construction trade, a business needs an electrical contractor license from L&I, with a $4,000 electrical/telecommunication contractor's surety bond or an assignment of savings, and a certified, assigned electrical administrator or master electrician. L&I says electrical contractors are encouraged to carry general liability insurance and that it does not keep records of those policies, so your customers and general contractors will ask for the certificate directly. If the business also performs non-electrical work, registration as a contractor under the general rules (with its own bond) may be required as well. A bond under either set of rules is not insurance and does not replace a liability policy.

Umbrella limits for the bigger contracts

Public owners and larger general contractors commonly write limits into their contracts that a standard general liability or auto policy does not reach. A commercial umbrella is the usual way to meet them: it sits above general liability, commercial auto and employer's liability and adds limits on top. Whether it helps turns on what it lists. It adds nothing to a policy it does not schedule beneath it; it may follow the terms of those policies or carry exclusions of its own; and it may or may not extend over stop-gap. Ask each of those before the certificate goes out.

Illustrative example

a panel upgrade and a fire a year later

A contractor replaces a service panel in a small commercial building. A year after the final inspection, a fire starts near the panel, and the owner's insurer pursues each contractor who worked on the electrical system. Whether the policy responds depends on whether completed operations coverage was in place, which policy year the claim belongs to, the limits, any exclusion for the work involved, and what the job file shows about permits and inspection. A real claim depends on the facts and the policy.

What to prepare

The mix of work: residential, commercial, service, new construction
Your L&I registration number, electrical contractor license and assigned risk classification
Insurance requirements from the subcontracts you usually sign
Vehicles, who drives them, and whether employees use their own cars for work
A tools and equipment inventory with approximate values
Employee count, hours by type of work as reported to L&I, current policies and recent claims

Request an electrical contractor insurance review

Questions people ask

Quick answers

Not usually. A GC's policy protects the GC, and its subcontract typically asks you to carry your own general liability and name the GC as an additional insured.
No. The bond is a registration requirement set by L&I; general liability is a policy you buy separately. L&I asks for proof of both.
Employer's liability coverage for claims outside the L&I policy. Washington's state fund does not include it, so it is bought separately, commonly as an endorsement.
It depends. Commercial auto often excludes contents, and a shop property policy may not follow tools off premises; an inland marine floater is the usual place to look.

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