What's the difference between a performance bond and my general liability policy?

They solve different problems. GL covers third-party injury and property damage claims against your work. A payment and performance bond is a surety product that guarantees you'll finish the job as contracted, protecting the project owner if you don't. Public and larger commercial contracts often require both — we place the insurance side and can point you toward bonding resources for the rest.

A GC wants me to enroll in their OCIP — do I still need my own policy?

Yes. An Owner- or Contractor-Controlled Insurance Program covers you only for that specific project under the owner's master policy. Your own GL and workers comp still need to stay active for every job outside that wrap-up, and for any gaps the OCIP doesn't pick up. We can help you sort out what's actually covered before you sign the enrollment paperwork.

My crews do different types of masonry work in the same week — does that affect workers comp?

It can. Structural block work and finish tuckpointing sometimes fall under different class codes, and payroll needs to be tracked accordingly. Getting this set up correctly up front is what keeps you from an unexpected true-up bill when your policy is audited at renewal.

Does my completed operations exposure grow as I take on more jobs per year?

Yes. Completed operations coverage protects you against claims that surface after you've left a job — a wall or chimney that develops a problem months later. Every job you close adds to the number of structures carrying your name, so a contractor closing 20-30 jobs a year is carrying more open tail exposure than one closing 5, which is part of why higher limits often make sense at volume.

Can I add all my GCs as additional insured without calling my agent each time?

Yes — a blanket additional insured endorsement automatically covers any GC or owner you work for. You can issue a certificate the moment you win a new job, without adding each one individually, which matters when you're mobilizing within days of a bid award.

Masonry Contractor Insurance

What Changes Once You're Running Crews, Not Just Working

A one- or two-person masonry operation buys insurance once a year and mostly forgets about it. An established contractor running multiple crews doesn't get that luxury. You might have one crew pouring footings on a new-construction job while another is three weeks into veneer and tuckpointing on a renovation across town — each phase carrying different labor exposure, different completed-operations tail, and often a different GC asking for a different set of contract terms. The paperwork side of insurance starts to look less like an annual renewal and more like an ongoing part of running the business.

Where Contractor-Scale Coverage Actually Differs

General Liability — and Why Your Open Tail Keeps Growing

The core GL policy looks the same as it does for a solo mason, but the exposure behind it doesn't. Completed operations coverage protects against a wall, chimney, or foundation that develops a problem after you've left the job — and every additional job you close in a year adds one more structure sitting out there under your name. A contractor running 20-30 jobs a year is carrying a meaningfully larger completed-operations tail than one running 5, even at similar revenue, which is one reason limits often move to $2M/$4M once you're operating at that volume.

Workers Compensation Across Multiple Crews and Job Phases

When one crew is doing structural block work and another is on finish tuckpointing the same week, you may be running more than one workers comp classification at once. Getting the class codes set up correctly per crew or per job type matters at audit time — misclassified payroll is one of the more common ways contractors end up owing an unexpected true-up at renewal. We help you set this up correctly from the start rather than discover it at audit.

Owned Equipment Fleets

Solo masons usually rent scaffolding and mixers job to job. Contractor-scale operations more often own the fleet outright — mortar mixers, mast climbers, scaffold systems, forklifts or skid steers for moving pallets of block and brick. Owned equipment needs to be scheduled on an inland marine policy with values that keep pace as you add to the fleet, rather than left to a blanket limit that quietly falls behind.

Bonds Are Not Insurance — But Contracts Often Require Both

Larger public and commercial masonry contracts frequently require a payment and performance bond in addition to your GL policy. A bond is a surety product that guarantees you'll complete the job as contracted; it protects the project owner if you don't, and it's underwritten separately from your insurance based on your financials and track record. Insurance and bonding solve different problems, but bid packages often ask for both at once — we can point you toward bonding resources even though we place the insurance side.

OCIP and CCIP Enrollment on Larger Projects

On bigger institutional or commercial jobs, the owner or general contractor sometimes runs a wrap-up program — an Owner-Controlled or Contractor-Controlled Insurance Program — that requires enrolled subcontractors to work under the project's master policy instead of their own GL for that specific job. If you've been asked to enroll in one, it's worth understanding what it does and doesn't cover before you sign on, since your regular policy still needs to stay in force for everything outside that project.

Certificates and Bid Requirements

Established contractors often need to show proof of coverage before a bid is even awarded, not just before mobilization — and with several jobs running at once, that can mean tracking multiple active certificates naming different GCs and owners simultaneously. A blanket additional insured and waiver of subrogation endorsement means you can issue a certificate the moment a new job is won, without a separate call to your agent for each one.

The jump from residential and small commercial work to larger structural contracts usually brings higher GL limit requirements, more scrutiny on subcontractor insurance, and occasionally an OCIP enrollment question. See our commercial coverage page for what those larger contracts typically require. We review your program at renewal so it keeps pace with the size of job you're bidding, rather than catching up after you've already won one. As your completed-operations tail grows with volume, it's worth understanding how umbrella coverage fits alongside your GL policy.