Why You Need Masonry Contractor Insurance

Masonry contractors grasp the principle of creating a sturdy foundation. It's crucial to apply that wisdom to safeguard your business. The masonry field presents numerous risks—to you, your staff, and your clients.

As a masonry business operator, masonry contractors insurance represents one of the essential building blocks of your business foundation. In this guide, we guide you through the optimal insurance types available to protect your small business.

The Basic Types of Masonry Contractor Business Insurance Coverage

Masonry enterprises encounter such diverse risks in daily operations. Some business insurance policies are absolutely essential for masons while others deserve serious consideration to protect your business.

General Liability Insurance

Masonry enterprises must have general liability insurance policies established. General liability coverage shields masons from third-party bodily injury claims and third-party property damage claims. Most general liability policies also protect against advertising injury and completed operations for your masonry services. Liability insurance policies cover court expenses and legal settlements.

Example: A prospective client visits your showroom. While examining brick samples, they knock over some shelving. The customer ends up in the emergency room with a fractured foot. Your general liability policy covers their medical bills.

You might also want to evaluate an umbrella insurance policy. It can frequently be more economical to buy umbrella liability rather than increasing the limits of your other policies.

Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property coverage—sometimes called business property insurance—is vital protection for masonry contractors to include in their business insurance policy. Frequently, masonry contractors run their businesses from storefronts which might serve dual purposes: a showroom to exhibit stock and a warehouse to store inventory.

Property protection will safeguard your business assets like furnishings, products, inventory, equipment (whether rented or owned), plus the building itself. When your building or property suffers damage or destruction from fire, hail, wind, theft, or vandalism, this policy provides protection. Your insurance carrier can repair the damage or replace it (either replacement cost or actual cash value).

Business Owners' Policies

Insurance carriers can combine commercial property protection, general liability insurance, and business interruption coverage to create a business owners' policy (BOP). A business interruption insurance policy—sometimes called business income and extra expense—can help pay a business's expenses when significantly damaged and unable to function. It includes items such as lost profits, payroll, taxes, and a temporary operating location if needed.

Insurance companies frequently provide business owners' policies at more economical prices than buying each protection separately. It's typically only available to small and medium-sized enterprises. Insurance agents can help you determine if a BOP suits your business!

Workers' Compensation Insurance

Stone cutting and brick laying is demanding and labor-intensive work. Heavy lifting can result in knee and back injuries. Bricks create hazards when they fall from pallets or loose bricks fall from partially completed walls. Due to these risks, when masonry contractors employ staff, workers' comp insurance is essential.

Workers' compensation coverage is mandatory in nearly every state and is designed to protect your employees and your business. How? When employees are injured on the job, this policy covers their medical payments and lost income until they can return to work. It also protects your brickmason business from injury lawsuits. Consult with a knowledgeable independent insurance agent to determine your required coverage level.

Example: A delivery worker is using specialized lifting equipment to unload a brick pallet from the truck at a job site. Unfortunately, an accident occurs and the bricks slide from the pallet and land on your contractor, pinning him down. He's taken to the ER with a broken leg and cannot work. Since the injury is work-related, workers' compensation covers his hospital stay, medical expenses, and lost income until he can return to work. If your employee had died in the accident, the insurance carrier would provide survivor benefits to his family.

Ensure you have proper safeguards in place to protect your staff. When possible, ensure they have level work sites, that they're bracing partially completed work, and that proper attachment points are utilized. Do your best to ensure that the entire structure they're working on is secure and free from fall hazards.

Commercial Auto Insurance

Do you use trucks and trailers to transport brick and other masonry materials to job sites? When you use any vehicle for business, you must have quality commercial auto insurance policies in place for your company's vehicles. When your personal auto insurance carrier discovers you were using the car or truck for business purposes, any claims submitted to them might not be covered.

Inland Marine Insurance

Inland Marine Insurance—Sometimes called Contractor's Tool and Equipment Coverage—protects the tools of your trade. You probably travel to job sites with your expensive tools in your vehicle, correct? Did you know that anything not permanently attached to your vehicle isn't protected by commercial auto insurance? So you'll want to consider inland marine protection to safeguard your tools and contractors' equipment while in transit (or stored at job sites).

Builders Risk Insurance

Builders risk coverage will protect your masonry projects until completion. This includes project damage plus the equipment and materials you're using. Please note that it pays for property damage only due to covered causes (and includes stolen item replacement). Some companies will mandate this protection to safeguard their projects.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability coverage—sometimes called errors and omissions insurance or E&O protection—shields you when you make work errors, face professional negligence accusations, or cannot complete projects on time. Professional liability insurance protection is important when you help with design plans or provide professional masonry guidance.

How Much Does Masonry Insurance Cost?

The average insurance costs of a $1,000,000/$2,000,000 general liability protection for masonry businesses ranges from $47 to $69 monthly. Contractors Liability shows the average to be anywhere from $710–$1,150 annually.

Factors that influence insurance rates include:

• Location/state your business operates in
• Your business size
• Number of employees you employ
• Annual payroll and revenue
• The masonry services you provide and associated risk
• Whether or not you want to protect your property

The cost can vary depending on the insurance carrier you select plus the deductibles and coverage limits chosen. A licensed insurance agent can help guide you through your options and select the best masonry coverage for your business.

Get a Free Masonry Insurance Quote

Let us help you find masonry coverage for your business and maintain your peace of mind. Our goal at Harper is to ensure you get a free quote quickly and easily at a rate you can afford. Complete the form at the top of the page to have one of our agents reach out to you.