Insurance for nonresidential building construction

Nonresidential building construction log 1.9 recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers — 17 percent below private industry's 2.3 and number 28 of 37 trades here. The injury record is not the hard part of insuring this trade; the liability and contract requirements are.

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1Nonresidential buildin 1.9 per 100
2Private industry 2.3 per 100
3Rank of 37 #28

Total recordable cases per 100 full-time workers, 2024: this trade against private industry and the 37 trades on this site. Bars to scale. Source: BLS SOII Table 1.

Recordable cases

1.9

per 100 FTE, 2024

Serious cases (DART)

1.2

63% of all cases

Fatal injuries, 2024

≈8.7 per 100,000 FTE

Workforce

865,311

full-time equivalents

What goes wrong in this trade

Higher contract limits, owner-controlled insurance programmes, and indemnity clauses define the commercial GC's insurance; the injury rate itself is average for construction.

The checklist for nonresidential building construction

GL
General liability
Property damage and injury on client premises is the core exposure; every GC and most licences require a certificate.
Not required by federal law. Required in practice by most contracts, landlords and many state contractor licences.
WC
Workers' compensation
Required once you have employees in nearly every state.
Required by state law in nearly every state once you have employees; the employee-count threshold and exemptions are set state by state and are not reproduced here.
Auto
Commercial auto liability
Trucks and vans carrying crews and material.
State minimum auto liability applies to business vehicles. Interstate for-hire carriers of vehicles 10,001 lb GVWR and up must carry the 49 CFR 387.9 minimums ($750,000 non-hazardous property; $1,000,000 oil; $5,000,000 bulk hazmat).
Tools
Inland marine (tools and equipment)
Tools and material on site and in the truck are not covered by a property policy.
Not required by law.
Bond
Surety bond
State contractor licences commonly require a licence bond; public jobs require performance bonds.
Many state contractor licences require a licence bond; public work requires bid and performance bonds under state law and, federally, the Miller Act.
Umbrella
Commercial umbrella / excess
Commercial GCs often ask for limits above a standard GL.
Not required by law; required by many general contractors and commercial landlords.
E&O
Professional liability (E&O)
Design-build and scheduling decisions are advice exposures GL does not cover.
Not required by federal law; some state licences and client contracts require it.
Cyber
Cyber liability
Project management systems hold owner and sub data.
Not required by law; required by some health-care and corporate contracts.

Red tags mark policy types that a law or licence usually requires; green tags are what contracts, landlords and clients ask for. Tailor the list for your situation (no employees, no vehicles, alcohol) with the checklist tool.

What the injury record means for the premium

Nonresidential building construction: total recordable cases, cases with days away/restriction/transfer (DART) and cases with days away from work, per 100 FTE, 2024, columns to scale.

With 1.9 cases per 100 workers the workers' compensation base rate for this class is comparatively modest, and only 63 percent of cases involved days away, restriction or transfer. Where the premium goes instead is liability: property damage and injury on client premises is the core exposure; every gc and most licences require a certificate, and that is a general-liability and professional-liability question rather than a payroll one. Expect the certificate requirements in your contracts to matter more than your loss history.

The nearest trades by injury rate are masonry contractors (1.9), automotive repair and maintenance (1.9), child care services (1.9); the same payroll insured in those classes would start from a similar workers' comp base.

Legal, licence or contract?

Fixed by law

Workers' compensation once you have employees, in nearly every state (threshold and exemptions set by the state; not reproduced here).
State minimum auto liability on any vehicle the business operates.

Asked for by contracts and licences

Getting quotes. Take this checklist to a broker who writes nonresidential building construction — ask them to quote each line separately so you can see what the 1.9-per-100 class rate is doing to the workers' comp figure versus the liability lines. This site does not sell or quote insurance.

Sources: BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Table 1 (2024), incidence rates per 100 full-time workers; BLS SOII Table 3 (2024), hours worked by detailed industry; BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Table A-1 (2024). Fatal rate per 100,000 FTE is derived (count ÷ hours × 200,000,000) and approximate. Checked 2026-10-23.