Your contractors insurance is unlikely to extend to subcontractors, unless you have made specific arrangements with your provider. As a general rule, every contractor, crew or company on a job site is expected to bring their own coverage to the task at hand.
Is Subcontractor Insurance Necessary?
Insurance for subcontractors may not always be a requirement. There are no legal demands for subcontractors to carry insurance. Rather, any requirements to do so will be down to the client's wishes, or to the contractor hiring the subcontractor.
What If My Subcontractors Aren't Covered?
If your subcontractors do not carry insurance and they wind up damaging your client's property or injuring someone on the job site, the subcontractor is likely to wind up paying out of pocket for the damages, but there is also a good chance that you, as primary contractor, will be made a target for a lawsuit because you brought uninsured subcontractors onto the job, and your contractors insurance is unlikely to foot the bill if it does not have any provisions for subcontractors.
How Can Primary Contractors Protect Themselves?
The easiest way, and perhaps the best way, to ensure that you are protected is to insist that all your subcontractors show insurance certification before beginning the task at hand. It is possible to buy insurance for subcontractors, but at this point you're effectively spending money on someone else's business for them. It is every contractor’s responsibility to ensure that they have protection, be they primary or subcontractor.
Fortunately, it is not at all difficult to screen subcontractors to ensure that they have full protection. It is not only for your sake and for the client's sake that you should only hire insured subcontractors, but for the subcontractor's sake, as well. Without insurance, one lawsuit can sink a fledgling business.