Liability, builders risk, equipment, and workers’ comp built around your trade and your contracts. Independent agency in Garner, NC, writing Johnston County contractors through Erie and other carriers. Certificates out the same day.
Your techs are in a different crawlspace every hour. Your vans carry twenty thousand dollars of gauges, recovery units, and parts. The four-ton system you ordered for Tuesday’s install is sitting in a customer’s garage tonight. A one-size business policy doesn’t follow any of that. HVAC contractor insurance does.
Bailey Insurance Agency has insured heating and air companies across Garner, Clayton, and Johnston County for over a decade. We’re an independent agency, so we place HVAC contractors with Erie Insurance’s contractor program and with other carriers when a company’s fleet or work mix fits better elsewhere. Below is what an HVAC policy should actually include, not a generic list.
An HVAC contractor’s package combines liability coverage for the damage your work can cause, property coverage for your equipment wherever it is, auto coverage for your fleet, and workers’ compensation for your crew. The pieces:
General liability responds when your operations or your completed work injure someone or damage their property: a dropped condenser on a deck, a torch that scorches attic insulation, or a system installed two years ago that fails and floods a finished ceiling. That last one is products and completed operations coverage, and for an HVAC company it’s the most important part of the policy.
Two provisions every HVAC owner should understand: GL does not pay to redo your own faulty work (it pays for what the faulty work damaged), and standard GL excludes pollution, which can be argued to include refrigerant releases and carbon monoxide incidents. We’ll show you the pollution endorsement options.
Most general contractors and property managers require one million dollars per occurrence and two million aggregate before you’re allowed on site. You can request a certificate from us the same day.
Your shop’s property policy stops at the shop door. The equipment you’ve bought for a job, from the moment it leaves the supplier until it’s installed and accepted, is covered by an installation floater. The gauges, vacuum pumps, recovery machines, ladders, and hand tools in your vans are covered by contractor’s tools and equipment coverage. Both are inland marine policies, and both are routinely missing from HVAC packages written by agents who don’t specialize in trades.
Every wrapped van and company truck belongs on a business auto policy with liability limits matched to your GL. Add hired and non-owned auto for the tech who runs a parts errand in his own truck, and consider equipment-in-transit coverage for what rides in the back.
North Carolina requires workers’ compensation for any business with three or more employees, and corporate officers and LLC members count unless they’ve formally elected out. HVAC is rated as a higher-hazard class, so a written safety program and a clean claims history make a real difference in what you pay.
Smaller HVAC companies with a leased shop usually fit a business owners policy, which bundles property and general liability at a lower combined cost. Companies with a fleet of several vans, a parts inventory, and commercial new-construction work typically move to a commercial package with an umbrella.
An umbrella adds limits over general liability, auto, and employer’s liability. Many commercial and new-construction contracts in the Triangle require one. One million dollars is a common first layer.
HVAC contractors in North Carolina are licensed by the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors under the Heating Group classifications. The board does not require general liability insurance to obtain or hold the license. Workers’ compensation is required by state law at three or more employees. Everything else, including liability limits, additional insured status, and umbrella coverage, is set by your customers’ contracts and your own risk tolerance. We read those contracts with you.
Completed-operations claims on installs that fail months or years later, especially drain-line and condensate failures that cause water damage
Equipment theft from job sites and vans, particularly new units staged for install
Vehicle accidents with a fleet that’s on the road all day
Tech injuries from rooftop units, attic work, and electrical contact
Refrigerant and carbon monoxide incidents that fall into the pollution gap of a standard liability policy
Fire from brazing and soldering in finished spaces
We’re an independent agency in Garner, NC, not a call center. We write HVAC companies through Erie Insurance, which has a strong contractor program in North Carolina with the additional-insured and completed-operations forms your GC customers ask for, and through other carriers when an account fits better. We’ll look at your payroll, your fleet, your contracts, and your last three years of claims, and build the package from there.
We also write the rest of the trades you work beside: plumbing contractors, electrical contractors, mechanical contractors, and general contractors, so if you’re a mechanical contractor doing plumbing and HVAC under one roof, one conversation covers it.
For a deeper walkthrough of each coverage and what gets oversold, read HVAC Contractor Insurance in NC: What Garner and Clayton HVAC Companies Actually Need.
Bring your current declarations pages and the insurance requirements from your largest GC or property-management customer. We’ll mark what your current policy does and doesn’t satisfy and quote the gap across multiple carriers. Contact us for a free quote or to review your current coverage.
The state licensing board does not require general liability to hold an HVAC license. Workers’ compensation is required by law at three or more employees. Nearly every general contractor and property manager requires general liability before you can work for them.
Bodily injury and property damage to third parties caused by your operations or your completed work. It does not pay to redo your own defective work, and standard policies exclude pollution claims unless endorsed.
If you buy equipment for a job and it sits on site or in your van before installation, yes. Your property policy and general liability policy do not cover it.
Not under a standard general liability policy’s pollution exclusion. Ask about a limited pollution endorsement or a separate contractor’s pollution liability policy.
Premium is based on payroll, number of vehicles, revenue, the mix of residential and commercial work, and claims history. Two companies of the same size can pay very different amounts. We quote across several carriers so you see the full range.
Current clients can use our Request a Certificate form and routine certificates go out the same business day. Certificates requiring a new endorsement take longer because the policy must be amended first.
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