Contractor insurance
Electrical work carries an unusual profile: the day-to-day injury exposure is serious, but the largest financial exposure is a fire that starts years after the work was finished and inspected.
Service work, new construction and specialty installations each raise different questions, and newer categories such as EV charging and solar are worth calling out specifically.
A loose connection or an overloaded circuit can sit quietly for years before it starts a fire. When it does, the claim is a building loss and possibly a fatality, and the investigation will look directly at whoever performed the work. This is the defining long-tail exposure of the trade.
Service work frequently happens without full shutdown. Arc flash and electrocution produce catastrophic injuries rather than minor ones, and the difference between a near miss and a fatality is often small.
Cutting into finished walls or working in older buildings means contact with wiring, plumbing and data that was not on any drawing.
EV charging, battery storage and solar involve equipment and load calculations that are still maturing. Carriers may ask about them specifically, and some treat them as distinct exposures.
Running circuits puts crews in confined spaces and above ceilings, where falls through drywall are routine.
Wire, fittings, tools and test equipment stored in a van overnight are a frequent theft target, and copper in particular attracts it.
General liability may help address claims alleging bodily injury or damage to someone else's property arising from your operations. Coverage depends on the policy terms and exclusions. Changing carriers without understanding how prior work is treated is a real risk in this trade.
If you have employees, electrocution and arc flash sit at the severe end, with falls, cuts and lifting making up the frequency. Whether crews perform energized work, and whether they work at height or in confined spaces, should be described accurately.
Service vans and trucks, often taken home, plus trailers for larger jobs or generator work. Inventory value inside the vehicles is usually higher than owners estimate.
Meters, testers, benders, cable pullers and thermal cameras are valuable and portable. Wire and material staged for a job can represent significant value on its own, and is commonly addressed separately from your liability policy.
This page is general information, not legal, safety or coverage advice. What a policy actually covers depends on your business operations and on the policy, carrier, terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply. Nothing here confirms eligibility or guarantees that any coverage is available to you.
Because a fire can be traced to work performed years earlier. If there is a gap in your coverage history, or if a policy handles prior work differently than you assumed, a claim from an old job can become a serious personal problem. It is worth reviewing how your policy treats work completed before the current term began.
Yes. Some carriers underwrite these as distinct exposures, and a few restrict them. Describing the work up front avoids a dispute later about whether that installation was within the scope of what was insured.
Let us know as soon as you can, so your carrier can be brought in early. Fire investigations move quickly, evidence gets preserved or lost early, and having your carrier involved from the start generally produces a better outcome than bringing them in after positions have hardened.
Call or text the office, or send a request and we will get back to you.
Dassel State Insurance Agency is based in Dassel and works with contractors throughout Minnesota.