Whenever you hire anyone to do work on your home, you want to make sure whomever you choose has Liability and Workers Compensation Insurance in case they damage your property, injure someone, or they themselves get hurt on the job.

BEFORE you allow your contractor to start any work, you need to obtain a Certificate of Insurance directly from their insurance company or agent naming you as an Additional Insured, listing you and your property as the Certificate Holder and the scope of the work they are being hired to do. This document should have a current date, and list their agent, insurance company, contact numbers, policy numbers and policy terms. Do not take their word for it that they have coverage. If they have it, it should not take anything but a phone call to their agent to get it emailed directly to you. You also don’t want to see a copy of their insurance policy, as that declarations page may show insurance for a full year but could have cancelled a month ago.

Specifically for Workers Comp, if they try to furnish a document stating that they are exempt from having to carry Workers Compensation Coverage, that only means that they are not required by the state to have the coverage on themselves, not that you won’t be sued by them if they fall off your roof and are injured.

Does a fully insured contractor cost more? Yes, it probably does. But it also protects you in a way that without it, you are vulnerable. I’m sure everyone has heard horror stories from someone who had hired a contractor. Ask them a follow up question of whether or not they had taken the step to get a Certificate of Insurance from that contractor ahead of time. Unfortunately, the old adage of you get what you pay for is true when hiring someone to do repairs on your home. It may be the cheaper estimate that you wind up paying much more for in the long run.

Feel free to call our Latham NY office if you have any questions.