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Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595

Contractors General Liability Insurance in Houston, TX

Somebody told you to show up with general liability — a general contractor, a property manager, a registration desk — and they want a certificate proving it, usually by a date that is already close. This is the policy they mean, and the desk that handles both the policy and the paper.

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TDLR form ELC-LIC-003 Electrical contractor license

What a trade license makes you carry

Per occurrence
$300,000, BI and PD combined
Aggregate
$600,000
Products and completed ops
$300,000 aggregate
Filed with
The license application
On public projects
Comp required, § 406.096
Agent of record
TDLR's own form, rev. Feb 2026, and the Labor Code — not a quote.
  • 41years in Houston
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On the job

What contractors general liability covers

Somebody else gets hurt. A visitor trips over your cord, a homeowner catches a falling tool — bodily injury to people who are not your employees, arising from your work or your jobsite.

Somebody else’s property gets damaged. The pipe behind the wall, the client’s floor, the neighbor’s fence. Property that is not yours, damaged by the work.

The claim that arrives after the job is done. Completed operations — the part of the policy that keeps answering for finished work after you have left the site. It is also the coverage a general contractor’s contract asks about specifically.

Defense. For covered claims the policy pays to defend you, which matters long before anybody decides who was right.

What it is not: your tools and equipment (that is inland marine — ask when we quote), the project itself (that is builder’s risk insurance — physical damage to the structure going up, where this policy answers for liability arising from the work), your truck (commercial auto), and your crew’s injuries. In Texas that last one is the workers’ comp question — and on any governmental building or construction job, workers’ compensation is required for every worker on the project, flowing down to every subcontractor (Labor Code § 406.096). The whole story is on our workers’ compensation page.

Source: Tex. Labor Code § 406.096 — public building and construction contracts. Verified .

Three directions

Who actually requires it, in writing

Texas does not license general contractors — there is no state GC license to hang a policy on. The requirements arrive anyway, from three directions, and they are specific:

  • Contracts. General contractors, property managers and commercial clients commonly require liability coverage on a certificate. $1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate is the ask you will see most, often with additional-insured wording attached. That is contract practice, not a statute, and the clause in your contract is the one that counts.
  • Trade licenses. Some licensed trades must carry general liability as a condition of the license, at limits the state sets — electrical and air-conditioning contractors with TDLR, plumbing with the state plumbing board. The figures differ by trade, and for air conditioning by license class, so they are set out trade by trade below rather than as one number. We check yours before quoting rather than after.
  • City registrations. Cities attach insurance certificates to some contractor registrations and permits, trade by trade. There is no single citywide figure, whatever you have been told. Which registration applies to your trade, and what it asks for, is a check we do with the quote.

Do not mix these up

The certificate, the additional insured, and the waiver

Three pieces of paper run a trade’s insurance life, and confusing them is how coverage gaps happen:

The certificate (COI) Evidence
Proves coverage exists — carrier, limits, dates. It grants nothing and changes nothing. A certificate is a photograph of the policy, not a piece of it.
The additional-insured endorsement Coverage
Actually puts the general contractor or property owner on your policy for liability arising from your work. When a contract says “name us as additional insured”, this endorsement is what it means — not a line typed onto the certificate.
The waiver of subrogation Also an endorsement
Your carrier agrees not to chase the other party after paying a claim. Contracts ask for it constantly, and like the endorsement above it has to be issued rather than asserted.

We read the insurance clause with you before you sign, and we issue what it demands — certificates through our certificate of insurance request desk, endorsements through the carrier.

Source: Tex. Ins. Code § 1811.152 — a certificate is not a policy and does not alter the coverage. Verified .

Working under a GC

If you are the subcontractor

Most trades meet general liability first as a sub, through the insurance exhibit a general contractor attaches to the subcontract. It is usually specific, and it usually asks for more than a policy number:

  • The additional-insured endorsement. The GC, and often the owner, added to your policy for liability arising from your work. Ongoing operations and completed operations are separate grants — one answers while you are on the job, the other after you have left it — and many subcontracts name both.
  • A waiver of subrogation in the GC’s favor, so your carrier does not pursue them after paying a claim. Endorsed, not typed onto the certificate.
  • Primary and non-contributory wording. Your policy answers first and does not ask the GC’s own insurer to share the loss. It is a separate endorsement from additional insured, and having one does not give you the other.
  • Completed operations for a stated period. Some subcontracts require you to keep completed-operations coverage, and the additional-insured grant that goes with it, in force for a set number of years after the job ends. That is a promise about your future renewals, not a one-time certificate — read the number in your clause before you sign it.
  • Limits. Per occurrence and aggregate, most often the $1,000,000/$2,000,000 pairing, sometimes with an umbrella above it when the clause asks for one.

Whether any endorsement responds to a particular claim is decided by its wording and the facts, not by the fact that it was issued. The certificate is how the GC checks that you have the endorsements; it is not them. Our guide to certificates of insurance for Houston contractors walks through the six reasons a GC’s reviewer sends one back, and how each is fixed.

Trade by trade

What each trade’s paperwork asks for

The certificate a contract asks for is the same document whatever the trade. What sits behind it is not. Some trades carry the state’s own insurance minimums as a condition of the license, some work under statutes that shape the job, and some carry nothing on paper but a claim that comes back in a familiar shape. The state minimums below are licensing floors, not what a contract will ask for.

Roofing

Texas does not license roofers at the state level, so the insurance a roofer shows comes from contracts and from city permits or registrations. Storm work runs into three statutes, and they govern how the job is sold and paid for, not the policy:

  • The deductible is the homeowner’s to pay. The insured pays any deductible on a property claim (Ins. Code § 707.002), and a contractor paid from that claim may not waive, absorb or rebate it, or advertise that it will, without the insurer’s consent. Doing so is a Class B misdemeanor (Bus. & Com. Code § 27.02). The rule reaches any seller paid from a property claim, not only roofers.
  • The contract carries a notice. A contract of $1,000 or more that is expected to be paid from a property claim must carry the statutory deductible notice, in at least 12-point bold type (§ 27.02).
  • The roofer is not the adjuster. A contractor may repair the roof, but may not act as the public adjuster on the property it is working on, or advertise to adjust the claim (Ins. Code § 4102.163).

On the policy side, height narrows the carriers that will quote, and a leak that shows up after the job is done is a completed-operations claim — the part of the policy that answers for finished work. Injuries to your own crew on the roof are a separate policy; see workers’ compensation.

Sources: Tex. Ins. Code ch. 707 — payment of insurance deductible; Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 27.02; Tex. Ins. Code § 4102.163; TDLR — regulated programs (no roofing program). Verified .

Pressure washing

The claims come from the work itself: surface damage — etched concrete, stripped paint or stain, water driven behind siding or into a window frame — on property that is not yours. Wash water and cleaning chemicals leaving the site raise a separate question: whether the policy’s pollution exclusion reaches runoff is a question to read in the wording, not assume. And the rig — the truck, and the trailer carrying the tank and pump — is a commercial auto question, not a general liability one.

Painting

Paid work that disturbs paint in a home, day care or preschool built before 1978 falls under EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. The firm needs EPA lead-safe certification — sole proprietors included — and every job needs a certified renovator on it. Minor repair sits outside the rule: no more than 6 square feet of painted surface disturbed per room inside, or 20 square feet outside, with no window replacement, no demolition of painted surfaces and none of the rule’s prohibited practices. So does work on components a certified tester has found free of lead-based paint. Texas does not run its own program; here the rule is EPA’s.

On the policy side, the claims are overspray on cars and neighboring property, paint on floors and fixtures, and the finished job that fails later — completed operations. Whether a lead claim is covered at all is a pollution-exclusion question for the wording, not something to assume.

Sources: 40 CFR part 745 subpart E (eCFR, current to 2026-09-24); 40 CFR § 745.103 — target housing; EPA — Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program. Verified .

Electrical

TDLR licenses electrical contractors, and the license needs proof of general liability at the state’s minimums: at least $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage combined, a $600,000 aggregate, and a $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations. The certificate is attached to the license application, the business name on it has to match the application, and TDLR points applicants to its own certificate form, which does not accept binders or declarations pages. The coverage has to stay in force at all times. These figures are electrical’s alone — the air-conditioning and plumbing figures below are different.

Sources: TDLR form ELC-LIC-003, rev. Feb 2026 — electrical contractor license application; TDLR form ELC-LIC-021, rev. Jun 2026 — certificate of insurance; Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1305. Verified .

Handyman

Texas has no handyman license. The trades inside the job are another matter: electrical, air-conditioning and plumbing work done for a customer each need a state license, whatever the business calls itself. So the work mix decides the class: a handyman operation is rated on the work it actually does, and a handyman who wires or plumbs is quoted on that work.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1301; ch. 1302; ch. 1305; TDLR — regulated programs. Verified .

HVAC

Air-conditioning and refrigeration contracting takes a TDLR contractor license (Occ. Code § 1302.251), and TDLR issues it only with evidence of the insurance its rules require. The minimums are general liability, and they depend on the license class:

  • Class A, no limit on system size: $300,000 per occurrence, a $600,000 aggregate, and a $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations.
  • Class B, systems up to 25 tons of cooling or 1.5 million BTU an hour of heating: $100,000 per occurrence, a $200,000 aggregate, and a $100,000 aggregate for products and completed operations.

Unlike electrical, the certificate follows the exam rather than the application: after passing, the contractor files it with TDLR on TDLR’s own form, ACR-LIC-009, with TDLR as certificate holder. Binders and declarations pages are not accepted, and the coverage stays in force while the license is active. A contractor holding both classes can meet both with one policy at Class A limits.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1302; TDLR — ACR contractor, apply; TDLR form ACR-LIC-009, rev. Oct 2025; TDLR form ACR-LIC-002, rev. May 2026. Verified .

Plumbing

Plumbing is licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, not TDLR, and a plumbing company works under a responsible master plumber. That plumber keeps at least $300,000 of commercial general liability on file with the board, for all claims arising in a one-year period, covering every type of plumbing done under the license. It is filed on the board’s own certificate — ACORD forms are not accepted — and cities that require plumbing permits check it with the board.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1301; TSBPE Administrative Rules, March 2026, § 367.6; TSBPE — Responsible Master Plumber; TSBPE Certificate of Insurance form. Verified .

Welding on site

A welder working at a client’s site is doing hot work beside somebody else’s building, and the claim that follows is a fire. Ask whether the policy carries a hot-work condition, and what it asks of you on the job, before the first job rather than after the first fire. Fabrication in your own shop, to a customer’s print, is a different risk with a different page: manufacturers insurance.

Who we quote

Trades we write

Remodelers, roofers, electricians, plumbers, painters, flooring and tile, landscaping, cleanup crews, handyman operations. New ventures with no track record, and trades the standard market prices badly, are ordinary work here — an independent desk exists to knock on more than one door.

Have these ready

What changes your quote

This policy is rated on what you actually do, so the questions are about the work rather than the paperwork:

  • Your trade, and the share of each kind of work. A remodeler who does occasional roof work is a different risk from a roofer, and that split matters more than the label on the truck.
  • Annual receipts or payroll, which is what most carriers rate on.
  • Height and structural work. Roofing, anything above two stories, and structural or foundation work narrow the field of carriers considerably. Narrow is not the same as impossible, and it is exactly where an independent desk earns its keep.
  • Subcontractors. Whether you use them, and whether you collect certificates from them. Ask how your policy’s audit treats a sub who cannot show a certificate of their own — the wording answers that, not a rule of thumb.
  • Residential or commercial work, and whether any of it is new construction.

Have those five answers ready and the quote is a phone call rather than a project.

No loss history yet

Starting out: your first contractor policy

A new contracting business has no loss runs to show a carrier, so the application stands on what you can tell us about the work ahead. Bring four things:

  • A receipts estimate for the first twelve months. A reasoned guess is fine; it is what the first premium is set on. Ask whether the policy is audited against what you actually take in — if it is, an honest estimate beats a hopeful one.
  • The trade split. What share of the work is each kind — the remodeler who does some roofing again. It decides the class before anything else does.
  • The contract’s insurance clause, if the first job is already lined up. Its limits and endorsements decide what the policy has to carry on day one, and it is far easier to build them in than to add them the week the job starts.
  • Your experience in the trade — the years you have worked it, for whom, and any license you hold. A new business is not always a new contractor, and the history you built under somebody else’s name is the history a new venture has.

If that is you, pick “I am starting out and need my first policy” on the quote form below.

A different desk

Bonds are not insurance — and they are ours

Bid, performance and payment bonds guarantee the work itself to the party that hired you. They are not liability insurance and they do not protect you; they protect whoever asked for them. They live at Moon’s own bond desk, and the handoff is on our surety bonds page.

No obligation

Get covered, then get the certificate where it needs to be

Tell us your trade, your crew size and what the contract demands. We quote the policy, endorse what the clause requires, and send the certificate where it has to go.

Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034. Policies written statewide — you do not have to be local.

Keep this to the basics — no contracts, loss runs, employee names, or incident details. Those come later, on the phone or through a secure route we will name.

Questions the trades ask us every week

Do I need general liability if Texas doesn’t license general contractors?

In practice, yes. There is no state GC license to hang the policy on, but general contractors, property managers, city registrations and client contracts require liability coverage constantly — and several licensed trades carry the state’s own insurance minimums. The paperwork chain, not a license, is what demands the policy.

What limits do general contractors usually require?

$1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate is the most common certificate ask, often with additional-insured and waiver-of-subrogation wording attached. That is contract practice rather than law — the insurance clause in your own contract is the real answer, and reading it with you is part of the quote.

What’s the difference between a certificate holder and an additional insured?

A certificate holder simply receives proof that you are insured. An additional insured is added to your policy by endorsement and can claim under it for liability arising from your work. Contracts usually want the second and say so in exactly those words, which is why the distinction is worth knowing before you sign.

What insurance does an electrical contractor need in Texas?

For the license, general liability at TDLR’s minimums: at least $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage combined, a $600,000 aggregate, and a $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations, with the certificate attached to the license application. That is the licensing floor, not what a contract will ask for — a general contractor’s subcontract often wants more, with endorsements, and the truck is a commercial auto question on its own.

Does my policy cover my subcontractors?

Your subs’ work rides on their own policies — which is why general contractors collect certificates from every sub, and why your contract probably makes you do the same. Ask how your own policy’s audit treats a subcontractor who cannot show a certificate: that is a question the wording answers, and it is better asked before the audit than at it. We help set the certificate chain up so it is not a claim-time scavenger hunt.

How fast can I get a certificate?

Once your policy is placed, certificates come from our own desk. Tell us the deadline the job gave you and we work to it.

From the library

Further reading

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