How much does electrical contractor insurance cost?

Electrical contractor insurance cost by coverage

Two big published data sets give every coverage a floor and a ceiling. The gap between them is wide, and that gap tells you more than either number alone.

The first set comes from one large online insurance marketplace. It reports medians from electricians who bought policies through it, and most of those buyers have fewer than five employees.

The second set comes from MoneyGeek. It modeled prices from 10 commercial carriers. Its sample shop has one to four employees and recommended limits, priced in every state.

Read the first column as a small, simple shop. Read the second as a working crew.

What you pay depends on your payroll and class codes, revenue, loss history, the type of electrical work you do and the limits you pick.

Commercial auto has a third marker. Progressive Commercial reports that contractor vehicles averaged $260 a month per vehicle in 2025, with a median of $203. Both cover liability and physical damage for drivers with clean records.

Why the published numbers sit so far apart

They measure different shops. The marketplace buyers mostly earn somewhere from about $50,000 to a bit over $200,000 a year and have been open five years or less.

That's a service electrician swapping devices and adding circuits. It isn't a crew roughing in a strip center.

MoneyGeek's model uses a small crew and recommended limits, then averages across states. Its general liability figure swings from $230 a month in West Virginia to $671 in California.

Location alone can nearly triple a premium. So here's the move: treat both columns as brackets, not price tags. A quote far below the low end deserves a hard look at what's missing. A quote far above the high end deserves a question about which rating factor is driving it.

Get a quote for your electrical business →

How workers' comp is priced for electricians

Workers' comp is the line that grows fastest as you hire. Carriers rate every class of work per $100 of payroll. Your starting premium is payroll divided by 100, times the rate, for each class. Then your experience mod adjusts it. That mod is a score that compares your own claims with those of similar shops.

Many states use the NCCI rating system. There, electrical work usually falls into a few classes:

• 5190, electrical wiring within buildings and drivers, where most inside work typically lands
• 6325, conduit construction for cables or wires and drivers
• 7538, electric light or power line construction and drivers
• 7605, burglar and fire alarm installation or repair and drivers
• 8810, clerical office employees

Some states run their own rating bureaus, including California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Codes and rules differ there.

One state's 2026 rates, for scale

These are Indiana advisory rates filed for January 1, 2026. Carriers adjust them, and other states can run far higher. In MoneyGeek's data, comp averages about $150 a month per employee in Indiana and more than $600 in California and New York.

What you pay depends on your payroll and class codes, revenue, loss history, the type of electrical work you do and the limits you pick.

The rate math on one shop

Example scenario: An Indiana shop runs $300,000 of field payroll in 5190 and $45,000 of office payroll in 8810. The field portion works out to $2,703 and the office portion to about $33, before the mod, carrier pricing and fees. Put that same office payroll in 5190 by mistake and the bill climbs by roughly $373.

The premium you pay up front is a deposit based on the payroll you estimate. Once the term ends, an auditor checks real payroll by class, and you get a bill or a refund for the difference.

Subs matter here too. If you pay a sub who can't show a comp certificate, the auditor may count those payments as your payroll. If the sub's own payroll records aren't available, NCCI-style rules count at least 90% of a labor-only contract. For labor and materials, it's 50%.

Our guides on class codes and comp audits and 1099 subs and workers' comp walk through both traps.

One state works differently. In Ohio, private employers get comp from the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation, not from private carriers. Most Ohio shops add stop-gap employer's liability instead. It's often an add-on to the GL policy.

What electrical contractor insurance costs by shop size

Here are three common setups. The math uses the published figures above, so treat it as a starting estimate, not a quote.

Solo electrician, one van

You'll likely carry GL, commercial auto, tool coverage and, where your state or city requires one, a license bond. Add up the marketplace medians and you get about $388 a month ($61 + $275 + $42 + $10). MoneyGeek's starter bundle of GL and commercial auto averages $579 a month. Add tools and it's $606.

That brackets a one-van shop at roughly $390 to $610 a month, or about $4,700 to $7,300 a year. Whether a sole owner must carry comp depends on your state, so check with your state's comp agency.

Small crew, two to eight field employees

Comp and extra vans start to run the bill. MoneyGeek's growing-business bundle (GL, auto, tools and comp) averages $881 a month, or about $10,565 a year.

Example scenario: A residential and light commercial shop has four field electricians, $240,000 of 5190 payroll and three vans. At Indiana's 2026 advisory rate, comp starts near $2,162 before the mod and carrier pricing. At Progressive's 2025 contractor median and average, three vans run about $609 to $780 a month. GL climbs too, since bigger contracts and more complex systems price higher.

Commercial shop, 15 to 40 employees

At this size no honest single average exists, because payroll and fleet drive most of the cost.

Example scenario: A commercial shop has 25 field employees, $1.5 million of 5190 payroll and 12 trucks. Indiana's advisory rate puts comp near $13,515 before the mod. Twelve vehicles at Progressive's contractor median and average come to roughly $29,200 to $37,400 a year.

Then add higher GL limits, an umbrella for GC contracts and performance bonds that the surety prices from your financials. MoneyGeek's eight-policy bundle for established shops averages $1,258 a month. For a crew this size, comp and autos alone pass that figure.

What you pay depends on your payroll and class codes, revenue, loss history, the type of electrical work you do and the limits you pick.

Get a quote for your electrical business →

What pushes your price up or down

Underwriters price the same few things on every electrical account.

• The work you do. Device swaps and fixture installs usually price lower than new construction, generators, fire alarm panels or building controls. Power line work sits in a higher comp class than inside wiring.
• Payroll and revenue. Comp follows payroll by class. GL tends to rise with revenue and contract size.
• Loss history. Claims push up your experience mod and your GL renewal.
• Limits and deductibles. A $1 million / $2 million GL policy typically costs more than a $1 million / $1 million policy. Lower deductibles cost more too.
• Location. Your state and city shift every line on the bill.
• Drivers. Clean records keep auto rates down, and tickets can push them up.
• Tool values. Gear valued above $2,500 per piece may have to be scheduled, or listed by name, on the policy.
• Uninsured subs. Subs without certificates can land on your comp audit.