Contractor Insurance Requirements in Washington

Washington contractor registration includes a statutory GL requirement. Contractors must maintain public liability and property damage insurance of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or a $250,000 combined single limit. Many owners still require $1,000,000 per occurrence for remodels, roofing and multifamily work. The citation trail is RCW 18.27.050. Treat the quoted number, when one exists, as a licensing floor rather than a safe project limit. A homeowner should request a current Certificate of Insurance showing the exact legal name, policy number, effective dates, occurrence and aggregate limits, products/completed operations, and any additional-insured wording required by the contract or permit office. Where Washington does not publish a statewide GL minimum, ProFix describes market ranges only as verification guidance, not as law. Roof, structural, excavation, mold, fire, solar and multi-trade projects should usually be reviewed for umbrella or excess liability because standard GL can contain residential, roofing, pollution, subsidence or subcontractor exclusions.

Washington requires industrial insurance for covered workers and runs a state workers' compensation system through Labor & Industries. Sole proprietors or partners with no covered employees may be outside the default payroll coverage, but hiring workers, using covered subcontract labor or public work can change the answer quickly. Cite RCW 51.12.020; RCW 51.16.060. Washington is a monopolistic state-fund jurisdiction for most workers' compensation; employers usually report to L&I rather than buying a private WC policy. Stop-gap employer liability may still be purchased separately. For residential hiring, the key question is not only whether the contractor has a policy, but whether the people entering the home are covered by that policy. Ask whether subcontractors are employees, independent businesses with their own WC, or excluded owners. If the contractor says it is exempt, request the state exemption form or written statutory basis and keep it with the contract file. A GL policy does not pay statutory wage-loss and medical benefits for an injured worker, and an occupational accident policy is not always a substitute for workers' compensation.

Registration also requires a continuous surety bond or assignment of savings. Washington increased the standard bond amounts to $30,000 for general contractors and $15,000 for specialty contractors, with higher bonds possible for some past violations or risk conditions. The legal anchor is RCW 18.27.040; WAC 296-200A-030. A license bond is not the same thing as liability insurance: it is a surety promise that may reimburse a claimant only after a covered violation, and the surety normally seeks reimbursement from the contractor. It also is not always a performance bond guaranteeing completion of one homeowner's project. For residential work, ask who the obligee is, the bond amount, the effective dates, cancellation notice, and whether the bond is tied to the state license, a city registration, a right-of-way permit or a specific contract. For public or large commercial work, separate bid, performance and payment bonds can be required even when no residential license bond exists.

Washington divides contractors into general and specialty registration rather than a separate residential GC license. Residential work still needs registration before advertising or contracting, while commercial and public jobs layer on bid, performance and payment bonds plus prevailing-wage filings. For insurance review, residential work should be tested against the homeowner contract, permit office, lender, HOA or condo requirements, and the license classification. Commercial work usually scales faster because leases, architects, public owners and general contractors often require additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, primary-and-noncontributory wording, higher auto limits and umbrella coverage. A contractor who is legal for a small repair may still be underinsured for a structural addition, roof replacement, fire restoration or job involving subcontractors.

Electrical contractors, plumbers, manufactured/mobile-home installers, elevators and fire-protection scopes have separate Washington credentials. HVAC work often falls under specialty contractor registration plus electrical/plumbing rules for wiring, gas or hydronic work. Lead and asbestos work require separate controls. Federal overlays still matter in every state: renovation of pre-1978 painted surfaces can require EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting compliance under 40 C.F.R. Part 745, and asbestos disturbance can trigger OSHA construction asbestos rules at 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1101 plus state notification or licensing. Specialty insurance should match the hazard. Ask about professional liability for design-build advice, pollution or microbial coverage for mold and sewage, rigging/crane coverage for HVAC rooftop units, and hot-work controls for welding or torch-down roofing. A general liability COI with a low premium can be misleading if the trade that caused the loss is excluded.

Use L&I's contractor lookup to confirm active registration, bond, insurance and workers' comp account status. Then call or email the insurance producer named on the COI. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner can verify carrier authority and help with insurance complaints. Use three documents together: the state or local license record, the COI, and the bond or workers' compensation proof. The license board URL for Washington is https://lni.wa.gov/licensing-permits/contractors/, and the insurance regulator URL is https://www.insurance.wa.gov/. Match the business name, DBA, address and license number across all documents; mismatches are the fastest way to spot borrowed insurance or an unlicensed subcontractor. Call the producer listed on the COI, not a phone number supplied only in a text message. For larger residential jobs, require updated certificates before each draw and before final payment. This is an insurance-compliance checklist, not legal advice, and the local permit office can impose stricter conditions than the statewide baseline.