AZ · Contractor insurance
General liability, workers’ compensation, commercial auto and excess for Arizona contractors. Arizona licenses on a bond rather than a certificate, which makes general liability a commercial requirement instead of a regulatory one — and no less necessary when a GC asks.
Arizona is the loosest of the five on paper: the Registrar of Contractors licenses against a bond and does not require general liability as a condition of the license. In practice general liability is demanded by commercial contracts, public works and general contractor prequalification, so the contractors who skip it find out at the point of bidding rather than at the point of licensing.
Sources: Arizona ROC — Bond Information · A.R.S. § 23-961. Requirements change — confirm with the board before relying on a figure.
How each coverage actually works here, rather than in general.
The Registrar of Contractors does not require general liability as a licensing condition, and licenses on a bond set by classification and gross volume instead. Commercial contracts, public works and GC prequalification require it almost universally, which is why Arizona contractors who skip it usually discover the requirement at the point of bidding rather than the point of licensing.
General liability across all five states →Mandatory under A.R.S. § 23-961 for any contractor with one or more employees. Sole proprietors, partners and corporate officers with no W-2 employees are not required to carry it — which makes Arizona the most forgiving of the five for an owner-operator, right up until the first hire.
Workers’ comp across all five states →Minimum $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage. Squarely mid-pack among the five, and as with all of them, well under any commercial contract requirement.
Commercial auto across all five states →With no general liability requirement at the ROC at all, there is no statutory floor for excess to sit above — the contract sets the entire structure, primary and excess together. Arizona is the purest case in this program of a limit driven wholly by who you are contracting with.
Excess liability across all five states →The ROC requires neither general nor professional liability. Arizona is therefore the state where a contractor is most likely to be carrying no cover at all for a design decision, because nothing in the licensing process ever raises the question.
Professional liability across all five states →Tell us the trade, the license classification and the payroll. We will tell you which markets fit before we submit anywhere.
