Contractor insurance

Painting and drywall contractor insurance

Painting and drywall crews spend most of their time inside someone else's finished space. The exposures that drive this conversation are usually about what happens to everything around the work, not the coating itself.

What the work usually involves

Interior and exterior work carry different exposures, and spray application changes the picture again, so the split is worth describing.

  • Interior repaint in occupied homes and businesses
  • Exterior repaint, siding and trim
  • New construction painting and finishing
  • Hanging, taping, mudding and sanding drywall
  • Texture, skim coat and ceiling repair
  • Cabinet, trim and stain work
  • Power washing and surface preparation

Risks worth talking through

Overspray

This is the signature claim of the trade. Fine spray drifting onto parked cars, neighboring siding, windows or a parking lot can turn one job into a claim with many separate claimants, and the total often dwarfs the value of the job.

Working in a space full of someone else's things

Furniture, flooring, electronics and belongings sit inside the work area. Damage to property in your care and control is generally treated differently from damage to a third party's property, and the distinction surprises people.

Rags, solvents and finishes

Oil-based finishes and the rags used with them can generate heat as they cure. Fires that start in a pile of rags or a trailer after the crew leaves are a real and well-documented exposure in this trade.

Older homes and lead paint

Disturbing paint in homes built before 1978 raises its own set of questions, and many liability policies contain specific exclusions. If you work on older housing stock, it needs to be disclosed rather than assumed.

Drywall dust traveling through a finished house

Sanding dust migrates through HVAC systems and settles on everything. Cleanup claims are common and are not always what people expect a liability policy to address.

Ladders, scaffolding and lifts

Exterior work puts crews at height on ladders and lifts, often on uneven ground. This drives the injury side of the conversation more than anything else in the trade.

Coverage areas to review

General liability

The base of most painting programs is general liability, which is concerned with injury or damage you cause to other people and their property rather than with the quality of the coating. For painters, carriers will usually want to understand spray versus brush and roll application, how much exterior work you do, and the maximum height your crews reach. Being specific here tends to produce a better result than a generic description.

Workers compensation

If you have employees, falls from ladders and lifts are the dominant concern, followed by repetitive strain and solvent exposure. Payroll classification should reflect whether crews work at height and whether they perform exterior work.

Commercial auto

Vans and pickups carrying paint, sprayers and ladders, plus any trailers. Ladder racks and loads that shift are worth mentioning, as is who else drives the vehicles.

Sprayers, lifts and what stays in the van

Airless sprayers, compressors, scaffolding, ladders and lifts are usually handled through equipment coverage. A common gap is equipment left in a van or enclosed trailer overnight, which may be treated differently from equipment at a jobsite or in a shop.

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.

What to have ready for a review

  • Approximate split between interior and exterior work
  • Residential, commercial and new construction mix
  • Whether you spray, and what you spray
  • The maximum height your crews work at, and whether you use lifts
  • Whether you work on homes built before 1978
  • Employee count and payroll
  • An equipment list with values
  • Any claims or incidents from the last several years

Questions we hear

Overspray drifted onto cars down the street. Is that the kind of thing liability is for?

Damage to other people's property from your operations is generally what a liability policy is designed to address, but the outcome depends on your specific policy and any exclusions or endorsements on it. Because these claims often involve many vehicles at once, it is worth confirming how your policy handles them before spray season.

Do I need to say anything special if I work on older homes?

Yes. Lead-related exclusions are common on contractor liability policies. If you disturb paint in pre-1978 housing, that should be part of the conversation up front so there are no surprises about what your policy does and does not address.

I dropped a can on a client's hardwood floor. Is that treated the same as damaging a neighbor's property?

Often not. Property in your care, custody or control while you are working on it is frequently treated differently from damage to an uninvolved third party, and some of it may not be addressed by a standard liability form at all. This is a good example of why the specific wording matters.

Ready to talk it over?

Call or text the office, or send a request and we will get back to you.

Call 320-275-3001 Text 320-275-3001 Get a Quote

Dassel State Insurance Agency is based in Dassel and works with contractors throughout Minnesota.

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