Florida Subcontractor Insurance Requirements: What GCs Must Require and Verify
What coverage general contractors should require from subcontractors on Florida job sites — and the workers' compensation rules that make a Florida GC responsible for an uninsured sub's crew.
The most common mistake: accepting an officer's workers' comp exemption as if it covered the sub's crew. An exemption covers the exempt officer and nobody else. A sub with employees needs a policy, and if it has none, Florida law treats those employees as the GC's for workers' comp.
Florida GCs set most insurance requirements in the subcontract — typically $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate general liability, $1M commercial auto, and an umbrella on larger jobs. Workers' compensation is the exception set by law: any construction employer with one or more employees must carry it, and only corporate officers or LLC members can be exempt, up to three per business. If a sub has no coverage, the GC is liable for its employees' workplace injuries, so verify every policy or exemption with the state before work starts.
In this guide
Standard insurance requirements for Florida subcontractors
Florida GCs set their subs' coverage requirements in the subcontract. These are the commercial standards for most Florida commercial work; your prime contract with the owner sets the floor you pass down.
| Coverage | Typical minimum | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial General Liability | $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate | Bodily injury and property damage from the sub's operations and completed work |
| Workers' Compensation | Florida statutory — required by law (see below) | Medical costs and lost wages for the sub's injured employees |
| Employer's Liability | $100K each accident / $500K disease policy limit / $100K each employee, or higher | Employee injury suits outside WC; part of the WC policy |
| Commercial Auto | $1M combined single limit | Vehicles used in the sub's operations |
| Umbrella / Excess | $1M–$5M, by project | Limits above GL, auto and employer's liability |
What a Florida license already requires
Florida ties licensure to insurance. To hold or renew a Construction Industry Licensing Board license, a contractor must attest that it carries public liability and property damage insurance for as long as the license is active, and show workers' compensation or a valid exemption. Under board rule 61G4-15.003 the minimums are:
- General and building contractors: $300,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage.
- Other CILB license categories: $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage.
Those are floors to keep a license, far below what a GC should require on a commercial job. A sub whose certificate falls below them has a licensing problem as well as an insurance one. For licensing itself, see the Florida subcontractor license requirements.
Workers' compensation — Florida's construction rules
Florida is stricter for construction than for other industries. Any construction-industry employer with one or more employees, including the owner, must carry workers' compensation.
Exemptions — who can have one
- Only corporate officers and LLC members who own at least 10% of the business can elect to be exempt, and no more than three per business (or group of affiliated businesses).
- Sole proprietors and partnerships in construction cannot hold an exemption.
- Exemptions are issued by the Division of Workers' Compensation and expire — check the date, not only the certificate.
- An exemption covers the exempt officer only. If the sub has employees, it still needs a policy.
Why it becomes the GC's problem
Under §440.10, when a subcontractor fails to secure workers' compensation, the contractor above it is liable for comp benefits to the sub's employees. An uninsured sub on a Florida site effectively puts its crew on the GC's policy — and the GC's premium audit will find them.
Verify with the state, not the paperwork. The Division of Workers' Compensation publishes a proof-of-coverage search that shows both active policies and exemptions by business name. A sub that hands you an exemption certificate and a crew of six has not satisfied the requirement.
Additional insured, waiver of subrogation and §725.06
- Additional insured status for your company (and the owner, where required) on the sub's GL and auto policies, on a primary and non-contributory basis, for both ongoing and completed operations — see CG 20 10 vs CG 20 37.
- Waiver of subrogation in your favor on GL, auto and workers' comp.
The certificate should show both, but the endorsements on the policy are what grant them — a line in the Description of Operations box does not.
Florida limits indemnity in construction contracts. Under §725.06, a clause requiring a sub to indemnify the GC for the GC's own negligence is void unless it carries a monetary limit that bears a reasonable commercial relationship to the contract and is part of the project documents. Have your broker or counsel review the indemnity and insurance exhibit together.
Adjusting minimums by project type
| Project type | Suggested GL | Suggested umbrella |
|---|---|---|
| Residential / small commercial | $1M / $2M | Often not required |
| Mid-size commercial ($1M–$10M) | $1M / $2M | $1M–$2M |
| Large commercial / mixed-use ($10M+) | $2M / $4M | $5M+ |
| High-hazard trades (roofing, demolition, structural) | $2M / $4M | $5M+ |
Roofing deserves a closer look in Florida: some GL policies exclude roofing operations or apply sublimits to them. If the certificate leaves any doubt, ask for the declarations page and the relevant endorsements.
Collecting and tracking certificates of insurance
Florida's workers' comp rules turn certificate collection into a two-part check: the COI for the policies, and the state's own record for workers' comp or an exemption.
- Collect a current certificate before any sub starts work.
- Check workers' comp or the exemption on the Division of Workers' Compensation's proof-of-coverage search.
- Track each policy's own expiration date, and each exemption's.
- Check the DBPR license alongside the certificate — they answer different questions.
How TrackMyVendor automates this
- Every certificate is read on upload — carrier, policy numbers, each coverage row’s limits and its own dates — and measured against the minimums you set, so a missing WC line shows as short.
- An exemption certificate can be filed on the sub’s record with its own expiration date, beside the COI it stands in for.
- Per-deadline reminders at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days go to your team and to the sub, with the upload link in the sub’s copy. Starter and above
- The endorsement pages are read too — additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory. Pro
We read what the certificate and the documents say; the state's proof-of-coverage search is still where an exemption is confirmed.
See what AI parsing reads from a certificateCollecting COIs from Florida subs?
Everything above is a check you can run by hand. This is what it looks like when it runs itself.
On the free plan
- Your first 25 subs, no credit card
- Subs upload certificates, licences and W-9s through a one-time link — no account, no app
- Every certificate read automatically: coverage rows, limits and each policy’s own dates
- Contractor licences checked against the state board’s own records
- A Monday summary of everything expired or expiring
- DBPR licences re-checked against DBPR’s records every day
Per-deadline alerts at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days, sent to your team and to the sub, start on Starter. Compare plans
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