The load leaves the ground and everything under it is your problem.
Commercial insurance for crane, rigging and steel erection contractors — written around the lift itself, the equipment on it, and the contract you signed before the boom went up.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What crane and rigging businesses actually need.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — A dropped or swung load damages property that was never part of your job, and the people underneath it were not your employees.
Workers compensation
Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.
Without it — Struck-by and caught-between are the fatality classes of this trade, and comp is the line that pays for them.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — The crane itself is usually the largest single asset the business owns, and it moves between sites on public roads.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — A boom truck is a vehicle when it is driving and a machine when it is lifting, and the two are not covered by the same thing.
Equipment breakdown & spoilage
Covers the walk-in, the compressor and the line when they fail from the inside — a mechanical or electrical breakdown is excluded by property policies, and the stock that thawed goes with it.
Without it — Hydraulic and electrical failure stops the lift, and the standby cost falls on somebody.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — A dropped load reaches numbers a primary limit was never sized for, and the contract usually names one.
Contractors pollution liability
Bodily injury, property damage and clean-up caused by a pollutant your work released — chemical drift, run-off, fuel spills. The standard general liability form excludes all of it.
Without it — A hydraulic burst on a finished surface or into a drain is a pollution claim before it is a property one.
Surety bonds
License, bid and performance bonds. A bond guarantees you will finish the job — it protects the other party, not you, which is the part most people get wrong.
Without it — Public and industrial work is bonded work, and the bond decides which contracts can be bid.
Business income
Replaces the profit and pays the ongoing bills while a covered loss keeps you closed — the part of a fire claim that is not the building.
Without it — One crane out of service is one crew idle and a schedule of lifts that has to be re-booked.
What our crane and rigging clients ask us.
Is the crane covered while it is lifting, or only while it is driving?
Two different policies, and this is the one that catches people. A boom truck is a vehicle when it is driving, covered by commercial auto, and a machine when it is set up and lifting, covered by inland marine. A gap between the two is how a claim ends up with nobody paying it.
What does a contract usually require from a crane company?
Higher limits than most trades and a longer list of endorsements — additional insured on a primary and non-contributory basis, waiver of subrogation, and frequently an umbrella at five or ten million because of what a dropped load can reach.
Do you cover bare rental, where somebody else operates it?
Yes, and it is worth flagging at quote because it changes the risk completely. Renting the crane with your operator and renting it bare are different exposures, and the contract usually decides who carries the liability rather than the policy.
What about riggers liability?
Ask for it by name. Property in your care while it is being lifted is excluded by general liability under the care, custody and control exclusion, and riggers liability is the cover that answers it.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.