Protect Digest

A plain reference for contractor insurance paperwork

A plain reference for contractor insurance paperwork

Contractor coverage lines, side by side

Nine categories of coverage a contractor is commonly asked about, in generic terms. Each row gives what the line responds to, the kind of event that triggers it, who usually asks for proof, and the point most often misread. Categories, not products: no carrier, program, or price is named.

General descriptions of coverage categories. Policy wording, endorsements, and state rules govern what is actually covered in any specific case. Not insurance advice; confirm details with a licensed agent or the issuing carrier.

Protect Digest explains the insurance vocabulary that contractors run into: coverage lines, certificates, endorsements, exposure bases, and the paperwork a hiring client sends before the first invoice. It is a reference desk, not a sales page. Nothing here is a quote form, and no policy is sold on this site.

The pages answer one question each, in the order a contractor usually meets them. What kinds of insurance do contractors carry. How do you read a certificate of insurance. What determines the price. What documents does a client ask an independent contractor to produce.

The tool is a coverage-line comparison table: nine categories of contractor coverage, each with what it responds to, the kind of event that triggers it, who normally asks for proof, and the point about it that is most often misread. It is built for the moment when a contract names three coverages and you want to know which is which before you call an agent.

What this site does not do is quote prices. Rates are filed by carrier and by state and are set against a specific risk, so any number published here would be fiction. The cost page names the inputs instead, which is the durable part.

For policy language, licensing, and anything binding, the authorities are the carrier, a licensed agent or broker, and your state insurance department.