How Much Insurance Does a Subcontractor Need?

By Wyatt Cooper · Published October 22, 2026 · 7 min read

Key takeaways

There is no single right amount: a subcontractor needs the coverages and limits its subcontract's insurance exhibit names, and those usually pass down from the owner's contract with the GC.
Expect four coverages on almost every commercial job: general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation with employer's liability, and an umbrella or excess policy above them.
Read every limit in the exhibit separately: each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations and the umbrella can each fall short on their own.
Many exhibits let an umbrella count toward a liability limit, so a lower primary limit plus an umbrella can meet a higher requirement, if the exhibit says so.

A subcontractor needs whatever its subcontract's insurance exhibit requires, and nothing in law sets one figure for every job. The exhibit names the coverages, usually general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation and employer's liability, and umbrella or excess, and a limit for each. The GC sets those limits from the owner's prime contract, the job's size and the trade's risk. Before you sign, compare each limit with your policies and price any increase into your bid.

Where the numbers come from

The limits a GC asks for are mostly the owner's. On an AIA job, the subcontract takes on the GC's duties under the prime contract for your part of the work: the A401–2017 summary says the duties and responsibilities of the contractor under the prime contract "pass to the Subcontractor with respect to a portion of the work", and that its insurance article was expanded "to track the insurance requirements set forth in the 2017 owner-contractor agreements". So when the owner asks the GC for a limit, the GC usually asks you for the same or a share of it. The AIA contract documents explainer covers how those documents fit together.

The GC then adjusts for the job and the trade. A roofer, a steel erector or an excavator next to a live street gets asked for more than a painter in a finished interior, and a large project asks more of everyone. None of that is written in a statute. It is written in the exhibit, so that is the page to read before you price.

The coverages a subcontract asks for

Coverages in a typical commercial subcontract's insurance exhibit, and what each one is for
Coverage	What it pays for	Limits the exhibit names	What to check
Commercial general liability (CGL)	Injury to others and damage to their property from your work, including after it is finished	Each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury	Whether the aggregate must apply per project, and how long completed-operations coverage must last
Commercial auto liability	Injury and damage from vehicles you use for the business	Combined single limit per accident	That it covers hired and non-owned autos if your crews drive their own trucks
Workers' compensation and employer's liability	Your employees' work injuries; employer's liability covers suits that fall outside the statutory benefits	Statutory benefits; employer's liability each accident, disease each employee, disease policy limit	The project's state is covered, and any owner or officer exclusion
Umbrella or excess liability	Claims above the primary limits	Each occurrence and aggregate	Which primary policies it sits over, and whether the exhibit lets it count toward their limits
Others, when the scope calls for them	Professional liability for design work, pollution liability, equipment or materials in transit and storage	Set by the exhibit	Whether your scope triggers them, such as delegated design or hazardous materials

The NAIC's small business insurance guide describes the same building blocks. It says CGL "covers four categories of events for which you could be held responsible": bodily injury, damage to others' property, personal injury, and false or misleading advertising. It says commercial auto policies "typically" carry higher liability limits than personal ones, "for example $1 million", that umbrella coverage limits "typically range from $1 million to $5 million", and, on workers' compensation: "[M]ost states require you to purchase workers' compensation insurance even if you have only one employee." Those are the NAIC's general figures for small businesses, not a construction rule; your exhibit's numbers are the ones that count.

Check your policies against the exhibit

Get the insurance exhibit with the bid documents, not with the subcontract. A limit you don't carry is a cost you should have priced.
Send it to your agent and ask for a line-by-line answer: meets, short by how much, and what raising it would cost.
Check each limit on its own. Meeting each occurrence does not mean you meet the aggregate or the products-completed operations aggregate.
Check how the exhibit treats the umbrella. Many let the umbrella make up a primary limit; some don't.
Ask about the endorsements at the same time: additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording are usually in the same exhibit, and they take longer than the certificate.
Put any increase in your bid as a cost of the job, or exclude it in your proposal and say so.

Your agent shows the result on a certificate of insurance, usually the ACORD 25. Its current edition has a limits column for each coverage and says plainly that the certificate is information only and does not change the policies. For how a GC reads it, see how to read a certificate of insurance.

A worked example: does the umbrella close the gap?

Insurance check: Northgate Glazing on a mid-rise office job

Exhibit: CGL: $2,000,000 each occurrence; $4,000,000 general aggregate, per project
Exhibit: umbrella rule: An umbrella over CGL, auto and employer's liability may count toward the CGL and auto limits
Exhibit: auto: $1,000,000 combined single limit
Exhibit: employer's liability: $1,000,000 each accident, disease each employee and disease policy limit
Northgate's CGL: $1,000,000 each occurrence; $2,000,000 aggregate, per project endorsement on file
Northgate's umbrella: $3,000,000 each occurrence and aggregate, over CGL, auto and employer's liability
CGL each occurrence: $1,000,000 + $3,000,000 = $4,000,000 available against $2,000,000 required: meets
CGL aggregate: $2,000,000 + $3,000,000 = $5,000,000 against $4,000,000 required: meets
Northgate's auto and employer's liability: $1,000,000 each, against $1,000,000 required: meets
Result: No increase needed; ask the agent to show the umbrella on the certificate and confirm it sits over all three

A fictional subcontract exhibit and a fictional sub's policies. The figures show the method; they are not typical limits.

Change one line and the answer changes. If the exhibit said the umbrella may not count toward the CGL limits, Northgate would be $1,000,000 short on each occurrence ($2,000,000 − $1,000,000) and $2,000,000 short on the aggregate ($4,000,000 − $2,000,000), and raising the primary policy becomes a cost to price into the bid.

How it works in Conflo

When a GC runs Compliance in Conflo, it requests your general liability, auto, workers' comp and umbrella certificates one by one, each with a due date and a note. You upload the certificate (several files can go with it, such as the endorsements) with its expiration date, carrier and policy number. The GC approves it or sends it back with a note on what to fix, and a certificate expiring within 30 days shows as expiring so you can send the renewal before it lapses.

Conflo doesn't decide what limits a job needs or read them off your certificate: the insurance exhibit and the GC's review do that.

The bottom line

Ask for the insurance exhibit at bid time, send it to your agent, and get a line-by-line answer on every limit and every endorsement. The exhibit is the only figure that matters on that job.

Where you're short, price the increase or exclude it in your proposal. Finding out at the first pay app costs more.

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Sources

Small Business Insurance — National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Read October 22, 2026.
Summary: A401–2017, Standard Form of Agreement Between Contractor and Subcontractor — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 22, 2026.
ACORD 25, Certificate of Liability Insurance (2025/12), on the approved certificates list — New York State Department of Financial Services. Read October 22, 2026.

Questions

How much general liability insurance does a subcontractor need?

As much as the subcontract's insurance exhibit requires. It names an each-occurrence limit, a general aggregate and a products-completed operations aggregate, and the GC usually sets them from the owner's prime contract and the job's risk. No law sets one figure for every commercial job.

Does an umbrella policy count toward the required limits?

Only if the exhibit says it may. Many let an umbrella over the CGL, auto and employer's liability policies make up the difference; some require the primary policy itself to meet the limit.

Do I need workers' compensation with no employees?

It depends on the state, and the GC may require it or a state exemption form anyway. The NAIC notes that most states require workers' compensation even with only one employee.

Who decides the insurance limits on a subcontract?

The GC, in the subcontract's insurance exhibit, usually passing down what the owner requires of the GC. You can ask to change a limit before you sign; after, it is a contract term.

Should insurance increases go in my bid?

Yes. If the exhibit asks for more than you carry, the extra premium is a cost of that job: include it, or exclude it in your proposal so the GC sees it.