What Does Contractor Insurance Actually Cost in NJ?
There's no single number — the honest answer depends on your trade, your trucks, and how your business is set up. Work through the sections below and you'll build a realistic range for your own operation.
- Your trade — this drives general liability, and it drives workers' comp enormously.
- How many vehicles you run — commercial auto is priced per vehicle.
- Whether you have employees, and how your business is set up — this is the big one, and it's where most contractors are surprised.
Work through the sections below and you'll build a realistic range for your own operation. Nothing here is a quote — every risk is underwritten on its own merits.
By trade — $1M / $2M.
| Trade | Annual GL range |
|---|---|
| Flooring installer | $900 – $2,400 |
| Painting | $900 – $2,500 |
| Landscaping | $1,000 – $2,800 |
| Drywall | $1,100 – $2,900 |
| Trim / finish carpentry | $1,100 – $3,000 |
| Electrician | $1,200 – $3,200 |
| HVAC | $1,300 – $3,500 |
| Plumber | $1,300 – $3,600 |
| Remodeler / residential GC | $1,600 – $4,400 |
| Masonry / concrete | $1,800 – $4,500 |
| Roofing | $2,600 – $7,000 |
This is the policy the GC or property manager asks for by name, and it's usually the smallest of the three. Most commercial contracts require $1M per occurrence; NYC-metro work routinely requires $2M.
Priced per vehicle.
| Vehicle | Annual, per vehicle |
|---|---|
| Light-duty pickup or work van, local radius, clean MVR | $1,800 – $3,500 |
Multiply by the number of vehicles you run. Commercial auto is rated on the vehicle, the driver, and where the truck is garaged — not on your trade. A roofer and an electrician driving identical trucks with identical records pay roughly the same. Where the truck sleeps matters more than what's in the back: North Jersey garaging (Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Union) prices materially higher than Hunterdon, Warren, Somerset, and Sussex.
First: do you need it at all?
It depends on employees — and your entity structure.
If you have employees, yes — New Jersey requires it. If you're a one-man operation, the answer depends on how your business is set up:
- Sole proprietor, partner, or LLC member — you generally are not required to carry workers' comp on yourself. You can elect to, and there are good reasons to consider it, but it isn't mandatory.
- Corporate officer (Inc.) — New Jersey generally requires you to be covered, and unlike many states you typically cannot exclude yourself. Premium is calculated on a minimum payroll figure even if you take little or no salary.
That means two identical one-man painting businesses can have very different workers' comp obligations based purely on entity structure. It's one of the most expensive surprises we see, and it's rarely explained when the business is formed. If you're not sure which applies to you, call us — it's a five-minute conversation.
Priced per $100 of payroll.
| Trade / class | Class | Rate / $100 |
|---|---|---|
| Clerical / office | 8810 | $0.18 |
| Outside sales | 8742 | $0.42 |
| Electrician | 5190 | $4.63 |
| Plumber | 5183 | $5.86 |
| Flooring installer | 9521 | $6.31 |
| HVAC | 3724 | $6.97 |
| Excavation & grading | 6217 | $7.54 |
| Tile & stone | 5348 | $9.23 |
| Door & window install | 5103 | $9.48 |
| Fence install | 6400 | $9.87 |
| Drywall | 5445 | $10.52 |
| Trim / finish carpentry | 5437 | $11.56 |
| Concrete flatwork | 5215 | $12.56 |
| Painting | 5474 | $12.94 |
| Landscaping | 0042 | $14.77 |
| Masonry | 5022 | $18.14 |
| Remodeler / residential GC | 5645 | $18.29 |
| Tree work | 0106 | $21.31 |
| Roofing | 5551 | $29.46 |
Carriers may apply credits or debits up to 15%, and your experience modification rate multiplies the result. Rates above assume a mod of 1.00 and are revised annually.
Estimate only, at a 1.00 mod, before carrier credits/debits and your experience modification rate. Not a quote or an offer of coverage.
Splitting payroll only works if the split is real.
To rate an employee as clerical (8810) or outside sales (8742), that person generally must perform no field or shop duties at all. An employee who does the books in the morning and works a jobsite in the afternoon is typically rated at the field code for all of their payroll — not split.
The split also has to be supported by actual payroll records. A split you can't document at audit is a split the carrier will reverse — and you'll be billed the difference.
It's one of the most common and most expensive classification mistakes we see. If you're not sure how your payroll should be allocated, call us before the audit — not after.
What moves your number
- Class code — the largest variable. Same payroll, a six-fold difference between trades.
- Entity structure — see above. It determines whether you owe comp on yourself at all.
- Payroll — comp scales directly with it. Slow year, lower audit.
- Experience modification rate — the multiplier on comp, and the one number you can actually change.
- Payroll classification — see the calculator guardrail above.
- Limits — $1M per occurrence typical; $2M for NYC-metro commercial.
- Loss history — frequency hurts more than severity. Five small claims damage a mod more than one large one.
- Where the truck is garaged.
Two New Jersey specifics
NJ is a three-program state. Workers' comp, Temporary Disability Benefits (TDB), and Paid Family Leave are separate required programs. Contractors routinely budget only the comp premium and get surprised by the other two.
Uninsured subs become your payroll at audit. Under New Jersey law, if a subcontractor doesn't carry workers' comp, the hiring contractor is liable for compensation owed to that sub's injured employees. At audit the carrier asks for a certificate from every sub who worked for you — and charges you for the ones you can't produce. It's especially relevant to one-man operations who hire help by the day.
Coverages not estimated here
These vary too much with your contracts and operation to range meaningfully — but they're part of a complete program:
- Umbrella / excess — driven by your underlying limits and contract requirements.
- Tools & equipment (inland marine) — roughly $300–$1,200/yr, scaling with equipment value.
- Surety bonds — license/permit bonds around $100–$400/yr; performance and payment bonds at 1–3% of contract value.
- Professional liability — for design-build and consulting work, roughly $700–$2,000.
- EPLI — employment practices liability, once you have employees.
Every figure on this page — including the estimator's output — is an illustrative estimate, not a quote for your operation. NJCRIB revises rates annually; figures are as of 2026. Actual pricing varies with payroll, class code, experience mod, loss history, and carrier appetite, and no coverage exists until a carrier issues a policy. Your exact numbers come from the intake and a producer follow-up.
Get your actual number.
These figures orient you. The intake prices you. 5–7 minutes, every line, one quote.