Welding Business Insurance: Cost & Quotes From $11

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As a welding contractor, you provide valuable services to individuals and businesses that require metal frames and structures. But as you offer your services, you become exposed to various health risks and safety hazards that can result in significant financial losses. For instance, you or your employees can suffer eye damage, lung cancer, burns, electrical shock, etc.

Explosions and fire breakouts can damage clients' properties. These occurrences are grounds for an expensive lawsuit to be filed against your business.

On the business operations side,  physical assets might get lost or damaged. Also, the commercial vehicle you're using ( if there is any) might cause an accident. Of course, you'll have to pay the affected parties.

You can't anticipate such occurrences so it's crucial to ensure your business is covered by purchasing welding insurance. The policy is an essential investment as it protects your financial assets when things go awry in your line of work. 

Who Needs Welding Insurance Coverage?

The welding industry has many contractors providing different types of services. They all require insurance to protect their companies from liabilities and equipment theft or damage. Some of the professionals who need welding insurance coverage include:

• Commercial welders

• Residential welders (mobile welding services)

• Industrial welders (on-site welding and oil rig and pipeline welding solutions)

Welding Liability Insurance

When you take out welding business insurance, you need to have some basic coverage policies. You can also include other optional policies, depending on your specific needs. One of the must-have policies is welding general liability insurance. The level of liability coverage varies based on various factors, such as:

• The type of work you do

• Your clientele

• Where do you work? Is it at your business premise or a client's site?

General liability insurance is the basic coverage you can have for your business. The policy protects you from a range of risks, including:

• Third-party property damage – A client visits your welding facility to check on the progress of their work. As they leave, they trip over a cable and dislocate their right wrist and sustain a bruise to the head. The general liability included in your independent welding contractor insurance can pay for their medical bills and other expenses related to the accident.

• Third-party bodily injuries – You're working on a customer's job site, and a stray spark ignites a highly flammable material nearby. By the time you manage to put out the fire, it has already damaged some nearby structures. The liability policy covers the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged property. 

• Legal defense and other costs – You'll need legal representation when a client or employee files a personal injury claim or property damage claim against your welding business. The lawyer fees can significantly dent your finances, but you can have the incident investigated and pay for your lawyer fees if you have liability insurance for welding business. This policy also covers the judgment costs.

Although businesses aren't legally mandated to obtain welding liability insurance, operating without it is extremely risky. If a client sues you, you might lose hundreds of thousands in the legal battle. Having a sufficient liability insurance policy to cover risks is one of the most effective ways to protect your business and retain your financial resources. 

General liability insurance is one of the most comprehensive business insurance policies available for your welding business. You can add optional policies if ever you need more protection. These are:

• Advertising injury coverage 

• Products and completed operations coverage

• Rented premises liability coverage

Products and completed operations coverage will cover personal injuries and property damage caused by a delivered product or service. In a nutshell, this will protect you if a past client got hurt or had their property damaged and decides to sue. 

Your welding business might fail to live up to expectations, copy another business’s advertisement, or unintentionally speak ill about a particular person or business. Advertising injury coverage will protect you from these perils. The function of this optional policy in general liability insurance is to cover defense costs and settlements if a third party sues your business for slander, libel, false advertising, copyright infringement, etc. 

Rented premises liability coverage is easy to understand. If you’re renting a commercial space, rented premises liability coverage will help you reimburse the losses of the property owner. 

How Much General Liability Coverage Do You Need?

Many insurance carriers help customers decide on the exact policy limit they need. You can speak to your insurance agent to weigh your options to get small welding business insurance that satisfies your needs. However, it's up to you to decide the type of coverage and the policy limit. 

When deciding how much to get, it’s best to consider the insurance requirements stated in client contracts. In connection,  most welding projects will require you to get $500,000 -  $1 million general liability insurance. 

Public Liability Insurance for Welders

A welding company insurance policy sometimes offers public liability insurance. This policy protects your business should members of the public (including customers and suppliers) bring a lawsuit against your business for suffering bodily injuries and property damages. 

Such claims mean you face legal action, and you require significant amounts of money to hire a lawyer to represent you in court. With sufficient public liability coverage, you need not worry as your insurer will pay for:

• Third-party personal injury claims

• Third-party property damage claims

• Legal defense and other  costs 

Welding Professional Liability Insurance

Errors can happen while you’re working. For instance, you might commit the following and cause economic or financial losses to clients:

• Undercutting

• Cold clapping

• Incomplete penetration

• Slag inclusion

Clients might sue if they found out that you didn’t strive to provide the utmost service they deserve. This is why insurance companies include professional liability insurance in tailored welding insurance. Professional liability insurance will cover costs if you caused economic of financial loss to the client by committing the following:

• Negligence

• Misrepresentation

• Violation of good faith 

• Inaccurate advice

Should You Purchase Other Types of Insurance?

Don't stop at getting general liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and public liability insurance. Insurance companies have more protection for your business. If you’re willing to invest more on premiums, consider getting:

• Commercial property insurance

• Commercial auto insurance

• Workers compensation insurance

Welder’s Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance covers your commercial building. Your commercial building might get destroyed or damaged by fire, extreme weather, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. And commercial property insurance will take care of reconstruction or repair. 

Business equipment and tools coverage is included in commercial property insurance. If your welding helmets, welding vizors, welding suits, steel toe work shoes, welding machines, and welding tables become damaged or lost due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils, commercial property insurance’s business equipment and tools coverage will reimburse your losses. 

Normally, business equipment and tools coverage will only cover equipment and tools damaged or lost while on the premises of your commercial space. But through an endorsement, the coverage can extend protection to tools and equipment damaged during the trip or while being used on a project site. 

Commercial Auto Insurance for Welders

Are you using a vehicle for business purposes? If this is the case, get commercial auto insurance that protects you against the exposures associated with owning a vehicle for business use.

Commercial auto insurance includes auto liability coverage.  Your commercial vehicle might cause an accident. The job of auto liability coverage is to get injured third parties treated and reimburse individuals who had their property damaged. Auto liability coverage won’t provide help if it’s proven that the accident happened because you were engaged in a criminal activity such as driving under influence, escaping from authorities, overspeeding, or driving without license.

Another inclusion in commercial auto insurance for welders is physical damage coverage. Physical damage coverage will help you pay for parts repair or replacement if the commercial vehicle incurs damage. This has two types:

• Collision - Collision physical damage coverage will pay for parts repair or replacement if your welding business’s vehicle incurred damage after colliding with another vehicle or object on the road

• Comprehensive - Comprehensive physical damage coverage will pay for parts repair or replacement if fire, lightning, hail, windstorm, vandalism, theft, and other covered perils damaged your commercial vehicle

Medical payments/personal injury protection is the third inclusion in commercial auto insurance. These will pay for medical expenses if the driver and passengers incurred injuries after your commercial vehicle got involved in an accident. Ask the insurance company which of the two applies in your state. 

Welding Business Workers Compensation Insurance

Your welding business will grow and will eventually employ people. Welding is a perilous job. Workers get injured or die because of it. Here are some examples:

• At around 1: 00 p.m. on January 17, 2009, a welder was working as a mechanical aide for an equipment repair company, which specializes in the fixing of heavy construction and hauling equipment. While welding the grouser bars on the tracks of front-end loaders, his overalls suddenly caught fire. This resulted in minor burns that were then treated at the nearby hospital

• At roughly 8: 00 p.m. on April 24, 2009, a welder was helping another colleague who is also a welder. Their task is to cut a gap into an infusion well pipe and weld a flange on it. While the two were working an explosion happened. The flange that was supposed to be welded hit the welder in question. Severe third-degree burns and blunt force trauma on the chest were sustained. The welder was taken to the hospital for treatment
  

• At 3: 30 p.m. on February 20, 2018, a welder was repairing a leaking seam on a 50-gallon diesel tank using a mig arc welding equipment. While working, diesel vapors from the tank ignited and caused an explosion. The welder in question sustained third-degree burns in the upper left armpit and second-degree burns in the upper limbs. He was taken to the hospital for treatment 

  
  

You’re responsible for hospitalization, treatment, medication, rehabilitation, and lost income compensation if one or more employees suffers from a work-related injury or disease. To avoid paying the costs yourself, get workers' compensation insurance. 

Speaking of lost income compensation, how much will the employee receive from workers comp? Workers' compensation insurance will provide 2/3 or 67% of the average weekly wage, This means that if the employee makes $1,500 per week, lost income compensation will be $1,005.  

Your employee might die and workers' compensation will still provide help if this happens. The kids, wife, and other dependents will receive death benefits equal to 2/3 or 67% of the average weekly wage.

Welding Insurance Cost

Several variables affect the total cost of your welding shop insurance, and that's why policy rates vary widely. Some of these variables include:

• Company's level of experience

• Size of projects you handle

• Number of employees

• Type and number of coverages you choose

• Your company's location

• Your chosen deductible and coverage limit

A basic general liability policy with a coverage limit of $300,000 can cost as low as $29 per month ($348 per year). Nonetheless, your overall welding business insurance cost can range between $41 per month or $1,500 per year. That price increases with every optional coverage you add to your insurance plan.

In addition, here’s a table showing the pricing of the best welding insurance companies:

Mobile Welding Insurance Cost

Mobile welding is a welding service offered remotely. A mobile welder fabricates steel structures without being confined to a single business premise. Therefore, such a welder must have a commercial vehicle to access various job sites to offer a range of services that might include building a steel fence, repairing an oil rig bucket, or fixing wastewater systems.

Like other contractors, welders who work remotely can expect to pay monthly premiums of $38 per month or $456 per year for mobile welding business insurance with a policy limit of $1,000,000.