General liability
Third-party injury and property damage from your operations, with attention to how underground and collapse exposures are treated.
Heavy equipment, buried utilities, real limits.
Site work carries the highest-severity exposures in the trades. The limits and endorsements should reflect that rather than default to a package built for a two-person shop.
What this trade actually faces
The exposures worth naming out loud
- Striking underground utilities — gas, fibre, water — where the cost of the damage far exceeds the value of the job.
- Damage to adjacent structures from excavation, vibration, or soil movement.
- Owned and rented heavy equipment, on site and in transit.
- Employees working around moving equipment and open excavations.
- Contract requirements on commercial and municipal work that specify limits and additional insureds precisely.
Coverages that answer them
What goes on the policy, and why
Contractors' equipment
Owned, leased, and rented machines, including while being transported between sites.
Rented & borrowed equipment
Rental agreements make you responsible for the machine. That responsibility needs a policy behind it.
Workers' compensation
Required for most Michigan employers, and a high-scrutiny classification in this trade.
Commercial auto
Trucks, trailers, and lowboys — including hired and non-owned exposure.
Umbrella
Higher limits, both because the severity is genuinely higher and because contracts on this work usually demand them.
Coverage descriptions are general. What a policy actually covers depends on its own terms, conditions, and exclusions, and on the carrier issuing it. A licensed agent reviews the specifics with you before anything is bound.
A hypothetical worth thinking about
A trencher catches an unmarked fibre line and a business loses service for a day. The repair cost is one thing; the interruption claim from the affected business is another, and it is the one that can exceed a standard limit. Underground exposure is where limit selection stops being a formality in this trade.
Illustration only — not a description of an actual claim, and not a statement of what any particular policy would pay.
What we need from you
Have these handy and this takes a few minutes
- Annual revenue and payroll
- Type of work: site prep, utilities, flatwork, foundations
- Owned and rented equipment values
- Whether you work on commercial or municipal contracts, and their limit requirements
- Vehicles, and any losses in the last five years
Related trades
General Contractors & Remodelers
General liability, tools, work comp, and vehicles reviewed together — with certificates issued when you need them, not three days later.
Landscapers & Lawn Care
Seasonal work changes what you need twice a year. A policy written for one season and left alone is the common failure in this trade.
Rather talk?