Author: Elnora Dillon
It is not easy to become a contractor in California. A contractor must be at least 18 years if age and have at least four years experience at the journeyman level. The applicant for the license must also take and pass a law and trade examination. A person who completes all the requirements and becomes a license contractor must then have California contractor insurance.
The state is very strict regarding the insurance a contractor in the state must carry. They must have such things as bodily injury, liability, property damage, general liability. There are also a large number of blanket endorsements. This is required because of the many accidents that happen on construction sites and other places a contractor and his employees might be working.
With the contractor, having this insurance there is a double benefit. Not only is he or she protected if there is an accident or injury but the property owner is protected as well. Another advantage for the property owner is that if something is installed wrong or something else is amiss there is insurance to assure them that it will be corrected at no additional cost.
Each contractor must have a Certificate of Liability Insurance from a Certificate Holder. This Certificate of Liability is a short form of the insurance policy and the Certificate holder is the insurance company. The contractor must have the short form in their possession, verifying that they have the required insurance, when on the job or signing a contract for a job. This is something that should be asked for by the client before signing a contract.
One sees, on television or in the newspaper, news of an accident on a construction site almost every day. A trench collapses, a scaffolding falls or some other mishap. This usually results in severe injuries for someone which requires medical care. Without insurance, this would erase any profit a contractor was expecting to realize from a specific job.
There are additional benefits for a contractor in having adequate insurance. Should an injury occur and a lawsuit followed they are covered from thousands of dollars in lawyer’s fees and other expenses. In addition, one is often working where there are expensive things on the premises. Should something become damaged by accident that is also covered.
Any contractor in the State of California must have adequate California contractor insurance to cover many areas. A contractor found working without such insurance is severely fined and may lose their contractor’s license for a short time or permanently. This is not what someone depending on this type of work for their livelihood wants to see happen.
California contractor insurance
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