Do contractors need inland marine insurance if they have general liability?

General liability and inland marine insurance cover two completely different things, and most contractors need both (see what commercial coverage Georgia contractors typically need). General liability responds when you injure someone or damage another person’s property. Inland marine responds when your own tools, equipment, or materials are stolen, damaged, or destroyed, whether they are in transit between job sites or staged overnight at a location away from your shop. The two policies do not overlap. Each covers a risk the other ignores entirely.

What does general liability cover that inland marine does not?

The gap surprises contractors most often after a theft. A general liability policy has no mechanism to pay for your own property loss. It was designed around third-party claims, a client trips over your equipment, or your crew cracks a tile floor. It was never intended to replace a stolen drill press or a trailer full of tools. When your gear disappears, the general liability carrier will decline the claim, because no third party was harmed.

Why does commercial property insurance also fall short for contractors?

Commercial property insurance does cover tools and equipment, but only at a fixed location, typically your shop, warehouse, or office. Once those same tools leave that address, commercial property coverage generally stops. That is exactly where inland marine, sometimes called a contractor’s equipment floater, picks up. It follows your property to wherever the work is happening (see whether a business owners policy could bundle your coverage).

When is inland marine coverage most important for Georgia contractors?

For Georgia contractors, this distinction is especially practical. Most of the work is done on job sites, not at a fixed shop. Tools spend nights in trailers, trucks, and temporary storage yards.

For example, a Gwinnett County electrical contractor parks a trailer containing $18,000 of tools overnight at a commercial job site. The trailer is stolen. His general liability policy does not respond, no third-party injury, no third-party property damage. His commercial property policy does not respond, the tools were off-premises. An inland marine floater would have covered the loss directly.

What types of losses does an inland marine policy cover for contractors?

Inland marine also applies in other common contractor scenarios:

• Expensive rented equipment staged at a job site before installation
• Materials, lumber, pipe, wire, stored at a build site between deliveries and installation
• Specialty tools transported in a vehicle that is damaged or stolen in transit
• Equipment borrowed from another contractor or subcontractor that your crew is responsible for

For example, a plumbing contractor transporting $8,000 in copper pipe and specialty fittings to a job site has those materials stolen from the truck bed overnight. Neither the general liability policy nor the commercial property policy responds. An inland marine policy covers the loss.

Whether an inland marine policy is necessary for a specific contractor depends on the value of the equipment, the nature of the work, and what commercial property coverage is already in place (see also BOP vs. separate policies for Georgia businesses). A licensed advisor can review the full picture. Request a free coverage review and our team will confirm whether your current coverage leaves tools or equipment exposed when they leave your shop.