Smarter Carpenter Insurance

You’ll need to carry carpenter’s insurance for most jobs. Whether your client requests it or it’s part of your certification, carrying the right carpenter business insurance is the best way to protect your work. You’ve worked too hard to build your business and your reputation to lose your livelihood on a slip and fall injury, or a weather-related accident that destroys your tools.

Your carpenter insurance rates can vary based on the type of work that you’re doing and the locations that you’re doing it in. If you’re doing interior work, your rates may be different than if you’re doing exterior work over 3 stories high. Your rates might also increase based on the number of workers you have with you, such as if they’re 1099 contractors or covered under W2.

Carpenters should purchase business insurance as soon as they go into business, and many licenses will require licensees to be insured in order to work. Even if that insurance coverage isn’t legally required, carrying insurance from day one makes sure that you won’t be held personally liable for accidents and injuries that can happen on the job site.

A certificate of insurance (or “COI”) is the proof of insurance you receive after purchasing your policy, just like you have for your car insurance. These can be paper copies or digital, but are crucially important. Some job sites will require you to show a current COI before starting work.