QuoteSweep analyzed the published appetite of 553 US commercial property & casualty carriers, and 95 of them write construction. That makes construction the second most-competed class in our registry — behind manufacturing (103 carriers) and ahead of restaurants (77). On paper, a contractor has dozens of markets. In practice, the field narrows fast: only about a quarter of these carriers let you quote online, and higher-hazard trades or New York construction risks routinely push a submission into the excess & surplus (E&S) market.
This is first-party data. The names below come from QuoteSweep's carrier-appetite registry — carriers' own published appetite guides, coverage pages, and state filings, normalized into one machine-readable corpus. Every carrier listed here publishes appetite that includes construction. What none of it tells you is whether a specific carrier will bind your specific risk — that still depends on your trade, payroll, loss history, and state.
How we built this
We compiled and normalized 553 US commercial carriers into a single schema capturing, per carrier: the coverage lines they write, the industries they target, the states they operate in, size limits, and whether they offer online quoting. Every field traces to that carrier's own published materials. This is an appetite analysis, not a market-share or premium ranking — it measures which carriers say they will look at a class of business. Counting only carriers whose published appetite explicitly names construction, 95 of the 553 qualify. That puts construction second, one slot below manufacturing (103) and well ahead of restaurants (77), retail, and the long tail of niche classes.
Who writes construction insurance
Construction isn't one appetite — it's a spread of them, from a standard-market carrier writing a general-contractor BOP to a surplus-lines specialist taking on a demolition or high-rise risk no admitted carrier wants. The 95 markets fall into a few recognizable camps. Here are 29 of them.
Large national and standard-market carriers. The broad commercial writers that build construction into their general books:
- Travelers
- The Hanover
- Liberty Mutual
- Zurich
- Great American
- Acuity
- Sentry
- FCCI
- QBE
- Old Republic
Specialty and excess & surplus (E&S) carriers. Where higher-hazard trades, larger schedules, and tougher risks tend to land:
- Arch Insurance
- AXA XL
- Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI)
- W.R. Berkley
- Starr Companies
- Tokio Marine
- Sompo International
- Kinsale
- RSUI Group / Landmark American
- Ironshore
- Amwins
Workers' compensation specialists. Construction is a payroll- and injury-heavy class, so a deep bench of monoline and comp-focused carriers competes for it:
- Pie Insurance
- Texas Mutual
- AMERISAFE
- Pinnacol Assurance
- MEMIC
- AF Group
- Applied Underwriters
- LWCC
That's 29 of 95. The rest range from farm-bureau and regional mutuals to program administrators and equipment-tied insurers — a reminder that "construction insurance" is really several markets (general liability, property, commercial auto, workers' comp, and inland marine for tools and equipment) that rarely all sit with one carrier.
Why the field is narrower than 95
Two things shrink the practical list well below the headline number.
First, hazard. A handyman or finish carpenter is a mainstream risk that many of the standard-market carriers above will quote. Roofing, demolition, excavation, scaffolding, and structural trades are a different conversation — the admitted market thins out and the specialty and E&S carriers do more of the work. The 95-carrier count includes both ends of that range; your trade decides how much of it is actually open to you.
Second, geography — New York especially. New York construction carries labor-law exposure (the state's "Scaffold Law" assigns strict liability to owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries) that many carriers decline outright. In New York, and in other tight-labor-law or catastrophe-exposed states, contractors routinely end up in the E&S market — not because their business is badly run, but because fewer admitted carriers will file the risk.
And as with the rest of commercial insurance, distribution is mostly offline: only about 24% of the carriers in the registry offer online quoting at all. For construction, most submissions still pass through a human.
How to actually get covered
If you're a contractor, don't shop by brand name — shop by fit. The carrier that will compete hardest for a drywall subcontractor is not the one that wants a bridge builder. The fastest path is an independent agent with both standard-market and E&S access, who can match your trade, payroll, and state to the carriers whose appetite actually covers you.
To see which of the 95 construction markets line up with a given business, start with QuoteSweep's free appetite checker. It maps a risk against carrier-published appetite so you can spend your time on the markets that will say yes — instead of collecting declines.
Frequently asked questions
How many carriers write construction insurance?
In QuoteSweep's appetite registry of 553 US commercial carriers, 95 publish appetite for construction. That makes it the second most-competed class we track, behind manufacturing (103 carriers) and ahead of restaurants (77).
Who are the biggest construction insurance carriers?
QuoteSweep's data measures published appetite, not premium volume, so it doesn't rank carriers by size. But among the 95 markets, the large national carriers writing construction include Travelers, The Hanover, Liberty Mutual, Zurich, and Great American; specialty and E&S names such as Arch, AXA XL, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty, W.R. Berkley, and Kinsale handle the harder risks; and workers' comp specialists like Texas Mutual, AMERISAFE, Pie Insurance, and Pinnacol Assurance compete for the class's heavy payroll exposure.
Why do some contractors need excess & surplus (E&S) insurance?
Higher-hazard trades — roofing, demolition, excavation, structural work — and risks in tough legal environments like New York often fall outside admitted carriers' appetite. When fewer admitted markets will file the risk, the E&S market steps in. It's about the risk profile and the state, not the quality of the business.
Can I get a construction insurance quote online?
Rarely, directly. Only about 24% of the carriers in QuoteSweep's registry offer online quoting, and construction — with its trade, payroll, and state-specific underwriting — is one of the classes most likely to require a human-handled submission through an agent.
About this data
These figures come from QuoteSweep's proprietary carrier-appetite registry, normalized from carriers' own published appetite guides, coverage pages, and state availability. It powers the free appetite checker. Appetite reflects what a carrier publishes, not a guarantee that any carrier will bind a given risk. We'll refresh this analysis as the registry is updated. Questions or corrections: agent@quotesweep.com.
