Moving labor services insurance checklist: what a moving labor company should carry

The moving labor company insurance checklist

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Moving labor services usually carry general liability, workers' compensation and hired & non-owned auto. Labour-only movers load and unload trucks the customer rented, with crews hired by the day and no truck of their own, which strips the cargo exposure out and leaves the injuries and the damaged furniture. The property manager and the client's vendor desk ask for proof of each. The checklist below covers who asks and how to check what you have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks a moving labor company for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Property managers & HOAs	General liability with the manager and owner as additional insureds, and workers' compensation
Enterprise clients & vendor onboarding	General liability, professional or cyber liability, workers' compensation and often an umbrella
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation

Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.

How to check what you already have

General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
Bailee coverage. The limit for customers' property at your premises and in transit, the valuation basis and any exclusions for specific items.
Umbrella schedule of underlying insurance. Each primary policy listed with the limits the umbrella expects; a gap between the two is uninsured.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.

What usually goes wrong for moving labor services

Day-labour crews with no workers' compensation on the one job where someone drops a dresser down the stairs.
Customer furniture damaged in the loading, excluded as property in your care.
Damage to the exact thing you are working on is excluded on most general liability forms; installation floaters and care, custody and control endorsements fill that hole.
Relying on general liability for a damaged item that was in your hands when it happened.
A workers' compensation estimate set low in January and settled with a large audit bill in the spring.
Assuming the delivery platform's policy covers your own drivers; it covers theirs.

What underwriters will ask a moving labor company

How crews are hired and paid, whether any trucks are used, and how furniture condition is documented
Residential versus commercial split of the work
Whether any work is done above three stories or below grade
Typical and maximum value of customer property on hand at one time
Payroll by class of work, headcount and turnover
Who delivers, in whose vehicles, and whether any third-party platform is used

Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.

Renewal timing

Audits at year end compare payroll, receipts and subcontractor costs with the estimate, so keep the wallet's size figures and the subcontractor certificates current. Start comparing sixty days before expiration, and ask for the limits the next contract will need rather than the ones the last one did.

Questions people actually ask

We do not own trucks. What insurance do we actually need?

Workers' compensation first, because the whole business is lifting; general liability for the building and the people around the move; and bailee or care, custody and control coverage for the furniture in your hands. Hired and non-owned auto if crews travel in their own cars.

Is the customer's furniture covered when we load it?

Not under general liability, which excludes property in your care. A bailee limit covers it; a written condition report at the start of the job is what keeps every scratch from becoming your scratch.

Does general liability cover damage to a customer's property while I work on it?

It covers damage to the rest of their property, not usually the part in your hands. Many forms exclude property in your care, custody or control, so a moving labor company that handles valuable items or systems needs an endorsement or an installation floater. The policy explainer in the wallet flags the exclusion when it reads your policy.

A customer's item was damaged while we had it. Does general liability pay?

Usually not; property in your care, custody or control is excluded. A bailee policy or an endorsement built for your trade pays for it, and it is the coverage customers assume you have.

Can workers' compensation be billed from each payroll run?

Usually, yes. With carriers that offer pay-as-you-go, CoverMatch sets the billing to run through your payroll company, so premium follows actual payroll instead of an annual estimate and there is less to settle at audit. Ask for it on the quote request.