General liability insurance, workers’ compensation coverage, and a contractor’s license bond are the three documents a property owner should verify before hiring any demolition contractor in Louisiana. Uninsured demolition work exposes a property owner to serious financial risk if an accident, structural damage, or utility strike happens mid-project. Asking for a certificate of insurance directly from the carrier, not just the contractor, confirms coverage is active rather than expired or cancelled.

What Insurance and Bonding Should Your Demolition Contractor Carry?

Demolition carries more risk than most other trades on a property. A single mistake can damage a neighboring structure, strike a buried utility line, or injure a worker, and the financial exposure from any of those outcomes is significant. Property owners in the New Orleans area sometimes focus their vetting on price and timeline while giving less attention to insurance and bonding, which is exactly the area that protects them if something goes wrong.

This guide breaks down what coverage actually matters, how to verify it, and what happens if a contractor turns out to be underinsured after work has already started.

General Liability Insurance: What Does It Actually Cover?

General liability insurance covers third-party property damage and bodily injury caused by the contractor’s work, which is the coverage that protects a neighboring fence, structure, or passerby during a demolition project. Most commercial demolition contracts require a minimum of one million dollars in general liability coverage per occurrence, though larger commercial and industrial project