A vented charge is a pollution claim, and your GL excludes it.
Commercial insurance for heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors — written around refrigerant, combustion and rooftop work.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What HVAC businesses actually need.
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 — Refrigerant released during service is a pollution event under the exclusion your general liability policy already carries, so the base policy is the wrong place to look for it.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — A unit installed wrong damages the building it sits in — condensate through a ceiling, a rooftop leak, a flooded plant room.
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 — Rooftop and attic work, heavy equipment and brazing put crews in falls and burns rather than strains.
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 — A system sized or specified incorrectly performs badly for years without ever breaking, and that is a professional claim rather than an accident.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — Service trucks carrying cylinders and recovery equipment are on the road all day, and the cargo changes the conversation after a collision.
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 — Recovery machines, vacuum pumps, gauges and torches are portable and are stolen as a set.
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 — The shop’s own compressors and electrical plant fail like any other machinery, and property insurance treats that failure as maintenance.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — A carbon monoxide injury is a bodily injury claim against completed work, and it does not stay inside a primary limit.
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 — A fire or loss at the shop stops the trucks going out, and the payroll continues while the revenue does not.
What HVAC operators ask us.
Why would my general liability not cover a refrigerant release?
Because a standard general liability policy carries a pollution exclusion, and refrigerant is a pollutant under it. That catches the most ordinary event in the trade — a charge vented during service, a line cut without recovery, a leak from a unit you last touched. The fix is not exotic: contractors pollution coverage either alongside the general liability or endorsed onto it. What matters is that somebody has actually looked, because a policy sold as "HVAC insurance" with the exclusion untouched will fail on exactly the claim the trade produces.
What is the carbon monoxide exposure and how serious is it?
It is the least frequent and most severe thing on the list. A furnace, boiler or flue installed or serviced incorrectly can put carbon monoxide into an occupied building, and the result is bodily injury to a family or a workforce rather than damage to property. It is a completed operations claim, so it arrives after the job, and it is the reason combustion work is underwritten more carefully than cooling work. It is also the reason an umbrella is not optional on an account doing residential heating.
Does refrigerant type matter to underwriters?
It has started to. The move to lower-global-warming refrigerants has brought mildly flammable classifications into equipment that previously had none, which changes the fire conversation on storage, transport and service. Carriers are asking what you handle and how it is stored. If you have upgraded recovery equipment or changed storage practice, that is a favourable fact and worth putting on the application rather than waiting to be asked.
My payroll swings hard between summer and winter. Does that hurt me?
It does not have to, but it needs to be set up correctly or the audit will be unpleasant. Seasonal trades get caught by policies rated on an annual payroll estimate that assumed a flat year. Estimating honestly and reviewing mid-term is cheaper than a large audit premium at expiry, and some carriers will work with a reporting basis instead. This is worth raising at quote rather than at renewal.
What do commercial building owners require from HVAC contractors?
Additional insured on ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, and proof of workers compensation for anyone on the roof. Rooftop access frequently comes with its own conditions, and some managing agents require higher limits for work above occupied floors. Send the contract over before signing and we will tell you what is already in place.