BROKLY

Insurance for painters — what to carry, and what it costs

Published 2026-06-11 · by Brokly

Wall-covering installation is rated separately in NCCI states (class 5491 Paperhanging, not 5474) and isn’t in these figures; California’s WCIRB instead folds wallpaper installation into the painting classification (5474/5482).

Direct answer: insurance for painting contractors starts with workers’ comp — required in nearly all states — with 4 more coverages matched to the trade below. For a typical painting business that’s ≈$2.1k to ≈$9.6k/yr depending on the state (filed rates $2.35–$13.84/$100 payroll, 2024).
Pick your state — the statute, modeled costs, and the full coverage guide ↓

What painting contractors carry — at a glance

Workers’ comp is governed state by state — pick your state in the table below for the statute and the modeled cost. The rest is the trade’s exposure map.

Workers' compensation

If a painter falls from a ladder or scaffold, or is otherwise hurt on the job.

What it covers, and what it doesn’t

Typically covers

  • Medical bills for a work injury, at rates the state sets
  • Part of the injured employee's lost wages
  • The employer too: covered employees generally can't sue over the injury

Typically doesn’t

  • Injuries outside work
  • Independent contractors, in most states
  • Lawsuits that get around the can't-sue trade-off — that's the employer's liability part of the same policy
Required in nearly all states≈$3.5k/yrtypical painting business · median stateCosts by state →
Commercial auto

If you crash a van or truck hauling your crew, ladders, and paint between job sites.

What it covers, and what it doesn’t

Typically covers

  • Liability when a business vehicle injures someone or damages property
  • Accidents in vehicles titled to the business, driven by employees for work
  • The liability minimums states set for business vehicles

Typically doesn’t

  • Your liability when employees drive their own cars for work — that's hired and non-owned auto; the employee's own car stays on their personal policy
  • The freight or goods being hauled — that's cargo or inland marine coverage
  • Damage to your own vehicle, unless physical damage coverage is added
Required if…Requirements by state →
Contractor license bond

Some states and cities require this bond to license your painting work — it guarantees the public, not your business.

What it covers, and what it doesn’t

Typically covers

  • Customers or the state, if you break the licensing board's rules
  • The licensing requirement itself — where a board demands a bond, no bond often means no license

Typically doesn’t

  • You — the surety collects any payout back from you
  • Injuries or property damage from your work — that's general liability
  • Big-job performance disputes — a performance bond is its own instrument
Required if…Requirements by state →
General liability

If your overspray drifts onto a customer's car or landscaping mid-job — or your finished work causes harm after the crew has left.

What it covers, and what it doesn’t

Typically covers

  • Injuries to customers, visitors, and other third parties
  • Damage your operations cause to someone else's property
  • Legal defense for covered claims

Typically doesn’t

  • Your employees' injuries — that's workers' compensation
  • Mistakes in professional advice or design — that's professional liability
  • Redoing your own faulty workmanship itself
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Tools & equipment

If the sprayers, ladders, and prep gear that ride in your van and sit on job sites are stolen, lost, or damaged.

What it covers, and what it doesn’t

Typically covers

  • Tools and equipment that travel — in trucks, on job sites, between locations
  • Theft from a vehicle or job site, a common loss
  • Rented or borrowed gear, when it's listed on the policy

Typically doesn’t

  • Gradual wear and breakdown
  • Tools that stay at your shop — that's commercial property
  • The vehicles themselves
Worth a lookWhat it covers →

Exact terms live in the policy — these are the typical boundaries.

Sources: NAIC — Small Business Insurance (retrieved 2026-06-11) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial property insurance guide (retrieved 2026-06-11) · Washington State Department of Labor & Industries — Register as a contractor (retrieved 2026-06-11) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial general liability insurance (retrieved 2026-06-11) · NAIC — Glossary of Insurance Terms (inland marine) (retrieved 2026-06-11)

Workers’ compCommercial auto · benchmark comingContractor license bond · benchmark comingGeneral liability · benchmark comingTools & equipment · benchmark coming

What workers’ comp costs a typical painting business

Modeled annual premium for each state’s most common painting business size, from that state’s own filed rate and observed payroll. All 51 states: rates & costs →

Least expensive states

Most expensive states

Modeled — not quotes: each figure prices that state’s most common painting business size band from the state’s own observed payroll (CBP 2023), so dollar order can differ from rate rank.

Pick your state — what’s required there, and what it costs

Every linked state has the full guide: what the law requires there, the coverages that fit, and modeled costs — built from 30,927 painting contractors across 26 states (CBP 2023).

† monopolistic state — workers’ comp must be bought from the state fund; a private policy can’t satisfy the requirement there. Other unlinked states lack a published rate or a defensible business-size cohort.

Sources: Oregon DCBS workers' compensation premium rate ranking study, June 2025 (calendar-year 2024 rates) (as of calendar year 2024, retrieved 2026-06-04) · US Census County Business Patterns 2023, state file (Painting and wall covering contractors (NAICS 238320)) (as of 2023, retrieved 2026-06-05)

Frequently asked questions

What work does class 5474 cover?

Painting work is NCCI class 5474 (Painting NOC, ‘not otherwise classified’) — the general classification for interior and exterior building painting that isn’t assigned a more specific painting class.

Why does my state matter so much?

Workers’ comp is state law — the employee threshold that triggers it, the rates, and the market structure all differ by state. That’s why every state above gets its own guide.

Someone asked me for a certificate of insurance — what is it?

The one-page proof your coverage exists — landlords, general contractors, and client contracts ask for it routinely, and it’s often the reason painting contractors buy insurance in the first place. Certificate of insurance, explained →

Stay informed

Coverage rules change.

We’ll send the updates that affect your business.