Four words describe masonry, and each one is a different claim the policy handles differently. The material is heavy — that is the handling and hoisting exposure. The work is high — that is the scaffold, and it is where the severity lives. The result is permanent — that is the completed-operations tail, where the wall you built is the one thing the policy will not pay to rebuild. And the work is dusty — that is silica, which is a compliance obligation and an occupational-disease exposure at the same time.
Masonry is one of the most common contracting classes on the books between Savannah, Statesboro, Brunswick, Augusta and Sandersville, and one of the most consistently mis-described on a policy. It also has an unusual profile: relatively low claim frequency compared with the interior trades, and severity that is capable of exceeding a small contractor's limit in a single event.
If you also do stucco or EIFS on exteriors, read this with the siding and exterior remodeling page. If you pour as well as lay, the civil contracting and excavation pages cover the dirt-and-concrete side.
| Line | What drives it on a masonry account |
|---|---|
| Workers comp | The dominant line. Upper-middle construction rate — above drywall and painting, below roofing and structural steel. Height and class split decide it. |
| General liability | Moderate frequency, real severity. The signature claim is struck by material, not a workmanship dispute. |
| Umbrella | Frequently declined, frequently the coverage that matters. Falling material reaches strangers. |
| Inland marine / equipment | Scaffold, mixers, saws, forklifts and telehandlers — see contractors' equipment and tools floaters. |
| Commercial auto | Flatbeds and dumps hauling block and sand. Watch the covered auto symbols on the telehandler question. |
Five variables move the whole number: maximum working height and access method; the residential / commercial / restoration split; the share of the crew on 1099; whether the business also does demolition, concrete, flatwork or stucco; and the losses read claim by claim.
Masonry NOC reads like a description of the trade rather than of the operation, which is exactly why so many businesses end up under it that do not belong there. Each of the following can be separately classified, at a different rate:
Masonry's severe claims are all the same physics problem in three forms.
In masonry the scaffold is not incidental equipment — it is the working platform for most of the labor hours on a commercial job, erected and loaded by the mason's own crew. Collapse, improper erection, an overloaded platform stacked with block and mortar, missing planking, inadequate mudsills: injuries to your own people are a comp and employer's liability question, injuries to other trades and the public are a GL question. Note that Part Two employer's liability limits are often the smallest meaningful number in a contractor's program, and umbrellas frequently schedule GL and auto while quietly omitting it.
This is the claim that reaches people who have nothing to do with the project. One block or brick from an elevated deck onto a sidewalk, a parked car, a pedestrian, or another trade's crew below. The size of that claim has no relationship to the size of the contract — which is why downtown restoration and streetscape work in Savannah or Augusta underwrites completely differently from a subdivision, and why the overhead protection, netting, toeboard and debris-control plan is something carriers actually ask about.
Forklift, telehandler, mast climber, crane. Two questions follow every incident: which policy responds — auto, mobile equipment under GL, or an inland marine floater — and which limit applies. That seam is worth resolving on paper before it is resolved by an adjuster.
All three are arguments for an umbrella, and for reading the GC's indemnity language before the job — see contractual risk transfer, additional insured, ongoing vs. completed operations and waiver of subrogation.
The most misunderstood thing about a mason's GL: it is not going to rebuild your wall. The damage-to-your-work exclusion removes the cost of repairing or replacing the contractor's own defective work, so cracking, spalling, out-of-tolerance or failed masonry is your cost.
What the policy is built to answer for is the resulting damage to other property, and in masonry that means water inside the building. Veneer that admits water — failed or omitted flashing, blocked or missing weeps, an inadequate drainage cavity, unsealed penetrations — does not damage the brick. It damages sheathing, framing, insulation, drywall, flooring and contents. That is the covered part.
Three things follow:
On tract work, ask whether the job runs under a wrap-up — see OCIP and CCIP — and claim the payroll credit if it does. On new construction, the owner's builder's risk is a separate question from your liability, especially for materials stored on site. Construction defect law, including any statute of repose, is state statute and case law and is amended — confirm with qualified counsel.
Masonry generates respirable crystalline silica from ordinary daily tasks — cutting, grinding, chipping and drilling brick, block, stone, concrete and mortar. Two separate consequences:
Carriers price verifiable controls: wet cutting or on-tool extraction as the default method rather than the exception, a written plan naming the tasks and methods actually used, fit-tested respiratory protection where required, and documented training. Silica requirements are set by federal and state authority and are amended — confirm with the relevant agency.
The usual four causes, in order of money moved:
The step specific to this trade: the audit frequently surfaces operations the underwriter never knew about — demolition or stucco added mid-year to keep crews busy. That is a coverage conversation, not just a premium one. Full mechanics: what to expect at a comp audit. And because the experience modifier in a mid-to-high rate class is driven more by claim duration than count, a return-to-work program is worth more than shopping the account — see the mod guide.
We are an independent agency in Statesboro placing every line a masonry contractor carries through one person. On this class the first review is short and mostly arithmetic: whether the classification on the policy matches what the crews actually did last year, how much subcontract cost is sitting there without certificates behind it, whether the umbrella sits over employer's liability as well as GL and auto, and whether there is a silica or particulate exclusion on the liability form. Those four answers take about twenty minutes and are worth more than a quote. More on how we work: Statesboro and Savannah. If you bid school, municipal or state work, the bond is the gate before insurance is discussed — our sister brand BettrBonds handles that side, and bid vs. performance vs. payment bonds explains the three.
Send your comp declarations with the classifications and estimated payroll, your last audit statement, and your GL declarations. We'll tell you whether the classification is defensible, what the audit is likely to add, whether a silica or particulate exclusion is sitting on your liability form, and whether one falling-material claim would exhaust your limit.
Get a free coverage reviewMasonry is a payroll trade with a height exposure, which puts it in the upper middle of the construction rate ladder — above drywall and painting, generally below roofing and structural steel. Comp is the dominant line, rated per $100 of payroll. GL is moderate in frequency but carries real severity, because the characteristic large claim is someone struck by material or by a failed scaffold rather than a workmanship dispute. Five variables move the number: maximum working height and access method, the residential/commercial/restoration split, the share of crew on 1099, whether the operation also does demolition, concrete, flatwork or stucco, and the losses read claim by claim.
It is one of the most over-applied construction classes in the Southeast because it reads like a description of the trade rather than of the operation. Building wrecking and demolition, concrete construction and foundations, flatwork, plaster and stucco, EIFS, tuckpointing and restoration, chimney work, hardscape and retaining walls, tile setting, and work above a defined height can each be separately classified at a different rate. Two consequences: where records do not support a split, all payroll generally goes to the highest-rated class applicable; and a description of operations that does not match the actual business becomes an underwriting and claims problem, not just a pricing one. Confirm assignments with your carrier.
Three, all about mass at height. The scaffold, which in masonry is the working platform for most labor hours and is erected and loaded by the mason's own crew — injuries to your people are comp and employer's liability, injuries to others are GL. Falling material, the claim that reaches strangers: one block onto a sidewalk, a parked car or another trade, with a value unrelated to the contract size, which is why downtown restoration underwrites differently from a subdivision. And hoisting or handling with a forklift, telehandler, mast climber or crane, where the question is which policy responds — auto, mobile equipment under GL, or inland marine. All three are covered in principle subject to exclusions, and all three are the argument for an umbrella.
Generally not the wall. The damage-to-your-work exclusion removes the cost of repairing or replacing your own defective work, so rebuilding cracked, spalled or out-of-tolerance masonry is your cost. What the policy answers for is resulting damage to other property, which in masonry is water inside the building — failed or omitted flashing, blocked weeps, an inadequate drainage cavity or unsealed penetrations damage the sheathing, framing, insulation, drywall, flooring and contents behind the veneer. These claims are latent and arrive as completed-operations claims, so lapsing coverage after leaving a class of work is a real exposure, and an ongoing-operations-only additional insured endorsement leaves exactly the wrong period uncovered.
Masonry generates silica from ordinary daily tasks — cutting, grinding, chipping and drilling brick, block, stone, concrete and mortar. Compliance obligations under federal and state standards include exposure controls, a written exposure control plan, medical surveillance in defined circumstances, training and recordkeeping, enforced separately from any insurance question. On the insurance side, comp occupational-disease claims surface long after exposure and raise attribution questions across employers and policy periods, and many GL forms carry silica, dust or particulate exclusions — whether yours does is a renewal question, not a claim question. Carriers price wet cutting or on-tool extraction as the default, a written plan naming actual tasks and methods, fit-tested respirators where required, and documented training.
Mostly uninsured subcontracted labor, since masonry is engaged crew-by-crew more than most trades and payments to subs without their own comp coverage for the period of the work are generally treated as your payroll at the class of the work performed. Then unsupported class splits, which default to the highest applicable rate. Then overtime, where the excess portion may be excludable only if shown separately. Then owners, officers or family in the field under an election that did not apply. The step specific to masonry is that the audit often reveals operations the underwriter never knew about, such as demolition or stucco added mid-year — which is a coverage conversation as well as a premium one.
The split across new residential, remodel, commercial new construction, restoration and tuckpointing, hardscape and public work; maximum working height and access method — frame scaffold, mast climber, swing stage or lift — with the written scaffold program and competent-person inspection records; whether you also do demolition, concrete, flatwork, stucco, EIFS, chimney or tile work, with payroll allocated to each; payroll by classification with supporting records; subcontract cost split insured versus uninsured with certificates on file for full job periods; the silica exposure control plan and whether wet cutting or on-tool extraction is standard; the material handling and overhead protection plan; a schedule of scaffold, mixers, saws, forklifts and telehandlers with owned/rented status and loss-of-use; the vehicle schedule with MVRs; sample subcontracts showing indemnity and additional insured obligations; and three to five years of losses with falls and struck-by events separated from water intrusion claims.
For general information only. Not legal advice and not a quote or contract of insurance. Policy forms, endorsements, sublimits and exclusions vary by carrier and form edition — damage to your work and impaired property exclusions, products and completed operations aggregates, silica, dust and particulate exclusions, additional insured wording and whether it extends to completed operations, prior work and subcontractor default exclusions, residential and tract housing exclusions, employer's liability limits under Part Two, covered auto symbols and mobile equipment definitions, inland marine and rented equipment loss of use terms, and umbrella schedules of underlying insurance must all be read as actually issued. Workers' compensation classification, payroll allocation, overtime treatment, officer inclusion and exclusion, and premium audit rules including the treatment of payments to uninsured subcontractors are set by the applicable rating bureau and state authority; fall protection, scaffold, respirable crystalline silica and injury and illness recordkeeping requirements are set by federal and state authority; construction defect obligations and any statute of repose are set by state statute and case law. All are amended over time — confirm your obligations with the relevant agency and qualified counsel. Coverage subject to policy terms, conditions, exclusions and carrier appetite.