The baseline almost everyone starts from
| Coverage | Common minimum | What it is protecting against |
|---|---|---|
| General liability — each occurrence | $1,000,000 | One incident: injury to a resident, damage to a unit |
| General liability — general aggregate | $2,000,000 | Everything that vendor causes all policy year, everywhere |
| Products-completed operations aggregate | $1,000,000–$2,000,000 | Claims that arise after the work is finished |
| Workers' compensation | Statutory | Injuries to the vendor's employees on your property |
| Employers liability | $1,000,000 each accident / disease | Injury claims that fall outside the comp system |
| Commercial auto | $1,000,000 combined single limit | The vendor's truck in your parking structure |
| Umbrella / excess | $1,000,000–$5,000,000 | The severity tail — where the real money in a bad claim sits |
Where the baseline is not enough
Limits should track severity, not the size of the invoice. A $900 job can produce a seven-figure claim, which is exactly why cheap high-hazard trades are the most dangerous line on a vendor list.
| Trade | Typical requirement | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Roofing | $1M/$2M GL plus $2M–$5M umbrella; completed operations non-negotiable | Falls, fire from torch-down work, and water damage that surfaces years later |
| Electrical | $1M/$2M GL plus $1M–$5M umbrella; completed operations | Fire is the loss, and fire claims are catastrophic and delayed |
| Plumbing / HVAC | $1M/$2M GL plus $1M–$2M umbrella; completed operations | Water damage propagates through multiple units fast |
| Elevator / structural | $2M/$4M GL plus $5M+ umbrella | Life-safety exposure and long statutes of repose |
| Tree work | $1M/$2M GL plus $1M–$2M umbrella; confirm no height exclusion | Heights, chainsaws, and damage to adjacent property |
| Landscaping / janitorial | $1M/$2M GL; auto matters more than umbrella | Frequency risk — slips, chemical exposure, vehicle incidents |
| Pest control | $1M/$2M GL plus pollution liability | Chemical application is often excluded from a standard GL policy |
| Security services | $1M/$2M GL; confirm no assault-and-battery exclusion | The exact loss you are buying cover for is commonly excluded |
The full trade-by-trade table, including which endorsements to require for each.
Vendor insurance requirements by tradeLimits are the easy half
A vendor with $5M in limits and no additional insured endorsement has bought protection for themselves, not for you. In practice the endorsement requirements do more work than the numbers:
- Additional insured for ongoing operations (CG 20 10 or equivalent).
- Additional insured for completed operations (CG 20 37 or equivalent).
- Primary and non-contributory wording (CG 20 01 or blanket equivalent).
- Waiver of subrogation on general liability and workers' compensation.
- Per-project aggregate where a shared annual aggregate would be meaningless.
- Notice of cancellation to you, where the carrier will write it.
Setting requirements you can actually enforce
The most common mistake is copying an enterprise requirement schedule onto a vendor base that cannot meet it. If half your trades cannot produce the paperwork, the requirement is not a standard — it is a stack of exceptions, and exceptions are where the uninsured vendors hide.
- Pick two or three tiers, not a bespoke schedule per vendor.
- Set limits your actual vendor market carries, then raise them at renewal rather than mid-relationship.
- Make the endorsement requirements absolute even where you flex on limits — they cost the vendor little and protect you most.
- Write the exact additional-insured entity wording into the agreement so it can be checked mechanically.
- Decide in advance what happens when a vendor fails, and apply it consistently. A requirement with no consequence is a preference.