Contractors and Providing Proof of Insurance

Because I work in the insurance industry, yes, it is important to me. I ask for a Certificate of Insurance with my name listed as the Certificate Holder from any contractor I use who is not a client in my office. (If they are a client in my office, I am probably more familiar with their policy than the contractor is.) If a contractor won't provide a certificate, I won't do business with them. We advise our clients to always, always ask for a certificate and file it away with their paperwork from the project. If a workmanship issue comes up down the road, you have the contractor's policy number and insurance company contact information right there from the date of your project. Makes your world a whole lot easier if you have to file a claim against the contractor for any reason.

My husband is an electrical contractor (mainly commercial) so they always require proof of insurance. Agent handles it, dh calls them and they send a certificate, I believe directly to whoever needs it and we get a copy.

If you've never seen a Certificate of Insurance, I put together one real quick. Most insurance companies use Acord forms for their certs and they look very similar, depending on the version of the form they have. The part you care about most as a consumer is the General Liability portion. The limits shown on this certificate are pretty common.

What about Worker's Compensation? Can you ask for certification of that.

Honestly, I really worry about what happens if a worker gets injured on the job. The contractors we have hired say they are insured, but I do wonder if that covers workplace injuries.

DH does appliance repair. In our state, there is no license for that (every state is different). I'm sure a license is required for general contracting and bigger jobs like renovations, etc.

DH carries a copy of his business insurance policy with him (it looks like the one IAmUnoriginal posted). He doesn't have specific clients listed as additional insured or certificate holders, because he sees several each day.(Except for a billionaire's house in Aspen that he has done quite a bit of work for, and they require it of all the people who work there.) He does have specific property managers and warranty companies listed on some for those jobs, since they are required.

In CO, if you have very few employees, you are not required to have workman's comp. Because DH is the only employee (and also the owner), he does not need it. We can show a note on company letterhead stating such (and that we will not hold the property manager/owner/warranty company liable if something should happen), and there is also an exemption certificate we can print out showing it is not required for us.

I'd also check the BBB for your area, but keep in mind that if a company isn't listed, it just means that they didn't want to pay the fee required to be on their list. Did you know there's a fee for that? I didn't know that until last year when I was checking into those things. If a company is listed with the BBB, check out the "problem resolutions" section or whatever it's called. CHeck facebook, Yelp, Angie's List, etc. Just keep in mind that a lack of reviews doesn't mean poor work- it can just mean that they are not as social media savvy as other companies, or that their clients didn't remember to leave a review. I do look at negative comments and reviews (and the dates, as sometimes a change in management can make a huge difference).

We had a fifth bedroom and a deck put on our house. My husband knew the contractor, but he still came with all of the paperwork to show us his coverage. I think a good one will do that. They were in our house for three months, so that was especially important. They also took our dog outside at lunch to sit with them so she could get some fresh air. It was a win-win.