General Contractor Insurance Orange County — Built for How GCs Actually Work

General contractors in Orange County need at minimum Commercial General Liability, Workers' Compensation (if they have W2 employees), and Commercial Auto if vehicles are used on or between job sites. Most commercial projects and GC prime contracts also require Additional Insured endorsements (CG 20 10 and CG 20 37), Primary and Non-Contributory wording (CG 20 01), Waiver of Subrogation on GL and WC, and Completed Operations coverage. Inland Marine coverage for tools and equipment on job sites is recommended but not always required.

California general contractors should require every subcontractor to carry at minimum: Commercial General Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate on an occurrence form, Workers' Compensation at statutory limits, Commercial Auto if the sub drives to or hauls materials to the job site, and an Umbrella or Excess policy if the prime contract requires higher limits. The sub's GL policy must include Additional Insured status for both ongoing and completed operations, Primary and Non-Contributory wording, and Waiver of Subrogation. Coverage should be confirmed through both the certificate of insurance and the actual endorsements — the certificate alone is not sufficient.

The California Contractors State License Board requires all licensed contractors to maintain Workers' Compensation insurance if they have employees, and to keep that coverage current to maintain an active license. A lapse in WC coverage — even briefly — can trigger a license suspension. General contractors licensed under a B classification are also required to carry a contractor's bond. The CSLB does not set a minimum GL requirement, but prime contracts, project owners, and subcontractor agreements typically impose their own GL requirements that far exceed state minimums.

Primary and Non-Contributory means the subcontractor's insurance policy responds first to a covered claim before any other policy — including the general contractor's own GL policy. Without this wording, both policies might share the loss proportionally, which can exhaust the GC's own limits on a claim that should have been entirely the sub's responsibility. Most commercial GCs and project owners in Orange County require Primary and Non-Contributory wording on every subcontractor certificate.

A Waiver of Subrogation prevents an insurance carrier from suing a named party — in this case the general contractor — to recover money it paid on a claim. Without a Waiver of Subrogation, a sub's carrier can pay a claim and then sue the GC to recover those funds, even if the GC is listed as an Additional Insured. General contractors typically require Waiver of Subrogation on a subcontractor's GL, Workers' Compensation, and Commercial Auto policies.

Completed Operations coverage extends a subcontractor's GL policy to cover claims that arise after the work is finished — not just while the work is in progress. For general contractors, this matters because construction defect claims often surface months or years after project completion. California's construction defect statute of repose can extend liability exposure up to ten years. GCs should require subs to carry Completed Operations coverage that extends at least one year past project completion, and many prime contracts require longer.

A certificate of insurance shows that a policy exists — it does not confirm that the required endorsements are attached. To verify coverage, request the actual endorsement pages from the sub's carrier alongside the certificate. For Additional Insured status, ask for the CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 endorsement pages. For Primary and Non-Contributory, ask for CG 20 01. For Waiver of Subrogation, ask for CG 24 04 on GL and WC 04 03 06 on Workers' Compensation. If a sub's broker cannot produce the endorsement pages, the coverage may not exist even if the certificate says it does.