Best Painting Contractor Business Insurance

Finding the right painting business insurance protects your operation from liability claims and property damage. The Hartford earned our top recommendation with a MoneyGeek score of 4.55 out of 5, standing out for quality service and comprehensive coverage options. Thimble and Nationwide also offer strong protection for painting contractors at competitive rates.

Note: We based all scores on a painting business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Thimble offers the cheapest painting contractor insurance for most coverage types. General liability costs just $43 monthly, and business owner's policies run $67 monthly. Both coverage types rank first among providers we studied. For workers' compensation, NEXT Insurance leads at $66 monthly, with Thimble close behind at $67. The Hartford offers the most affordable professional liability coverage at $57 monthly, protecting you from client disputes over project quality.

In general, business insurance costs for painting contractors are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $144 on average per month, ranging from $43 to $194, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $140 on average per month, ranging from $132 to $162, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $64 on average per month, ranging from $57 to $74, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $211 on average per month, ranging from $67 to $293, depending on the state

Most states require painting business insurance policies including workers' compensation if you have employees, and general liability insurance is essential since clients and general contractors demand proof before letting you on-site. Beyond these required coverages for painting contractors, you'll want commercial auto to protect work vehicles and additional policies depending on your specific operations and risk exposure.

Finding the best and cheapest business insurance for your painting company takes a systematic approach. Getting business insurance doesn't need to be overwhelming when you compare coverage options and find the right protection at rates that fit your budget.

Painting businesses need general liability and workers' compensation as essential protection, plus commercial auto and inland marine insurance to cover equipment moving between job sites. The Hartford offers the best overall coverage for painting contractors with reliable service and comprehensive options. Professional painters on a budget can get solid protection through Thimble, which starts at $43 monthly for general liability coverage.

We answer frequently asked questions about painting business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for painting companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue