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Workers' Comp for General Contractors in Florida

Code 5606 - 2026 FL filed rate $0.85/100 of payroll.

Workers' Comp for Florida GCs - More Than Just Your Own Employees

General contractors in Florida have a workers' comp situation that is more complex than almost any other trade. You're not just responsible for your direct employees - you're responsible for making sure every subcontractor you bring on site is properly covered. That's the piece that catches GCs off guard, usually at audit.

The primary NCCI classification for supervisory and project management GC work is Code 5606 - Contractor - Executive Supervisor/Construction Manager. The 2026 filed rate is $0.85/100. For residential GCs who do hands-on building work themselves - particularly framing - Code 5651 - Carpentry/Dwellings Three Stories or Less may apply at $4.89/100.

The gap between those two codes is significant: $4.04/100. A working residential GC who hammers alongside their crew needs to understand that their classification follows what they actually do, not their business card title.

Code	Description	2026 Rate	Applies To
5606	Contractor - Executive Supervisor/Construction Manager	$0.85	GCs in supervisory, project management, estimating, admin roles
5651	Carpentry - Dwellings - Three Stories or Less	$4.89	Residential GCs doing hands-on framing and carpentry work

The Uninsured Sub Problem - The #1 GC Audit Nightmare

Florida statute is clear: if a subcontractor does not have workers' comp coverage and one of their workers is injured on your job site, your general contractor policy is the coverage of last resort. The injured worker can come to your carrier for benefits.

At your annual audit, the carrier will ask for certificates of insurance for every subcontractor you used during the policy year. If you cannot produce a valid cert for a sub, the auditor adds that sub's estimated payroll to your auditable payroll - at the applicable construction rate. A GC who paid $200,000 to uninsured subs could see $15,000-20,000 in additional audit premium added to their bill. In one check. That is not hypothetical.

Verify certificates before work starts - not after, not during, before. A certificate issued after an injury does not help you.
Check expiration dates - a certificate that expired three months ago is worthless. Many GCs collect one cert at the start of a relationship and never check again.
Verify the cert is real - call the agent listed on the certificate. Certificate fraud is more common than you want to believe, especially in post-storm work environments.
Florida DFS audits job sites - particularly active sites in growth markets. Inspectors check for valid coverage on the spot. An uninsured worker on your site is a stop-work order, not a warning.

Stop-work orders hit the GC, not just the sub. Florida DFS can issue a stop-work order against the general contractor's entire project if an uninsured sub is found on site. That means your whole job shuts down until compliance is confirmed. The financial impact of a two-week project shutdown far exceeds any cost savings from using an uninsured sub.

How a PEO Helps Florida General Contractors Specifically

PEO workers' comp does two things for GCs that a standard policy does not. First, it provides clean, current certificates for your own W-2 employees - the kind your clients and general contractors can rely on. Second, it puts you on pay-as-you-go so your cash flow matches your actual payroll instead of a large upfront deposit against a projected figure.

A GC managing multiple projects with different crew sizes benefits from pay-as-you-go more than almost any other construction business type. When one project wraps and another starts, your workers' comp cost adjusts with your payroll automatically. No manual reporting, no deposit adjustments, no end-of-year audit bill.

Frequently Asked Questions - Florida General Contractors

You are not required to provide coverage for your subs - they should have their own policies. However, if a sub does not have workers' comp and one of their employees is injured on your job site, your policy becomes the backstop. Florida law makes the general contractor responsible when the sub's coverage fails. The practical answer: require valid certificates from every sub, verify them before work starts, and keep them on file. This protects you at audit and in the event of an injury.

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Not technically, if you are a sole proprietor or single-member LLC with no W-2 employees. But two practical considerations apply. First, the moment you hire anyone, the requirement kicks in immediately. Second, most commercial clients and property managers require a certificate from any contractor they hire, regardless of size. A solo GC without coverage will lose bids to competitors who have it. Our pay-as-you-go program can be set up for an owner-only situation that scales as you hire.

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If you are a GC who primarily supervises and manages projects, code 5606 at $0.85/100 applies. If you are physically doing framing, carpentry, or other trade work - not just supervision - the carrier will classify you under the trade code for that work. Residential framing puts you in code 5651 at $4.89/100. This classification question is determined by actual duties, not your title. At audit, if the carrier sees a GC-classified individual who is actually doing framing work, they will reclassify.

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The short answer: build a system and stick to it. Collect a certificate before any sub starts, log the expiration date, and calendar a 30-day-before-expiration reminder to request renewal. For high-volume GCs, certificate management software exists specifically for this. A PEO can help you with your own employee coverage side of this equation - clean, always-current certs for your direct workforce. The sub COI verification is still your responsibility operationally, but at least your own documentation is airtight.

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A PEO covers your W-2 employees - it does not change your obligation to verify sub coverage. However, PEO pay-as-you-go eliminates the audit mechanism entirely for your direct employees, since premium is collected each payroll cycle on actual wages. The audit bill problem you experienced was about sub payroll being added. That is solved by rigorous certificate collection, not by the structure of your own coverage. We can help you think through both sides of this. Call us.

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