North Carolina Workers' Comp Insurance for General Contractors & Trades (with employees)

North Carolina requires coverage once a business regularly employs three or more employees, and corporate officers count toward that threshold by default, so a corporation with two officers and one other worker is already required to carry coverage. A special rule removes the three-employee minimum for any work involving radiation, where coverage is required for even one employee. Motor carriers must also cover owner-operators regardless of independent contractor status unless the operator is individually DOT-licensed and personally operates the vehicle. See the North Carolina Industrial Commission's employer requirements.

Common codes for this work include 5606 Construction Executive / Supervisor; 5403 General / Commercial Carpentry; 5645 Residential Carpentry (Detached Homes); 5610 Construction Cleanup / Debris Removal; 5022 Masonry Contractor; 5221 Concrete Flatwork Contractor; 6400 Fence Installation Contractor. North Carolina maintains its own classification system (NCRB) rather than NCCI codes. The codes below are NCCI reference codes; your North Carolina classification may carry a different number, and we match it during quoting.

Corporate officers are automatically counted as employees toward the three-employee threshold and are covered by default, but they may specifically exclude themselves from the company's policy; officers of certain nonprofit corporations who receive no compensation are not covered but still count toward the threshold. Sole proprietors, partners, and LLC members are not automatically counted as employees and are not automatically covered, but they may voluntarily elect to be included under the business's workers' compensation policy if they want coverage for themselves.

An employer that refuses or neglects to secure required coverage faces an administrative penalty of $1.00 per employee per day of noncompliance, with a floor of $20.00 and a cap of $100.00 per day (an alternative calculation based on estimated premium plus 10% may apply to a first-time violator), and this penalty generally cannot reach back more than three years. A willful failure to secure coverage is a Class H felony, while a negligent failure is a Class 1 misdemeanor. During any period of noncompliance, the employer remains directly liable to an injured employee for either statutory compensation or a common-law damages claim, at the worker's election (N.C.G.S. § 97-94).

Price is driven by payroll in each class code, the North Carolina rates filed for those codes, your claims history (experience modification), and underwriting factors such as the specific trade mix performed in-house versus subcontracted out; total payroll split between supervisory staff and hands-on crew; whether work is residential, light commercial, or larger commercial jobs. We compare carriers so you can see what you qualify for.

Complete one application and we compare up to 10 carriers in minutes, with the option to purchase online. A Live Certificate is included with your coverage, so proof of coverage is always live and shareable by text or email in seconds.

Most general contractors report payroll under several codes at once — one for supervisory staff, and separate codes for any framing, masonry, concrete, or other trade work performed with their own crews rather than subcontracted out.

An uninsured subcontractor's injured worker can potentially pursue the general contractor as a statutory employer, which is why collecting and tracking a current certificate of insurance from every sub before they start work is standard practice on a jobsite.

No. This coverage is written for contractors with W-2 employees on payroll; owner-only certificate ('ghost') policies are not offered.

Coverage is required once a business regularly employs three or more employees, and corporate officers are counted toward that number by default.

Not automatically. LLC members aren't counted as employees or automatically covered, but they can voluntarily elect to be included on the business's policy.