Resources
Read before you sign.
Long answers to the questions that come up on every job, with the statute linked and the tradeoff spelled out. Written by someone who has run the machine and read the policy.
Start here
Three to read first.
- Contracts and COIs · 8 min read
Additional insured vs certificate holder: the two-paragraph version
A certificate holder gets a piece of paper. An additional insured gets a piece of your policy. The two-paragraph version, then what goes wrong at claim time. Read the article -
Colorado law · 8 min read Colorado 811: the two-business-day rule, the fines, and the part contractors get wrong
Colorado 811 for contractors: the statute says two business days, 811 says three, marks last 30 days, fines run $250 to $75,000. The part people get wrong. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Workers comp in Colorado starts at one employee. Seasonal counts.
Colorado requires workers comp the day you hire your first employee, part-time or seasonal, family or not. The statute, the fine, and what a small outfit does. Read the article
The library
All articles, newest first
- Contracts and COIs · 9 min read
Bonds are not insurance. Public work needs both.
A bond pays the city and the surety expects every dollar back from you. Insurance pays the claim. Bid, performance, payment, and permit bonds, side by side. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Builders risk vs installation floater: which one covers the pallet of pavers
Three pallets of wall block on a Castle Rock lot over the weekend. Builders risk insures the structure. The installation floater insures your materials. Read the article - Colorado law · 8 min read
CDOT right-of-way permits: the bond, the insurance, and the order you need them in
CDOT right-of-way permits for Colorado contractors: which permit you're on, the insurance the form asks for, when a bond applies, and the order to line them up. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 9 min read
Certificates in under a day: what has to already be true
A fast certificate of insurance is preparation, not speed: the endorsements that have to already be on the policy, the holder list, and a complete request. Read the article -
Claims · 9 min read Colorado hail and your equipment yard
Hail hits the yard, not the job. Which policy pays for the dump truck, the grader cab glass, and the shop roof, how deductibles stack, and what to photograph. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
You rented the excavator. Who pays when it goes in the pond?
The rental agreement makes the machine your problem from pickup to return. What the yard's damage waiver does, what rented equipment coverage does, and the gap. Read the article -
Claims · 7 min read The first hour after a utility strike, as a checklist
A numbered checklist for the first hour after a utility strike in Colorado: people, calls, photos, the ticket, the carrier, and what not to sign or pay. Read the article - Excavation · 8 min read
Forestry mulching starts fires. Here's what pays when your machine is the one that burns.
Forestry mulchers start fires. Which policy pays when your machine burns (inland marine), when fire runs to the neighbor's land (GL), and what neither covers. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Your crew drives their own trucks to the job. Here's the gap.
Your crew drives their own pickups to the job. Their personal auto goes first, at their limits, if it responds at all. What hired and non-owned auto does. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 9 min read
HOA contracts: what the board's template asks for and what to push back on
What an HOA board's template asks a Colorado landscaper or plow operator for: additional insured, hold harmless, snow indemnity, herbicide, sidewalk clocks. Read the article - Claims · 9 min read
How your claims history follows you: loss runs, explained
A loss run is the report every underwriter reads before quoting you. What's on it, open reserves vs paid, the experience mod, and how to get yours. Read the article - Snow removal · 9 min read
National snow management subcontracts: what their COI demands, line by line
A national snow management firm's subcontract exhibit, line by line: additional insured, primary and non-contributory, waiver, umbrella, notice, indemnity. Read the article - Coverage explained · 10 min read
The state-created insurer and the private market: how Colorado comp actually gets placed
How Colorado workers' comp gets placed: the state-created insurer with a duty to offer coverage, the private carriers that choose, and what moves an account. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 8 min read
Primary and non-contributory: what the GC is really asking for
Primary and non-contributory tells your carrier to pay first and not ask the GC's carrier for help. What the clause does, where it lives, and what it costs you. Read the article - Coverage explained · 10 min read
Reading your own dec page, line by line
The declarations page is the policy in one sheet. Named insured, limits, classifications, forms schedule, endorsements: what each line says and what to check. Read the article - Snow removal · 9 min read
Seasonal snow-only policies: real, or a trap?
Seasonal snow-only GL policies exist in Colorado. Whether yours is a trap depends on the form: minimum premium, the tail after April, the other eight months. Read the article - Colorado law · 8 min read
Stormwater permits: the one-acre line, the SWMP, and who pays when the silt fence fails
Colorado stormwater permits for contractors: the one-acre line, who holds the permit, what the SWMP makes you responsible for, and who pays when it fails. Read the article - Landscaping · 9 min read
Tree work: why it rates differently from the rest of landscaping
Tree work rates apart from landscaping in Colorado: height, lifts, saws, cranes, the comp classification, and the 1099 climber the state may call an employee. Read the article -
Excavation · 8 min read Trench collapse: who is liable, and what your GL and comp actually do
Trench collapse liability in Colorado: who is liable for your worker, a sub's worker, and the neighbor's property, and what GL and comp actually do. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
Umbrella: when $1M/$2M stops being enough
Two ways a $1M/$2M GL runs out: one bad occurrence, or a year of additional insured tenders eating the aggregate. What an umbrella does and how to size it. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 8 min read
Waiver of subrogation, in plain English
Subrogation is your carrier's right to go after whoever caused a loss it paid. A waiver gives that up for the GC. What it does on comp, GL, and auto. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
What to send us for a quote (and why we ask for it)
What we ask for before quoting a Colorado dirt or snow outfit: dec pages, loss runs, payroll by class, equipment with values, VINs and radius, contracts, subs. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Why we don't quote online, on purpose
No online quote for excavation, landscaping, or snow work, on purpose. A form can't ask the follow-up on class codes, XCU, snow, or radius. The mechanics. Read the article - Landscaping · 8 min read
Defensible-space work in the WUI: what the contracts require and what your policy has to say
Defensible-space work in Colorado's WUI: who writes the contracts, what the insurance exhibit asks for, local codes in Vail and Summit, and what GL has to say. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 8 min read
Additional insured vs certificate holder: the two-paragraph version
A certificate holder gets a piece of paper. An additional insured gets a piece of your policy. The two-paragraph version, then what goes wrong at claim time. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
Class code 0042 and friends: how your crew gets rated
Workers comp class code 0042 and landscape gardening. How the governing class, payroll splits, standard exceptions, and plow season set what your crew costs. Read the article - Colorado law · 8 min read
Colorado 811: the two-business-day rule, the fines, and the part contractors get wrong
Colorado 811 for contractors: the statute says two business days, 811 says three, marks last 30 days, fines run $250 to $75,000. The part people get wrong. Read the article -
Colorado law · 7 min read Colorado's snow removal indemnity law, explained by someone who plows
C.R.S. 13-21-129 voids one kind of snow contract indemnity clause, only where you were barred from treating the event. What the law does and doesn't do. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Workers comp in Colorado starts at one employee. Seasonal counts.
Colorado requires workers comp the day you hire your first employee, part-time or seasonal, family or not. The statute, the fine, and what a small outfit does. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
25/50/15 is legal. It is not a commercial auto policy.
Colorado's 25/50/15 minimum keeps you legal. It does not keep a loaded dump truck insured. Split limits vs CSL, hired and non-owned, and the plow truck. Read the article - Colorado law · 9 min read
Do landscapers need a license in Colorado? City by city
Colorado has no state landscaper license. What exists instead: the pesticide applicator license, city contractor classes, and right-of-way rules, city by city. Read the article - Snow removal · 6 min read
Your truck with a plow on it is not covered the way you think
Does truck insurance cover snow plowing? Under most personal auto forms, no: business use is excluded. What a Colorado plow truck needs, from a guy who plows. Read the article - Excavation · 8 min read
Dump trucks and gravel: when you cross into for-hire and DOT territory
Hauling your own gravel is one policy. Hauling someone else's for a fee is another, with a federal filing attached. Private vs for-hire, MCS-90, cargo, radius. Read the article - Excavation · 9 min read
Equipment theft off a remote Colorado lot: what's covered and what isn't
A machine walks off a remote lot on a Sunday night. What the equipment policy typically pays, what it excludes, the underwriting questions, the police report. Read the article - Cost and pricing factors · 7 min read
What excavation insurance actually costs in Colorado, and what moves the number
What drives excavation insurance cost in Colorado: payroll, class codes, equipment values, trucks, contracts, loss runs, subs. Drivers, not a made-up number. Read the article - Landscaping · 8 min read
Herbicide overspray and the pollution exclusion in your GL
Colorado's applicator statute is satisfied by a GL with a pollution exclusion, so a licensed landscaper can have no drift coverage. The gap and the fix. Read the article - Excavation · 7 min read
You hit a gas line. Here's who pays, and what your policy has to say about it
Hit a gas line while digging in Colorado? Who pays depends on your locate ticket, the marks, C.R.S. 9-1.5, and the XCU line in your GL. How the claim unfolds. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 9 min read
How to read a GC's insurance requirements without a lawyer
A GC insurance exhibit, clause by clause: limits, additional insured forms, primary and non-contributory, waiver of subrogation, umbrella, and notice. Read the article - Snow removal · 8 min read
Landscape in summer, plow in winter: the coverage gap nobody tells you about
Landscapers who plow in Colorado commonly have a gap: a GL that never heard about the route, a plow truck on the wrong auto policy, a crew rated at one code. Read the article - Cost and pricing factors · 8 min read
Landscaping insurance cost in Colorado: what the underwriter is looking at
What drives landscaping insurance cost in Colorado: payroll and class codes, the chemical program, hardscape, trucks, HOA contracts, snow, and loss runs. Read the article - Landscaping · 8 min read
Retaining walls: when a hardscape job turns into an engineering claim
A block wall in expansive clay lets go two springs later. Completed operations, the 'your work' exclusion, drainage, the engineer question, and the floater. Read the article - Coverage explained · 8 min read
Scheduling your equipment: why the number from 2019 will cost you in a claim
Your equipment schedule pays what you wrote down, not what the machine is worth. Scheduled vs blanket, replacement cost vs ACV, coinsurance, and the Bell truck. Read the article - Excavation · 9 min read
Septic installers: the completed-operations tail you carry for years
A septic system fails in year four and the claim lands on a policy year that closed. Completed operations, occurrence vs claims-made, pollution, county license. Read the article - Snow removal · 9 min read
Slip-and-fall on a lot you plowed: how the claim actually unfolds
How a slip-and-fall on a lot you plowed unfolds in Colorado: the letter months later, owner and contractor both named, and the log that decides it. Read the article - Cost and pricing factors · 8 min read
Snow plowing insurance cost in Colorado: the drivers, not a made-up number
What drives snow plowing insurance cost in Colorado: snow revenue share, contracts, site type, ice in scope, trucks, loss runs, and logs. Drivers, not a number. Read the article - Contracts and COIs · 9 min read
Subcontractor with no insurance? That's your claim now.
An uninsured sub's injury, utility strike, or wrecked truck comes to you. The certificate to collect, additional insured, and the audit charge. Read the article - Coverage explained · 9 min read
The workers comp audit: what they ask for and how to not get surprised
The workers comp audit is where the estimate meets real payroll. What the auditor asks for, how subs and owners get counted, and what to keep all year. Read the article - Coverage explained · 7 min read
XCU: the three letters that decide whether your GL works on a dig
What XCU coverage is: explosion, collapse, and underground damage, why some GL forms exclude all three, where the line hides, and what it means on a dig. Read the article
New to commercial coverage? Read the FAQ first, keep the glossary open, and download the readiness checklist before your first COI request.