General Liability for South Carolina Subcontractors at $1M/$2M Limits

I'm Vic Morgano, and I've written contractor coverage for Upstate trades out of our Greenville office since 1998. General liability for a South Carolina subcontractor at $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate typically costs $1,200 to $4,000 per year, depending on your trade and revenue. Those are the limits the general contractors we deal with actually ask for. Most of the subs we help are chasing work on the big Upstate jobs, the BMW plant out on Highway 101 in Greer, Prisma Health campuses, and Greenville County school district sites, and every one of those GCs wants a clean certificate before your crew sets foot on the property.

Reviewed by Vic Morgano, founder and licensed South Carolina insurance agent (SC insurance license #612823), The Morgano Agency Inc. Serving Greenville and the Upstate since 1998. Last updated June 10, 2026.

What does $1M/$2M general liability mean for SC subs?

$1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate means the policy pays up to $1 million on any single claim and up to $2 million total across all claims in the policy year. In our Greenville office these are the limits we see written into nearly every subcontractor COI a GC hands us. On the bigger jobs, think hospital builds off Grove Road or anything tied to BMW, the GC will usually want a $5 million umbrella stacked on top. Keep in mind the contractor licensing minimums set under SC Code Title 40 Chapter 11 are usually lower than the $1M the private contracts demand, so the contract, not the state, drives your number.

How much does $1M/$2M GL cost for a Greenville subcontractor?

A typical Greenville subcontractor pays $1,200 to $4,000 per year for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate general liability. The spread comes down to your trade, your revenue, and your claims history. The HVAC and plumbing crews we write tend to land toward the lower end, while the roofing and excavation outfits sit higher because of the fall and dig exposure carriers price in. If you are brand new with no track record, expect to pay 20 to 50 percent more for the first 1 to 2 years until your experience builds. The Insurance Information Institute explains how those underwriting factors work across the board.

Do subcontractors need additional insured endorsements on Greenville jobs?

Almost always, yes. The general contractors we work with around Greenville want to be named as an additional insured on your GL policy, with both ongoing operations (CG 20 10) and completed operations (CG 20 37) wording. That shifts protection to the GC for claims arising out of your work, and it is the single most common thing that gets a sub's certificate kicked back to us for a redo before a job on a site like the school district projects. Most carriers add these endorsements at no charge or for a small fee, typically $50 to $250 per project, or you can carry a blanket additional insured that covers every contract at once.

What does GL cover for SC subcontractors?

General liability for a South Carolina subcontractor covers third-party bodily injury, say a passerby or another trade gets hurt on the job site, third-party property damage to neighboring property while you work, products and completed operations for defects that cause damage after you have left, personal and advertising injury, and your defense costs. Here is the part subs trip over in our office: it does not pay to redo your own faulty workmanship, it does not cover your own employees getting hurt (that is workers comp), and it does not replace your own tools or equipment. Those are separate lines we usually bundle in so you are not exposed walking onto a BMW or Prisma site.

Can a Greenville subcontractor add waiver of subrogation to GL?

Yes, and you will need it. Most SC subcontractor GL policies allow a waiver of subrogation endorsement, which stops your carrier from turning around and seeking reimbursement from the general contractor after it pays a claim. The Greenville GCs we deal with routinely require waiver of subrogation on both GL and workers compensation, so we line both up at once. Cost usually runs $100 to $500 per project, or it comes folded into a blanket endorsement on a master policy. We handle the waiver and additional insured requests for our Greenville contractor clients directly, so you are not stuck explaining endorsement codes to a GC's office manager the morning a job starts.

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