California commercial insurance

Flagship Guide

Industries We Insure

Eight industries, and a page for almost every trade inside them. Six of the eight are one supply chain — design, development, construction, supply, equipment and transportation — which is why the same certificate of insurance tends to travel between them. Start from the business you actually run, and tell us what else you do when you ask for terms.

Reviewed by David Gleason, Principal — October 11, 2026

Start Quote Now 844-978-7283

844-97-USAVE

Next Level Experience. Insurance Done Right.

Request a Quote Call 844-978-7283 See FAQs

CaliforniaGeneral information only, not legal advice — illustrative scenarios and coverage, subject to change without notice. Content may be out of date or contain errors, and requirements vary by city, county, state, agency, project, contract, carrier and policy, among other factors; verifying what applies to your own situation is your responsibility. Full disclaimer

Interactive coverage guide

Build a coverage stack around how the business actually operates.

Start with the preselected industry or trade, then adjust the operational questions. The commonly considered stack updates live. Keep the coverages you want GIB to evaluate, remove ones you do not want included in your quote request, and add other available lines before continuing.

Common Starting Coverages

General LiabilityThird-party injury and property damage

What it is

General Liability commonly addresses covered third-party bodily injury, property damage and certain personal or advertising injury claims, subject to the policy.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Businesses commonly use it as a starting liability policy and to satisfy customer, landlord or contract requirements.

Possible coverage gap

General Liability is not intended to replace policies for employee injuries, business vehicles, owned property, cyber events or professional errors.

Learn more about General Liability

Commonly Added Based on Operations

Contractor Equipment / Inland MarineMobile tools, equipment and property away from premises

What it is

Inland Marine is commonly used for tools, equipment and certain mobile property that moves between locations or jobsites.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Contractors frequently move tools, testing equipment and mobile machinery among jobsites.

Possible coverage gap

General Liability should not be assumed to insure the business's own tools and equipment against theft or physical damage.

Learn more about Contractor Equipment / Inland Marine

Cyber Liability & Data BreachCyber events, data and system interruption

What it is

Cyber insurance may address certain first-party and third-party losses from covered data breaches, cyberattacks, ransomware and system interruption, depending on the policy.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Contractors commonly use email, electronic banking, project platforms, payroll systems and cloud document storage.

Possible coverage gap

General Liability generally should not be assumed to address data breach response, ransomware or network interruption.

Learn more about cyber insurance for contractors

Exposure-Dependent Coverages

Installation FloaterMaterials awaiting or undergoing installation

What it is

An Installation Floater may cover certain materials and equipment in transit, temporary storage and during installation, subject to the policy.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Businesses responsible for materials before final installation commonly consider this coverage.

Possible coverage gap

A basic liability policy generally should not be assumed to cover the insured's materials against physical loss before installation is complete.

Learn more about Installation Floater

Builder's RiskProject property during construction

What it is

Builder's Risk may insure covered buildings, materials and certain project property while construction is underway.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Owners, developers and contractors commonly consider it when a structure or major renovation is exposed during construction.

Possible coverage gap

Commercial Property and General Liability are not automatic substitutes for course-of-construction property coverage.

Learn more about Builder's Risk

Contractors Pollution LiabilityPollution conditions and cleanup liability

What it is

Pollution Liability may address covered cleanup costs and third-party injury or property damage arising from pollution conditions.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Businesses working with fuels, chemicals, soil, water, demolition or environmental conditions may have pollution exposures.

Possible coverage gap

Standard General Liability commonly contains pollution exclusions or limitations.

Learn more about Contractors Pollution Liability

Umbrella / Excess LiabilityAdditional limits above scheduled liability policies

What it is

Umbrella or Excess Liability may provide additional limits above identified underlying liability policies, subject to its own terms and exclusions.

Why businesses like yours commonly carry it

Businesses with larger contracts, vehicles, public exposure or higher severity potential commonly consider additional limits.

Possible coverage gap

An umbrella does not automatically broaden every exclusion or sit over every policy unless the issued terms say it does.

Learn more about Umbrella / Excess Liability

Do you have specific insurance requirements from a project, customer, vendor, landlord, lender, lease, or contract?

Yes — I have them nowOpen the Requirements Analyzer to review or upload them.Yes — but I don't have them available yetContinue now and flag the quote for follow-up.No — I don't have specific requirementsContinue directly to the quote request.

Loading quote and requirements options…

Continue With These Coverages

Educational guidance only. Results are not a coverage recommendation, quote, binder, policy interpretation, or guarantee of coverage. Actual needs, availability, forms, limits, exclusions and requirements vary. A licensed insurance professional should review the complete risk and issued policy terms.

Verified Google reviews

What contractors say about us

5.0 / 5from 7 Google reviews

Reviews reflect individual client experiences and are not a guarantee of coverage, pricing or results.

91 Enterprise LLC

March 24, 2026

We are using Gleason insurance for our commercial auto policy and GL policy. David is the best insurance broker I've worked with — very honest, responsive, and knowledgeable. Highly recommend.

Fito Plumbers

February 20, 2026

We have been working with David at Gleason Insurance Brokers for 8+ years. David always goes above and beyond to make sure we have the appropriate coverages. He explains everything in detail and makes sure we feel confident and understand all of our policies. He is always available and responds right away!

Barry Stay

February 17, 2026

David provides great service and I highly recommend him for your insurance needs.

The eight industries we write, and how they fit together

Most of what follows is one supply chain read end to end. A project is designed by an engineering or architecture firm, financed and entitled by a developer, built by contractors, supplied by material dealers, equipped by rental yards, and hauled by trucks — and the same certificate of insurance often travels between all six of them. That is why those industries sit together on this site rather than being treated as separate books of business.

Data centers are a facility type inside that chain, covered both while they are built and while they run. Restaurants and breweries are the one genuine exception, and they are here on purpose rather than by accident.

If you want to start from coverage rather than from industry, the full list of commercial lines we place is organized the other way round.

Design and engineering — the drawings and the standard of care

Development — entitlement, financing and the owner program

Construction — the general contractor and every trade under it

Supply — the yards and distributors selling into the job

Equipment — the rental fleet and the dealers behind it

Transportation — the hauling that moves all of it

Contractors and the building trades

The largest group on this site by a wide margin, and the one the rest of it is built around. Licensed California trades, from two-truck operations through general contractors running several prime jobs at once. What changes across that range is not the list of policies so much as how hard each one gets tested: a contract review, an audit, or a certificate request from a general contractor will find the gaps that a clean renewal never does.

Trade matters here more than size. A roofer and a plumber carry the same policy names and almost nothing else in common once you read the exclusions, which is why each trade has its own page rather than a shared one.

Excavation and grading

Public works

Contractors Insurance California — the main page for this industry

Developers and subdividers

Land developers and subdividers carrying horizontal and vertical work from entitlement through close-out. The insurance question on a development is rarely one policy; it is whether the owner program, the contractor programs and the bonds line up with what the agreements actually require, and whether anybody has read them together.

Timing drives most of it. A requirement discovered at close-out costs more than the same requirement found before the first contract was signed.

Project-specific requirements

Subdivision and development bonds

Developer cyber exposure

Developer and Subdivider Insurance — the main page for this industry

Architecture, engineering and design firms

The design side of the same projects. Professional liability sits at the center of these programs rather than general liability, and the contract language around standard of care, indemnity and uninsurable obligations does more to shape the risk than the policy form does.

Subconsultants are where a design firm most often finds it has assumed somebody else’s exposure without meaning to.

Civil engineering

Structural engineering

MEP engineering

Geotechnical and soils

Testing and inspection

Architecture and Engineering Firm Insurance — the main page for this industry

Building material suppliers and distributors

Yards, dealers and distributors selling into construction. These businesses sit in a different place in the chain and get sued in a different way: products and completed operations, delivery fleet exposure, cargo in transit, and stock values that move with the season rather than staying flat across a policy year.

A supplier does not have to manufacture or install a product to end up named in a construction defect claim, which is why vendor status and indemnity language are worth reviewing before a project goes sideways rather than after.

Lumber and building material dealers

Plumbing supply distributors

Electrical supply distributors

Concrete and ready-mix suppliers

Roofing material suppliers

Glass and glazing suppliers

Construction Material Supplier Insurance — the main page for this industry

Equipment rental yards and dealers

Rental yards and equipment dealers carry an exposure most contractors never think about: the machine belongs to them while somebody else is operating it, often on a site they have never seen. Rented-to-others coverage, the rental agreement itself and the yard’s own property values tend to be where these programs are won or lost.

The rental agreement and the policy are read together rather than one instead of the other. Clear responsibilities in the agreement, coverage written to match them and a look at the exclusions are what tend to surface a gap before the equipment leaves the yard.

Heavy equipment rental

Contractor tool and equipment rental

Construction equipment dealers

Tractor and industrial equipment dealers

Construction Equipment Rental Insurance — the main page for this industry

Trucking and transportation

Fleets and owner-operators, and on this site most of them are hauling for construction — dump trucks, ready-mix, aggregate, contractor trucks. Commercial auto is the line that moves most on loss history, and DOT authority and driver files tend to decide how a submission is received before anybody looks at the equipment list.

Radius, commodity and driver experience change a transportation quote more than the number of power units does.

Dump truck operations

Box truck operations

Dirt, sand and gravel hauling

Ready-mix trucks

Motor truck cargo

Trucking Insurance California — the main page for this industry

Data centers

Three different exposures across one facility’s life: building it, running it, and the data inside it. Property values have to follow the infrastructure rather than the shell, and time-element coverage is worth modeling against an actual outage rather than a generic business interruption form.

Customer contract language is a real part of this exposure. What a colocation or service agreement promises about uptime can matter as much as what the policy says.

Data center construction

Data center cyber exposure

Data Center Insurance California — the main page for this industry

Restaurants and breweries

The one line of business on this site that is not part of the construction chain, and it is here deliberately rather than by drift. Restaurants, taprooms and breweries across all five states we are licensed in, where liquor liability, the lease and the kitchen itself drive most of the conversation.

A brewery with an on-site taproom carries production exposure on top of hospitality exposure, and those are rarely addressed well by a policy written for only one of them.

Liquor liability

Restaurant and brewery workers compensation

Restaurants and Breweries Insurance — the main page for this industry

Not sure which of these describes your business?

Plenty of businesses sit in more than one of these at once. A contractor that also runs its own hauling is both a trade and a fleet. A supplier that delivers on its own trucks has a transportation exposure sitting on top of a products one. A developer that self-performs is buying from two different sides of the same page.

Start with whichever industry matches most of your revenue, and say what else you do when you ask us for terms. The useful version of this conversation is the one where the second and third operations come up at the start rather than at audit. You can send a submission through or talk it through with a broker first — either is fine. For how the agency approaches each account, read about our independent brokerage.

Pick the industry carrying most of your revenue, then name the rest

Secondary operations change a program more often than size does

Work in more than one state? We are licensed in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Utah

Not seeing your exact business? Ask — the list of pages is narrower than the list of risks we can look at

Frequently asked questions

8 questions — start typing to filter

Which industries does Gleason Insurance Brokers actually write?

Eight: contractors and the building trades, developers and subdividers, architecture and engineering firms, building material suppliers and distributors, equipment rental yards and dealers, trucking and transportation, data centers, and restaurants and breweries. Each one has its own page above, and most have a page per trade beneath it.

What if my business fits in more than one of these?

That is common and it is not a problem. Start with the industry that carries most of your revenue, then tell us what else you do. A contractor running its own hauling and a supplier with a delivery fleet both need the second operation on the table from the beginning rather than at audit.

Do you only work with construction businesses?

Mostly, and deliberately. Six of the eight are one connected chain — design, development, construction, supply, equipment and transportation. Restaurants and breweries are the exception, written across all five states we are licensed in.

Which states can you write in?

California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Utah. Our license numbers for each are in the footer of every page on this site.

My industry is not listed. Is it worth asking?

Usually yes. The list of pages here is narrower than the list of risks we can look at — a page exists where there was enough to say about a trade to make one worth writing, not wherever we are able to help.

Should I start from my industry or from the coverage I need?

Either works. These pages are organized by industry; the commercial insurance coverage lines index is the same site organized by line of business, so use whichever matches the question you arrived with.

Do you handle both the insurance and the bonds?

Yes. Surety sits alongside the insurance program for the contractors, developers and public works clients on this page, and the bonding conversation is usually the one that has to happen first.

How do I get a real quote rather than an indication?

Send a complete submission. The industry page closest to your business lists what underwriters in that market actually ask for, and giving them that up front is what turns an indication into a real quote. Terms can still depend on further information, an inspection or underwriting approval.

Official resources

Verify current licensing, regulatory and program requirements directly with the responsible agency — this is general information, not legal advice, requirements change without notice, and what is summarized here may be out of date or contain errors. Confirming what applies to your own city, project, contract and policy is your responsibility.

California Department of InsuranceVerified 2026-08-21 California Contractors State License BoardVerified 2026-08-31 Federal Motor Carrier Safety AdministrationVerified 2026-09-12

Explore Related Coverage and Contractor Resources

Related coverage

California contractors general liability insurance California contractors workers compensation insurance California commercial auto insurance for contractors Contractor equipment and inland marine Umbrella and excess limits for contractors Contractors pollution liability for site work Builders risk insurance for construction projects Installation floater and materials in transit California contractor surety bonds Public works contractor insurance requirements

Guides, trades and resources

Contractors Insurance California Developer and Subdivider Insurance Architecture and Engineering Firm Insurance Construction Material Supplier Insurance Construction Equipment Rental Insurance Trucking Insurance California Data Center Insurance California Restaurants and Breweries Insurance All commercial coverage lines we place Cyber insurance by industry California Contractor Resource Center Coverage Align Tool Request a Commercial Insurance Quote Contact Gleason Insurance Brokers Professional Liability and E&O Insurance

Updated October 11, 2026

Next Level Experience. Insurance Done Right.

One Stop. We Shop. Real Results.

Get a Quote