Ohio Contractor Insurance: Covered on the job site, ready for the permit office.

Most contractors start with general liability, then add tools and equipment (inland marine) coverage, commercial auto for work vehicles, and bonds or builders risk when a permit or contract calls for them.

If you have employees, workers' comp comes through the Ohio BWC, and stop-gap employer's liability is often added. What you actually need depends on your trade, your equipment and your contracts, so we'll walk through it with you.

Often, yes. Many Ohio cities and counties ask contractors to register and show proof of insurance before issuing permits.

Requirements vary by city and county and by trade, so check with the building department where you're working. We can send them a certificate of insurance once your coverage is in place.

A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary that shows your policies, limits and dates. It proves coverage exists, but it doesn't change your policy on its own.

Send us the request and any contract language, or use our service center, and we'll work to turn it around quickly. If the request asks for additional insured wording, we'll check that your policy actually includes it.

It means your general liability policy can protect the GC for claims that come from your work on their project. It's done by an endorsement on your policy, not just by listing them on a certificate.

Contracts sometimes also ask for primary and non-contributory wording or a waiver of subrogation. Not every policy includes these automatically, so send us the contract before you sign.

Usually not by general liability or commercial auto. Tools and equipment that move between sites are typically covered by an inland marine policy, sometimes called a contractor's equipment or tool floater.

Limits, deductibles and theft conditions vary by policy, so we'll check how each option handles tools left in a locked vehicle or on site overnight.

No. A bond guarantees your obligations to someone else, like a city, a project owner or your customers. If the surety pays a claim, you're generally expected to pay it back.

Insurance protects you. Some Ohio cities, counties and projects require license, permit, bid, performance or payment bonds, and we can help with those alongside your insurance.

It depends on the contract. On many remodels and new builds, the contract says which party carries builders risk.

Builders risk covers the structure and materials while it's under construction for covered causes like fire, wind and theft. Tell us about the project and we'll help you figure out whether you need it.

Ohio is a monopolistic workers' comp state. Employers get workers' comp coverage through the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC), not from private insurance companies, so we don't sell a private comp policy for your Ohio operations.

What we do is help you coordinate and review your BWC coverage alongside the rest of your program, and look at stop-gap employer's liability, which is often added to a business policy to help with lawsuits over employee injuries that fall outside the BWC system. This is general information, not legal advice.

Generally not. General liability is built for the damage your work causes to other property or to people, not the cost to redo the work itself.

For example, if a pipe you installed leaks and ruins a client's floors, the floor damage may be covered while replacing your pipe typically isn't. Coverage depends on the policy and the facts of the claim.