Above two stories, most of the market stops quoting.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — Falling glass and falling tools are the claim, and a pane released from height reaches people and property well beyond the work area.

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 — Working at height with heavy, sharp material is a severity class, and it is the coverage the standard market declines first.

PEO workers comp

Places workers compensation inside a co-employment arrangement with a professional employer organization, which is how the classes carriers decline (roofing, tree work, demolition, staffing) get covered at all. The PEO becomes co-employer, runs payroll and administers claims, and the coverage sits on their master policy rather than one issued to you.

Without it — When no carrier will write the class at all, a PEO is how the payroll gets covered, and how the clean loss record that eventually wins a standard market gets built.

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 — Glass in transit and on a rack breaks, and property coverage stops at the yard.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — Racked glass on a truck is fragile cargo and a load shift is a total loss.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — Commercial contracts require limits above primary, and a fall from height exhausts them.

Contractors errors & omissions

Covers faulty workmanship and professional mistakes: the cost of the work itself being wrong, which general liability excludes by design.

Without it — Specified glazing that fails to perform — thermal, structural or acoustic — is a professional claim rather than an accident.

Commercial property

Buildings and contents, valued at what it costs to rebuild today rather than what you paid.

Without it — The shop, the racks and the stock still need replacing after a loss.

Why is glazing so hard to insure?

Two reasons, and they compound. The work is performed at height with material that is heavy, sharp and breaks without warning, which makes the workers compensation severe. And the product is installed into somebody else’s building, so a failure years later is a completed operations claim on a facade. Plenty of standard carriers simply do not write the class, which is why the placement matters more than the shopping.

Does it matter how many stories I work?

It is usually the first question and often the deciding one. Ground floor and low-rise glazing is placeable in far more markets than high-rise work, and two stories is where a large part of the appetite stops. Swing stage, boom and suspended access work narrows it further. Stating your real maximum height accurately is what gets you to the carriers who will take it — understating it is how a claim gets contested.

What do general contractors ask glaziers for?

The full stack, almost always: additional insured for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, and frequently a per-project aggregate. Glazing is a facade trade on a commercial building, so completed operations matters more here than on most subcontracts: the claim arrives years after the job, and the endorsement has to have been there all along.

Do you write auto glass as well as construction glazing?

They are different appetites and worth separating on the application. Auto glass is a service and mobile-installation exposure; architectural glazing is construction at height. Shops doing both should be described as both, because a policy written for one rarely contemplates the other.

What does a glass and glazing insurance application ask for?

The applications for glass and glazing businesses ask about 4 things above all: what kind of contracting work do you do; how many people do you employ; how do you screen or check out new equipment operators; who is your current insurance company, or your last one if you don't have coverage now. Have your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs and certificates of insurance from your subcontractors showing your company as additional insured ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.