Handyman Insurance FAQs

We have more insurance FAQs here.

Insurance Policies Available for Handymen:

• General liability insurance
• Workers’ compensation insurance
• Tools and equipment insurance also known as Inland marine

Benefits

• It can protect you if there’s an accident, injury, or loss.
• It demonstrates professionalism to your customers.
• It can cover tools & equipment at your location or job site.

What Type of Insurance Do I Need for My Handyman Business?

Commercial general liability insurance for Handymen

First, you may want to get a commercial general liability insurance (CGL) policy. It can cover the costs of most accidents, damage to property, and injuries to third parties.

Without coverage, you have to pay for these costs all on your own. That could be about $30,000, which is the average claim for small business property damage and accidents.

An example:  Imagine you’re cleaning out gutters for a family in your town. You set up your ladder next to the house and step away for 5 minutes to get water. While you’re away, your customer’s son trips over the ladder and gets injured. His parents take him to the hospital, angry that you left your ladder unattended. Later they sue you for their son’s medical bills and ongoing doctor’s visits. This ends up costing thousands of dollars.

Without coverage, you’ll have to pay these bills on your own, as well as legal representation. The sheer cost could end up shutting your business down. But with insurance, you’re more likely to be protected. Your plan may be able to cover the cost of medical bills, plus any legal fees along the way, up to your coverage limit.

General liability insurance usually covers:

• Bodily injury to third parties
• Third-party property damage
• Personal and advertising injury
• Medical expenses
• And more

What general liability insurance usually doesn’t cover:

• Damage to your own property
• Professional services
• Workers’ compensation or injury to your employees
• Damage to your work
• Automobiles while in business use
• Expected or intentional injury or damage

Workers’ compensation coverage for Handymen

If you have employees, you may also need workers’ compensation insurance. In fact, you should get a policy as soon as you hire your first employee, even if it’s a part-time worker. For most states, it’s a legal requirement.

It makes sense. In 2017, work injury costs added up to $161.5 billion. When an employee is injured, the average cost of a claim for a small business owner is $39,000. In the handyman profession, this could potentially be even more. That’s a lot for any business.

Fortunately, workers’ compensation may be able to cover you. It can pay for ambulance rides, emergency room visits, medications, and more. It can also cover an employees’ missed wages while they’re recovering.

An example: You’ve hired a new employee to help with a painting project. To paint over the stairs, your employee sets up a ladder. But he quickly falls and hits several stairs. After an emergency room visit, you learn he’s broken several ribs and will be out of work for a couple months recovering.

Without workers’ compensation, you may need to pay part of your employee’s salary, plus his medical costs. Fortunately, if you have workers’ compensation, you’re likely covered. It can help you pay for his ER visit, doctor’s checkups, and part of his lost wages. Best of all, this accident may not hurt your business financially.

Workers’ compensation can usually cover:

• Medical payments
• Partial lost wages
• Rehabilitation expenses
• Death benefits

However, workers’ compensation insurance usually does not cover:

• Client or vendor accidents
• OSHA fines
• Work safety improvements
• Wages for a worker who replaces the injured employee

Tools and equipment insurance for Handymen

Tools and equipment insurance – also known as inland marine insurance – is a type of coverage that specifically protects (you guessed it) the tools and equipment you use while on the job.

This can cover the value of your tools and equipment if they’re stolen or damaged during the course of your work. Normal wear and tear of tools and equipment is not covered.

For example, you’re working at a job site and you take a lunch break. You lock your tools in your truck and plan to get them when you return. But when you come back, you see that someone broke into your truck and stole your tools.

Without equipment and small tools coverage, you could face paying for replacing your tools out-of-pocket. That could mean you face a hefty sum to replace your property.

If you had an equipment and small tools policy to protect you, you could be covered for the cost of the claim (up to your policy’s limit), which includes tool reimbursement.

Professional liability insurance

In some cases, handyman businesses may want to look into adding a professional liability insurance policy to their existing insurance coverage. PL insurance can cover the cost of claims resulting from mistakes or errors that occur from your handyman services.

For example, let’s say that you repaired a bookshelf for a client, where he likes to store his expensive knicknacks from all over the world. However, a few days after you repaired the bookshelf, it collapsed, resulting in damage to his collection. He’s furious and sues you for the cost to replace his prized possessions.

If the client can show that your negligent work – or that of one of your employees – caused the damage, your professional liability insurance could pay out the cost of the claim.

Keep in mind that professional liability insurance doesn’t cover claims resulting from intentional negligence. For example, if one of your employees got mad at a client and decided to do shoddy work on his or her project, your PL policy wouldn’t cover any resulting claims, since it was done on purpose.

Learn more about professional liability insurance and how it can protect your business.

Please note that we are always adding new insurance offerings to our website. Stay tuned for more products like commercial auto insurance, commercial property insurance, and more.

Why You Need Handyman Insurance

Handyman insurance is worth the cost.

Insurance can seem expensive. And, when you’re just starting out or if you work part-time, you might wonder if you really need coverage.

The cost of handyman insurance is very small compared to what you could pay in medical bills or legal fees. If you don’t have a plan, you could end up paying pricey penalty fees.

As a handyman, you can also get sued. In fact, 43% of small business owners say they’ve been threatened or dealt with a civil lawsuit. No business is immune, no matter how big or small.

Even if you haven’t done anything wrong, you can get sued. For example, let’s say you paint the outside of a customer’s house. A couple of years later, they come back to you, dissatisfied with your services. The paint is peeling, and they sue you for the costs of repainting. Even if it’s not your fault, you’ll likely still need to hire a lawyer to defend your business.

It shows you’re professional and trustworthy. Most homeowners want you to carry insurance. It’s even a good idea to showcase your insurance policy in your proposal of work. When deciding between two handymen with similar prices, homeowners may choose someone who appears professional and trustworthy. A good insurance plan helps you demonstrate these qualities.

If you buy insurance through Simply Business, you’ll get a certificate of insurance (COI) that proves you have coverage. You can also share your insurer’s logo with customers.

Handyman insurance can get you more clients.

Customers are more discerning than ever – and that means more of them may want to see proof of insurance coverage before hiring you to perform your handyman services.

Having liability insurance demonstrates that you take customer safety seriously. You’re essentially showing customers that if you make any mistake or cause an accident while performing your work, you have the means to repay or repair that damage via your handyman liability insurance policy.

If you didn’t have that insurance policy, your customer would have to rely on you to pay out of your own pocket. And if you don’t pay, they’d have to take on legal costs themselves to pursue you for damages.

Small business insurance provides the best of both worlds because it protects your business finances, while also ensuring your customer won’t be left standing with a massive repair bill in case your work causes damage.

Even if your client doesn’t require proof of handyman insurance, you can use your policy for a competitive edge. For example, if a customer is deciding between you and another handyman for a project, having a policy may convince your customer that you’re the right professional for the job.

Your state may require handyman insurance.

Each state has different rules about what constitutes a handyman – and in some states, depending on the amount of work you do, you could be classified as a contractor.

Your state’s laws may be the determining factor in whether or not you’re required to take out liability insurance. If you happen to do work that classifies you as a contractor rather than a handyman business, your state may recommend getting a contractor’s license and purchasing insurance to accompany it.

Check out our state-based insurance hub, where you can find your state’s exact insurance requirements, including what specific insurance policies you may need.

Handyman insurance can protect your business finances.

It may be easy to assume small business insurance is just another thing you have to pay for, but that means you may be missing out on its biggest benefit:

It can protect your business finances in case the worst ever happens. Some of those claims are wildly expensive – we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars.

Without some kind of general liability policy, you and your business would be responsible for paying out those claims. And if your business doesn’t have enough money to cover those claims? Then you could be held personally liable.

Handyman Insurance Costs: What You Need to Know

We’ve talked a lot about how handyman insurance is worth it – but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, exactly how much does handyman insurance cost? And what can you expect from the overall buying process?

Here at Simply Business, we’re conscious of the fact that most business owners are on a budget. That’s why we made it incredibly easy to go through our quote form and get a price for the kinds of coverages most handyman services may need, like handyman liability insurance, commercial property insurance, professional liability insurance, and more.

But not all handyman businesses are the same, which is why you might see a different policy prices from insurance providers. So what gives? Why are prices different even though you may perform the same services as another handyman business?

Let’s dive into what you can expect when you get handyman insurance through Simply Business, including the average handyman insurance cost from our handyman insurance companies.

First, gather up any relevant information from your handyman business.

In order to determine the cost of your handyman liability insurance, we’ll need to get a few pieces of info about your business. Expect to answer questions like:

• If you work by yourself or you have employees
• Where you work (location matters!)
• The types of handyman work you perform
• And more

These bits of information help our handyman insurance companies determine how much risk your handyman business may be exposed to, and therefore how much general liability coverage you may need.

Next, take ten minutes to fill out our quote form.

When it comes to handyman businesses, time is money. That’s why our quote form is easy to use, whether you’re buying on your laptop or right on your smartphone.

After all, you’ll never know when you might need great insurance coverage!

Our quote form will ask you straightforward questions about your business. Behind the scenes, our handyman insurance providers can use your answers to come up with a policy quote that’s tailored to your specific business.

At the end of the quote form, you’ll be taken to a page where you can compare policies from different insurance providers.

Choose the best handyman insurance policy for your business.

At Simply Business, we’ve empowered small business owners to pick and choose the policy that works best for them. More importantly, we’ve done it in a way where insurance options are easy to understand, so you know exactly what you’re buying.

Because in the end, having the power of choice is key to finding affordable small business insurance. Other handyman insurance companies simply tell you what they’re going to give you, meaning you won’t know if there’s a better option out there.

But not with us. We take you through each handyman insurance quote so you can understand exactly what you’re getting for your money.

It’s just another reason why we’re the preferred destination for the best handyman insurance!

Finally, buy your handyman insurance policy with just the tap of a finger.

If you see a handyman business insurance policy you like, you can buy it with just the tap of a finger (or click of your mouse). Once you buy, your handyman business will be covered by your policy, so you can work with confidence.

And if you need to show proof of insurance coverage right away, we can help there, too. We’ll email your policy docs after you buy, plus you can request even more certificates of insurance to prove you’re covered.

Best of all? Your docs are free, so you’ll never have to deal with unexpected handyman insurance costs.

Need help? Our insurance agents are a call away.

We get it: Sometimes purchasing insurance can be confusing at best (and downright intimidating at worst).

That’s why our Customer Solutions team is staffed with expert insurance agents who know how to get you the best deal without sacrificing insurance coverage.

If at any point you have questions or aren’t sure if you’re getting the right product, give one of our agents a call at 855-930-2844. They’ll be more than happy to help you pick the right insurance coverage for your handyman business.

Why Choose Simply Business?

Need quality handyman insurance fast? You’ve come to the right place.

Simply Business is an online insurance brokerage that specializes in helping small business owners, like you, get financial protection. We’re one of the fastest-growing online brokers for business insurance and have supported thousands of small business owners across the nation.

If you’re wondering why you should choose us, it’s simple:

• We’re trustworthy and reassuring. No one wants to experience an accident, injury, or lawsuit. But if one happens to you, we have your back. You trust us to cover your costs and help you get back on your feet.
• We make it easy to compare free quotes. Insurance doesn’t need to be complicated. Our online quote form recommends policies that perfectly meet your needs.

You’ve worked hard to build your handyman business. It’s time to protect it with coverage you can trust. All you need is 10 minutes today to secure your business’s future.

Looking for more resources for your handyman business? We have some helpful guides to get you started:

How to Find Handyman Jobs Online

Should a Handyman Be Licensed and Insured? What You Need to Know

How to Start a Handyman Business