Best Insurance for Contractors 2024

You can get a quote by visiting Next Insurance’s website and entering information about your business. The process takes approximately 10 minutes. The carrier will usually then provide multiple quotes with different tiers of coverage. We received the following options when researching this article:

1. Basic costs $1,007.84 monthly for $1 million of total general liability and $20,000 of negligence lawsuit coverage. This is what Next calls errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.
2. Premier costs $1,081.26 monthly for the same level of coverage as Basic but also includes an endorsement for $10,000 in stolen or damaged tools.
3. Deluxe costs $1,175.67 monthly for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million in general liability coverage. It also contained $25,000 per occurrence, $50,000 in negligence coverage, and $15,000 for tools and equipment.

These quotes were for same-day coverage and could be purchased online. Alternatively, you could call and speak with an agent to finalize your policy.

Next offers a business owner’s policy (BOP) and workers’ compensation insurance too, and works with partners to help you find commercial auto insurance

Next Insurance is a newer company but is rapidly expanding into more states with extensive coverage. It has received many customer reviews from its policyholders—on its website^[1], it has published over 5,000 verified buyer reviews with an average score of 4.7 out of 5 stars.

These positive reviews are supported by other data. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks complaints filed against state insurance regulation bodies. Next has lower-than-expected complaints nationwide.

Convenience is an area where Next shines. While it is not open 24/7, you can manage your policy, change coverage, file claims and, as previously discussed, create and share COIs online or via the app (available on both iOS and Android).

Next offers insurance for more than 900 different industries, so if you are a contractor in a field outside of construction, odds are you can still purchase a policy through Next.

Simply Business shines by allowing you to compare quotes. For example, in researching this article, we received six quotes for general liability insurance. All of them were for the same type and level of coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. The prices ranged from $69.97 monthly to $249.90 monthly, and coverage from Frank Winston Crum was the cheapest: $233.30 was due today, followed by 10 monthly installments of $69.97.

All of the quotes could be purchased online, or you could call and speak with an agent before purchasing.

Simply Business works with top providers to offer nationwide coverage. Its customers are happy with their experience. On Trustpilot^[2], the broker has 4.7 out of 5 stars from over 1,100 reviewers.

As a broker, it does not handle claims and its claims reporting process is to direct you to the carrier who underwrites the policy. However, if you are having problems, it has a process for helping you to get the claim started. It also does not handle any of the claims directly.

It does, however, give you the ability to manage your policy either online or by contacting one of its agents. This includes requesting and obtaining a COI.

Nationwide is moving away from online quotes. If you start the quote process online, it is usually hit or miss on whether Nationwide will offer a quote online. If it does, it rarely provides the option to purchase the policy online. Fortunately, we did not run into this roadblock when researching this article.

We received a quote in about 10 to 15 minutes for $8,324 annually, or $1,387 down followed by 10 monthly payments of $693.67. This quote was for a general liability policy with $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, but no coverage for tools or equipment. The coverage, however, was available for the same day—and it could even be purchased online.

In 2022, Nationwide had pretty high complaints per the NAIC. However, in 2023 the complaints dropped significantly, and in J. D. Power’s 2023 customer satisfaction survey for small business owners, Nationwide ranked first.

In terms of convenience, Nationwide has in-house adjusters for claims resolution, offers a 24/7 call center for loss reporting and customer service, and provides online account maintenance for your policy. It works with both independent and captive agents, through whom you can access many services, like obtaining a COI.

Nationwide maintains robust loss control and risk management services for its customers, especially ones that work in construction or other high-risk industries. These services are free for its customers.

You can get a quote online or through the Thimble app, and it’s worth mentioning that the company has one of the quickest quoting systems of any provider on this list. It advertises that you can get a quote in 60 seconds—and that isn’t far off the mark.

We received a quote for $1 million in total general liability that costs $172.09 for 10 months with $434.18 due upfront. This was for same-day coverage and could be purchased online. The policy included $2 million for products-completed operations, $1 million for personal and advertising injury, and $100,000 for damages to rented premises.

For $14.58 a month, you could add $2,500 in equipment coverage. This included a $500 deductible.

During the quoting process, you can customize the quote by adding or subtracting coverages and adjusting limits. For example, we could increase the general liability from $1 million to $2 million if we needed higher limits.

Like Next Insurance, Thimble has an app that lets you manage your policy and claims. It even has a compliance certificate manager feature to help you with running a project. Enter your email address, and Thimble will send a checklist to you or any other parties involved. Then, through the dashboard, you will see the status of the requests for certificates.

The provider is well-reviewed by its customers. On Trustpilot^[3], Thimble has over 1,600 reviews with an average score of 4.4 out of 5.

Thimble is not open 24/7. In my research, I found that if you call the number, it is difficult to reach anyone live—an automatic greeting just lists different email addresses for various departments. If you become a Thimble customer, just know that the app will be your primary tool for policy management and communication with the company.

Similar to Next Insurance, biBERK’s quote system is fairly fast and generates three tiers of coverage for you to select which one fits your business needs. We received three quotes for a BOP:

1. Basic costs $4,590 yearly with $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate with $60,000 in property and $1.2 million for the building.
2. Preferred costs $4,979 yearly. The preferred option had the same coverage as above but included equipment breakdown and water backup for the building.
3. Elite is the most comprehensive option and costs $5,431 annually for our quote. It included the above with many other more specialized coverages like local ordinances or law coverage and utility services coverage.

You could purchase any of the options online—but none of them were for same-day coverage.

biBERK is a newer provider and is still rolling out coverage. It publishes a coverage map with what coverage is available in each state. Unfortunately, not every coverage is widely available. For example, professional liability is available in every state, whereas general liability is only available in about half of the US. Check out our review of biBERK to learn more.

Like other providers, biBERK publishes customer reviews on its website^[4]. It has a score of 4.9 out of 5 stars from over 40,000 reviews. Helpfully, you can sort reviews by highest or lowest score to see what people like or don’t like about biBERK quickly.

You can manage your policy, pay your bill, and create a COI on its website. However, finding contact hours is difficult. Their call center is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET.