The bid that gets thrown out before anyone reads your price
Most facilities managers screen out proposals with no certificate of insurance before they ever compare rates. This page covers what coverage independent contractors typically need, why it gets asked for, and how to fold the cost into your number instead of eating it.
General liability is the baseline, not the whole picture
General liability (GL) insurance covers property damage and third-party injury claims — a mopped floor someone slips on, a chemical that stains carpet, a broken fixture during a walkthrough. Most commercial leases require the building's vendors to carry it, which means the facilities manager isn't asking to be difficult — their own lease or management agreement usually requires it of every contractor on site.
Office buildings commonly ask for $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate as a floor, though larger portfolios or Class A towers sometimes ask for more. Treat any number you see in a bid template as a placeholder to fill with your actual policy limits, not a target to hit exactly — check what your specific building's property management company requires before you quote, since it varies by owner and sometimes by building within the same portfolio.
What a facilities manager's insurance ask usually breaks into
Four separate things get bundled into one line item — 'send your COI' — that are worth understanding separately before you're asked for them under a deadline.
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General liability
Covers property damage and injury claims tied to your work on site. This is the certificate most facilities managers mean when they say 'proof of insurance,' and it's the one almost every commercial building requires regardless of contract size.
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Workers' compensation
Required in most states once you have employees, and often required by the building even if you subcontract or use 1099 labor — some management companies will ask for proof either way. Check your state's threshold; a few exempt sole proprietors with no employees.
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Fidelity bonding
Not insurance — a bond that reimburses the client if an employee steals from the site (cash, equipment, a resident's or tenant's property). Buildings with sensitive access, like medical suites or executive floors, ask for this more often than open-plan offices.
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Surety or bid bonds
Rare for small independent contracts, more common on large municipal or multi-building RFPs, where the bond guarantees you'll perform if awarded the contract. If a bid explicitly asks for one, it usually says so in the RFP language — don't assume you need it otherwise.
Getting the certificate, and pricing it into the bid
A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is a one-page summary your insurance broker issues on request, naming the building or property management company as an "additional insured" or "certificate holder." Most brokers turn these around within a day or two — request it before the walkthrough, not after you've won the bid, since some facilities managers want it attached to the proposal itself rather than promised later.
The premium is a real, recurring cost of doing this work, and it belongs in your overhead, not treated as a surprise that eats your margin. When you're building a rate using the pricing guide, your insurance and bonding premiums should already be sitting inside the labor-and-overhead side of your number, the same way fuel, supplies, and payroll taxes are — not itemized separately on the bid unless the client specifically asks for a cost breakdown.
If you're quoting a building type you haven't served before — a medical suite, a building with executive or server-room access, a multi-tenant portfolio — call your broker before you finalize the number. Coverage requirements and endorsements (like additional insured status or a waiver of subrogation) sometimes change what the policy costs, and it's cheaper to find that out before you commit to a price than after.
Questions about insurance and bonding
Do I need all of this for every bid?
No. General liability is close to universal for commercial buildings. Workers' comp depends on your state and whether you have employees. Fidelity and surety bonding only come up for specific building types or large RFPs — read what the facilities manager or RFP actually asks for rather than assuming you need every category.
What if I can't afford the coverage a building is asking for?
Call your broker before you walk away from the bid — coverage limits are often negotiable in small increments, and the premium difference between $1M and $2M aggregate is usually smaller than contractors expect. If the gap is still too large, it may be a sign the building is outside your current size range.
Should I attach the COI to the bid or just mention I have coverage?
Reference your coverage in the proposal and attach the actual certificate as a separate document, the same way the bid templates handle it — a facilities manager verifying coverage with their own risk or legal team wants a document they can forward, not a sentence to take on faith.
Does this replace talking to an insurance broker?
No. This page explains what gets asked for and why, so you're not caught off guard mid-bid — your broker is the one who can tell you what your specific policy actually covers and what it would cost to raise a limit.
Have a specific coverage requirement in a bid you're working on?
Send us what the facilities manager is asking for and we'll help you figure out whether it's a standard ask or something to negotiate.