Renewal Surprises Explained
Why Did My GL Premium Go Up?
A contractor GL renewal increase is almost always driven by one of five things: a claim on the policy, higher reported revenues, a market-wide rate increase, lost credits, or a change in your business operations.
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Five Reasons Your Contractor GL Premium Went Up
Premium increases are the single most common reason contractors call us for a second opinion at renewal. Before you decide your carrier is gouging you, it pays to figure out which of the five drivers is actually responsible — because the fix is different for each one. Learn more about general liability insurance for contractors or scroll down for the details on this question.
1. A claim hit the policy. Even a small reported incident, paid or not, can cost you renewal credits and add a debit. A single $15,000 paid claim can drive a 15–25% increase on the next renewal and can lock you out of preferred carriers for three years. Closed-with-no-payment incidents that were merely reported can also hurt — carriers count occurrences, not just payouts.
2. Your reported revenues went up. GL premiums are rated on your annual gross receipts. If you reported $750K of revenue last year and $1.2M this year, your audit-adjusted premium will go up proportionally even with zero claims and no rate change. This is the most common driver and the most legitimate — you bought more exposure, so you owe more premium.
3. The market is hardening. Insurance is cyclical. When the broader contractor liability market is in a hard cycle — as it has been for parts of the last several years — every carrier raises rates 5–15% across the board on otherwise identical accounts. There is nothing wrong with your specific account; the whole class went up.
4. You lost a scheduled credit. Carriers extend credits for years-in-business, safety programs, sub-contractor controls, drug testing, and clean loss history. Drop the safety program, stop collecting COIs from your subs, or have an underwriter notice your loss history slipped, and the credits come off — instantly adding 10–20% to your premium without any rate change.
5. Your operations changed. If you added a new trade (started doing roofing on top of your existing carpentry book), bought a piece of heavy equipment, or began working in more dangerous territories like New York City, your class mix or territory mix shifted and the premium followed.
The good news is that none of these are out of your control. A clean re-marketing of the account through an independent agency — especially with documented safety improvements and updated sub-contractor controls — will almost always recover 10–30% of an unjustified increase.
The Renewal Re-Shop
If your premium jumped more than 10% at renewal, send us your declarations page and last three years of loss runs. Trade Safe will quietly market your account to dozens of carriers and tell you within a week whether the increase is the market, or just your current carrier.
What To Send Us When You Want a Re-Shop
We can usually get a competing quote back to you inside of 3–5 business days if you have these four documents ready.
Current Declarations Page
The Dec page shows your limits, premium, classifications, and endorsements — carriers need this as a starting point.
3-Year Loss Runs
Carriers will request loss runs from your last three GL carriers. Request them directly from the carrier — they are free.
Updated Operations Summary
A short paragraph describing what your business actually does today, % of revenue by trade, and any new equipment or service lines.
Sub-Contractor Procedure
Even one paragraph describing how you collect COIs from subs and what minimum limits you require can unlock material credits.
Why Contractors Trust Trade Safe
An independent Akron agency that has spent 20+ years exclusively underwriting and servicing contractor accounts. We answer the phone, we shop the carriers, and we get your COI back the same day.
20+
Years in Contractor Insurance
We do not dabble. Every account we write is in the trades.
Dozens
Of Carriers Shopped
Independent agency — we work for you, not one insurer.
Same-Day
Certificates of Insurance
COIs back in your inbox before the GC moves on.
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