What actually sets your insurance price.
No price list, and no email gate in front of a number. What follows is how a premium is actually built — what an underwriter looks at, in the order it matters — so you can tell a considered quote from a lazy one.
Six drivers, in the order they matter.
The single biggest factor. The same policy costs a roofer far more than an electrician — because of the code, not the revenue.
Workers comp rates per $100 of payroll. A good year with more crew costs more to insure, and the audit trues it up.
Thresholds, mandatory lines and the local loss environment. Four states do not have a private comp market at all.
Three to five years of loss runs. A clean history usually beats a cold submission on price.
Raising a limit costs far less than most people assume, and the gap between what a contract demands and what a policy carries is where claims go wrong. Wind and water deductibles are separate and often a percentage rather than a flat sum.
Additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary & non-contributory are endorsements — cheap, but they have to be asked for.
The same policy, twelve different prices.
What changes between these is the work, not the wording. A business filed under the wrong one pays the difference for years without ever being told why.