Life insurance for contractors and trades
No employer safety net, business debt in your own name, and a trade classification that moves the price.
Self-employed trades carry three things at once: no group coverage, business obligations often personally guaranteed, and an occupation that may genuinely affect underwriting.
How much the trade affects it depends enormously on the specific work and the specific carrier.
What the trade classification turns on
Insurers ask about duties rather than job titles, because the risk sits in the specifics.
- Working at height, and how high
- Roofing, structural steel, or scaffolding work
- High voltage, gas, or confined-space work
- Explosives, demolition, or heavy equipment
- Whether you do the hazardous work yourself or supervise it
- Proportion of time spent on site versus estimating and management
Supervision changes the answer
If you've moved from tools to management, say so precisely, with the actual split of your time. Carriers underwrite the duties described, and an outdated description can cost you.
The reverse also matters: describing yourself as management while still on a roof is a misrepresentation that can support a claim denial.
Business debt in your own name
This is the part most often left out of the coverage calculation. Sole proprietors and small companies routinely have obligations that are personally guaranteed.
- Equipment loans and vehicle financing
- A business line of credit
- Supplier accounts and trade credit
- Premises lease guarantees
- SBA or bank loans with a personal guarantee
No group coverage means it's all on you
There's no employer plan to fall back on, which makes an individually owned policy the whole of the plan rather than a supplement.
Association or trade-body coverage sometimes exists and is worth checking, though amounts are usually modest.
Key person and continuity
If the business depends on you — your licence, your relationships, your estimating — its value may not survive you. Coverage can give a family time to wind the business down properly rather than at fire-sale speed, or fund a partner buying out your share.
Shop the trade, not just the price
Occupational guidelines vary sharply between insurers, and some carriers write particular trades competitively while others load them heavily. Getting placed with the right one first matters, since a decline goes on record.
Common questions
It depends on the specific duties and the carrier — height, voltage, demolition and heavy equipment matter more than the job title, and guidelines vary sharply between insurers.
If it's personally guaranteed, yes — equipment loans, lines of credit, lease guarantees and supplier accounts can land on your estate or family. It's the most commonly omitted item in the calculation.
Often yes. Describe the actual split of your time accurately: carriers underwrite the duties described, and both understating and overstating cause problems.
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This page is general information, not advice about your specific circumstances. A licensed insurance professional can tell you what’s actually available to you.
General information only, not insurance advice. Coverage, availability, and terms vary by insurer and by state, and are subject to underwriting. Quote My Policy LLC is a licensed insurance producer. Nothing here binds coverage.