ROOTERMAN

If the certificates you have issued since your conversion name the wrong entity, every certificate has been non-compliant since day one. That is the smaller problem.

The larger one is whether the policy itself — written for an independent plumber, renewed without a franchise-specific review — actually covers how you operate now. The work you did before the conversion. The subcontractors you still call when jobs stack up. The services you added after joining the system.

Getting compliant with RooterMan's franchise agreement is one task. Making sure the policy protects what you built is another.

That satisfies your franchisor. Here is where the requirement ends before your real risk does.

RooterMan is owned by Franchise Services, Inc. (FSI). The franchisor legal entity that must appear on your certificates of insurance is named in your specific franchise agreement. Verify the exact entity name with your RooterMan regional developer before you issue your first certificate. Getting this wrong from day one means every certificate you have sent is non-compliant — even if every other element of the policy is correct.

Note: RooterMan's FDD is not currently in the Rikor system. The requirements below are drawn from the home services industry benchmark and standard franchise agreement structures for this trade. Verify all specific requirements against your executed franchise agreement.

Your franchise agreement requires the following minimum coverage:

That satisfies your franchisor. Here is where the requirement ends before your real risk does.

Submit a certificate of insurance reflecting those limits with the correct franchisor entity named as additional insured. That satisfies your franchise agreement.

Standard general liability policies for plumbing contractors are written on an occurrence basis. That means the policy in force when the work was done is the one that responds — even if the claim surfaces months or years later. For franchisees who started fresh, this works as intended. The policy was in place, the job was done, and completed operations coverage responds.

For conversion franchisees, the question is different: was a policy always in force for every job you did as an independent?

Independent plumbing business owners sometimes let policies lapse. A slow quarter. A carrier non-renewal that didn't get replaced fast enough. A period between carriers where the business ran without coverage. It happens. When it does, the jobs completed during that gap have no occurrence policy to draw from when a claim surfaces later. The franchise-compliant policy you carry now was not in force when that work was done. Your prior carrier was not in force either — the policy had lapsed. There is no policy.

Conversion franchisees face a specific version of this problem that new franchisees do not.

When you operated as an independent, you probably had a handful of people you called when jobs stacked up. A former employee. A neighbor in the trade. Someone you had worked with for years. You trusted them. They showed up, did the work, and you paid them on a 1099 basis.

Those relationships did not disappear when you signed the franchise agreement.

The problem is that your franchise agreement almost certainly requires any subcontractor working under your brand to carry their own general liability insurance and name you as an additional insured on their policy. It also likely requires you to have a certificate of insurance on file for every sub before they step foot on a job. Your long-standing 1099 relationships — built on trust and a handshake — were not built on paperwork.

Standard general liability policies contain a subcontractor exclusion. That exclusion applies to damage caused by uninsured subcontractors working on your behalf. If your 1099 plumber floods a customer's basement and he has no general liability policy, your carrier will attempt to exclude the claim on the grounds that the work was performed by an uninsured subcontractor.

Standard general liability policies contain a pollution exclusion. Most franchisees assume that exclusion applies to obvious things — chemical spills, industrial waste. They do not expect it to apply to a water job they completed three months ago.

It does.

Mold is classified as a biological pollutant under most standard general liability policy forms. When a water repair — a repiping job, a supply line replacement, a drain clearing — leaves residual moisture behind that produces mold, the carrier typically invokes the pollution exclusion to deny the claim. This is not a gray area. It is a standard policy defense that carriers use routinely.

For conversion franchisees, the risk is compounded. You may have completed dozens of water-related jobs under your independent business. Some of those jobs are still within the window where a mold claim could surface. If your prior policy has lapsed and your new policy has a pollution exclusion, there is no coverage available.

Contractors Pollution Liability is a separate policy that covers bodily injury and property damage claims arising from pollution events connected to your work. For plumbing franchisees, it specifically addresses mold claims, hydrogen sulfide gas from drain work, and contaminated water releases. The per-occurrence limit is typically $1,000,000. Annual cost for a single-territory plumbing operation runs $900 to $1,500.

Contractors Pollution Liability policies vary in structure. Some are written on a claims-made basis — meaning the policy in force when the claim is filed must cover the work, not just the policy in force when the job was done. If your Contractors Pollution Liability policy is claims-made and you are a conversion franchisee, verify the retroactive date on your new policy. A retroactive date set at your conversion date leaves prior work unprotected for mold claims, even if your occurrence general liability would otherwise cover the underlying water damage. Ask your agent to confirm the retroactive date and whether your prior Contractors Pollution Liability policy — if you carried one — needs a tail endorsement. Not all Contractors Pollution Liability policies are claims-made, but enough are that conversion franchisees should confirm before assuming.

Every plumbing job carries potential moisture exposure. Contractors Pollution Liability is not a specialty product for unusual operations. It is the standard gap-fill for a standard plumbing exposure that your general liability was explicitly written to exclude.

Workers' compensation policies are audited at the end of every policy year. Your carrier reviews what your technicians actually did — not what was listed when you bought the policy. If your class codes understated the risk, you get a bill for the difference.

Conversion franchisees face a specific audit exposure. When you operated as an independent, your WC policy reflected your historical scope of services. After conversion, the RooterMan system may have expanded that scope. Drain camera inspection. Hydrojetting. Pipe lining. Sewer services that go beyond what you were previously doing.

The base workers' compensation class code for plumbing is NCCI 5183. That code covers residential and commercial plumbing installation and repair. It does not cover excavation or confined space sewer entry, which fall under NCCI 6010 — a higher-rated classification with meaningfully higher premiums.

If your technicians are doing sewer excavation or confined space work under the RooterMan brand and your WC policy lists only NCCI 5183, your carrier will reclassify that payroll at audit. The premium difference between 5183 and 6010 can run several thousand dollars on a five-person crew. That bill arrives at year end — when it is least convenient and completely unexpected.

The fix is straightforward: tell your insurance agent what your technicians actually do before the policy renews, not after the audit bill arrives. If you added services after joining the RooterMan system, update your WC policy to reflect it.

A complete insurance stack for a single-territory RooterMan franchise — two service vans, three to five technicians, residential and light commercial work — runs $11,000 to $18,000 per year. That range reflects real placements from the Rikor benchmark.

The lower end of that range assumes favorable loss history, a clean WC experience modifier, and a market that prices plumbing work competitively in your state. The higher end reflects newer operations, prior claims, or states with elevated workers' compensation rates.

What RooterMan's FDD Item 7 typically shows as the insurance line item understates the real cost by $2,500 to $4,000. That gap exists because FDD figures represent the minimum required coverage — not the complete stack a franchisee actually needs to protect the business. The FDD does not account for Contractors Pollution Liability, Contractors Errors and Omissions, tools coverage, or the additional premium that comes with properly rated workers' compensation.

For conversion franchisees, the adjustment is often sharper. Independent plumbers typically carry leaner insurance programs — sometimes just general liability and a commercial auto policy — because no franchise agreement requires more. Bringing the full program into compliance with RooterMan's requirements, then adding the gap-fill coverages experienced operators carry, can represent a meaningful increase over what you paid as an independent.

That increase is not the insurance getting more expensive. It is the coverage getting appropriate.

Breaking the annual stack down: general liability runs $1,200 to $2,000 per year for a plumbing operation at this size. Commercial auto runs $3,500 to $6,000 for two vans with proper any-auto coverage. Workers' compensation runs $3,500 to $6,500 depending on payroll, class codes, and experience modifier. Contractors Pollution Liability adds $900 to $1,500. Contractors Errors and Omissions adds $1,200 to $2,200. Tools and inland marine coverage adds $600 to $1,000.

Fleet size, payroll, and loss history move that number in both directions. The benchmark is a starting point. Your actual program should reflect your actual operations.

These are not always required by your franchise agreement. Experienced RooterMan operators carry them because the operations demand it.

Pollution coverage (Contractors Pollution Liability) covers bodily injury and property damage from pollution events connected to your work. For plumbing, this means mold from a water repair, hydrogen sulfide gas from a drain cleaning job, or contaminated water released during sewer work. Your standard general liability policy has a pollution exclusion. This policy fills that gap. Experienced operators in this trade treat Contractors Pollution Liability as a standard line item — not an add-on.

Professional negligence coverage (Contractors Errors and Omissions) covers claims that your professional recommendations or workmanship decisions caused damage. When you diagnose a problem, recommend a repair approach, or advise a customer on whether to repair or replace a system, you are providing professional advice. Your general liability policy covers physical damage from your work. It does not cover claims that your professional judgment was wrong. This coverage specifically addresses that gap.

Equipment coverage (Tools and Inland Marine) covers your tools and equipment when they are in the van, at a job site, or in transit — not just at a fixed business location. Commercial property insurance covers your office. It does not cover $15,000 in pipe inspection cameras and diagnostic equipment that lives in the van. Inland marine is the coverage that follows the equipment wherever it goes.

Theft coverage (Commercial Crime / Employee Dishonesty) covers theft committed by your own employees — including theft from a customer's home while on a job. Plumbing technicians work alone inside homes. That access creates a real exposure. General liability does not cover employee theft. This policy does.