Insurance and liability questions

The coverages our content names

General liability, for damage to the property during the work. Workers compensation, where the contractor has employees, because an uninsured injury on a homeowner property can become the homeowner problem. And where the contractor performs measurement as well as mitigation, homeowners are told to ask how professional liability is handled, since a measurement is advice as well as a service.

We do not publish required limits. Requirements vary by state and by carrier, and a figure we invented would be exactly the kind of claim our editorial standards prohibit.

• General liability — property damage during the work.
• Workers compensation, where employees are on site.
• Professional liability, where measurement is offered alongside mitigation.
• Vehicle coverage, where a vehicle is on the property.

What a certificate of insurance proves, and what it does not

A certificate shows that a policy existed on the date it was issued. It does not show that the policy is in force today, that it has not been cancelled, or that the work in question falls inside its scope. Homeowners are told all three of those things plainly.

The verification that actually works is a certificate naming the homeowner as certificate holder, sent by the carrier or agent rather than forwarded by the contractor. Contractors who arrange that come out of our content well, because it is the version that cannot be edited in transit.

Subcontractors, which is where coverage gaps live

Electrical work is frequently subcontracted, and a homeowner who verified the mitigation contractor coverage may not have verified the person doing the wiring. Our content tells them to ask who performs each part of the scope and whether subcontractors carry their own coverage.

A contractor who answers this before being asked is answering the question homeowners most often forget to ask, which is a good position to be in.

Licensing is a separate question, and we keep them separate

Insurance is not licensing and licensing is not insurance. Homeowners are taught to verify credentials with the issuing authority and coverage with the carrier, because they are different facts held by different parties.

Where a state licenses radon professionals — Illinois licenses both measurement and mitigation under the statute we cite — the licence is verifiable through the state programme. Neither verification substitutes for the other.

What we do not tell homeowners

We do not tell them what coverage limits to require, because that varies by jurisdiction and we have no basis for a figure. We do not tell them a particular contractor is adequately insured, because we do not verify insurance on behalf of homeowners and we say so.

What we verify is the credential, with the issuing authority, and that is stated exactly that narrowly on our contractor review page. Overstating our own verification would be the same failure we warn homeowners about.