When you pull the permit yourself, you are the general contractor. The lender, the county and the injured laborer all treat you that way.
An owner-builder pulls the building permit in their own name and hires the trades directly, saving a general contractor's fee and taking on the general contractor's liabilities. Two policies do that job. Course-of-construction insurance, which lenders call builders risk, covers the structure and materials while the house is being built, and a homeowners policy does not. Owner-builder liability covers injury to the people working on and visiting the site, and the personal liability on a homeowners policy usually excludes a construction project of this size. Workers compensation is the trap: in most states a laborer you pay by the day is your employee. We place the package for new homes, major additions and rebuilds after a loss, and we read the lender's requirements before quoting.
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.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What owner-builder businesses actually need.
Course of construction (builders risk)
The structure as it rises, materials on site and in transit, and often the existing building on a renovation.
Without it — A homeowners policy covers a finished dwelling; a fire in a framed house or a theft of delivered lumber falls outside it.
Owner-builder liability
Injury to visitors, neighbors, delivery drivers and workers who are not your employees, and damage to neighboring property.
Without it — Homeowners liability often excludes or limits a construction project the owner is running, and a subcontractor's employee injured on site sues the permit holder.
Workers compensation
Injuries to day laborers and helpers you pay directly.
Without it — A cash laborer hurt on your site is your employee in the eyes of most states, and the medical bills come to you without a policy.
Subcontractor certificate review
Not a policy but a condition: proof that every trade carries its own liability and workers compensation, naming you as an additional insured.
Without it — An uninsured framer's injured employee has nobody to claim against but the owner-builder.
Equipment and tools
Rented lifts and compactors, and owned tools stored on site.
Without it — A rental agreement makes you responsible for the machine, and job-site theft is routine.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
Theft of materials or tools from the site
Covered by Course of construction
Copper, lumber and appliances delivered ahead of installation are the target. A locked fence and a delivery schedule are what the application asks about.
Less common, severe
A worker injured on site who is not covered by a subcontractor's policy
Covered by Owner-builder liability, or workers compensation if they were your employee
The whole exposure turns on whose employee they were. Collect certificates before the trade starts, not after the injury.
Less common, severe
Fire or wind damage to the framed structure
Covered by Course of construction
A framed house is a pile of dry lumber with no sprinklers. The policy must be in force before framing starts, not when the lender asks.
Common
A neighbor's property damaged by excavation or debris
Covered by Owner-builder liability
Runoff, a cracked driveway from a concrete truck and a fence knocked down are small claims that add up, and they are all yours.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
The package covers a defined project, at a defined address, for a defined term. Anything outside those three edges is priced separately or refused.
What owner-builder coverage does not include
Building to sell
An owner who builds to sell rather than to occupy is a speculative builder in most states and needs a contractor license and a contractor policy.
Can it be placed? Yes, as a builder rather than an owner.
Defective work claims after you move in
There is no completed-operations coverage for the owner; a defect discovered later is a claim against the trade that did the work.
Can it be placed? Through the subcontractors' policies, which is why their certificates matter.
Projects that run past the policy term
Course-of-construction policies are written for a fixed period, and a project that stalls needs an extension before it lapses.
Can it be placed? Yes, by extension, if requested before expiry.
Contents moved in early
Furniture stored in the finished wing is contents, not construction, and belongs on a homeowners policy.
Can it be placed? Yes, by switching to homeowners at occupancy.
What the insurance company will ask about your owner-builder business
We read the applications the markets use for businesses in this field and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What is your company name, mailing address, and web address?
- Are you a sole proprietor, corporation, partnership, or LLC?
- How many years of experience do you have doing this type of work?
- What type of contractor licenses do you hold?
How you operate
- How many full-time and part-time employees do you have?
- What types of work do you subcontract to others?
- Do you use any other work locations besides your main address?
- Will you or your subcontractors work on fuel tanks or pipelines?
Safety and controls
- Will the building be locked and secured from unauthorized entry during the project?
- How tall will your work go—how many stories or feet above ground level?
- Will all your subcontractors carry general liability insurance of at least $1,000,000?
Your history
- Have you or any previous business you owned ever had an insurance claim?
- Do you have any active or past bankruptcy from the last five years?
Money and people
- What do you estimate your gross receipts will be in the next 12 months?
- Who are the owners and managers of your business, and what is their contact information?
Have these ready
- Your last five years of claims history, including details
- Certificates of insurance from all subcontractors naming you as additional insured
- List of equipment to be insured under this policy
- Copies of your contractor licenses
- Sample contract or other descriptive materials showing the work you do
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our owner-builder clients ask us.
Does my homeowners policy cover a house I am building myself?
Not the construction. A homeowners policy insures a finished, occupied dwelling and usually excludes or limits a building project the owner is running, both for the structure and for liability to workers. Course-of-construction insurance covers the structure while it is being built, and owner-builder liability covers the people on the site. Both are replaced by homeowners at occupancy.
How much does owner-builder insurance cost?
Course-of-construction insurance is priced on the completed value of the project and typically runs around one to two percent of that value for a year, less for a shorter term. Owner-builder liability is a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars depending on limits and the size of the project. Workers compensation, if you pay labor directly, is priced on what you pay them.
What does an owner-builder insurance application ask for?
The application we work from asks whether you are acting as general contractor for this project only, whether you own the property, how many employees or casual laborers will work on the job, whether the site is fenced and locked and whether there is a watchman, whether the building has sprinklers, the project type and whether it is new construction or a renovation, the cost split between labor and materials, the square footage, the start and finish dates, and whether the job involves crane lifts, work underground or over water, or demolition first.
Do I need workers compensation for day laborers?
In most states, yes, from the first person you pay directly to work on the site. Paying in cash does not change it. A licensed subcontractor with their own policy covers their own crew, which is why the certificate is worth more than the discount for hiring someone without one.
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.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.