ROOTERMAN

At minimum, your franchise agreement requires general liability at $1,000,000/$2,000,000, commercial auto at $1,000,000 any auto, workers' compensation at statutory limits with $1,000,000 employers' liability, and the franchisor named as additional insured. Verify the exact entity name and any additional endorsement requirements against your specific franchise agreement before you submit your first certificate.

Yes. Your existing independent policy was not written to comply with a franchise agreement. It almost certainly lacks the correct additional insured endorsements, the primary and non-contributory language, and the waiver of subrogation your franchisor requires. Renewing the same policy and adding an additional insured does not make it franchise-compliant. You need a full review before your conversion date.

A retroactive date is the earliest date from which a claims-made policy provides coverage. If your new franchise-compliant policy has a retroactive date set at your conversion date, work you did as an independent is not covered — even if the claim surfaces after your conversion. Ask your agent about tail coverage or prior acts coverage at the time of conversion, not after a claim surfaces.

Only if that subcontractor has a current general liability policy and you have a certificate of insurance on file before they start work. Standard general liability policies contain a subcontractor exclusion that applies to uninsured subcontractors working on your behalf. Get the certificate before the job. Every time.

Your completed operations coverage — included in your general liability policy — covers claims that surface after a job is finished, as long as the work was done after your policy's retroactive date and within the aggregate limit. Conversion franchisees need to verify that prior work is not left in a gap between their old independent policy and their new franchise-compliant program.

Standard general liability policies have a pollution exclusion. Most carriers treat mold as a biological pollutant and invoke that exclusion when mold claims arise from water work. Contractors Pollution Liability is the coverage that fills this gap. Without it, mold claims from your water work are not covered.

Your carrier reviews actual payroll and actual work performed at year end. If your technicians were doing work classified under a higher-rated code — excavation, sewer entry, confined space work — and that was not reflected in your original classification, you will receive a bill for the difference. Update your class codes before the work starts.

Only if your commercial auto policy includes hired and non-owned auto coverage, or is written on an any-auto basis. A scheduled auto policy that lists only company-owned vehicles has no coverage when a technician drives their personal truck to a job. Make sure your policy is written on any auto.

A complete program for a single-territory operation with two vans and three to five technicians runs $11,000 to $18,000 per year. That includes general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation, Contractors Pollution Liability, Contractors Errors and Omissions, and tools coverage. The FDD line item for insurance understates this range by $2,500 to $4,000 because it reflects compliance minimums, not a complete protection program.

Your agent generates the certificate from your policy. What matters is that the franchisor entity appears exactly as named in your franchise agreement, the additional insured endorsement is attached, and the primary and non-contributory language is included. Ask your agent to confirm all three before you submit the first one.