Overland Park, Kansas Contractors

Overland Park Contractor Insurance: General Liability, Workers Comp and Same-Day COIs

Short answer. Working in Overland Park means clearing two or three requirements, not one. The contractor license comes from Johnson County and asks for $1,000,000 per occurrence with $1,000,000 completed operations. The building permit comes from the City. And if the work enters the public right-of-way, Overland Park Municipal Code 13.12.460 raises the bar to $1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate, adds $1,000,000 automobile liability, and requires the City as an additional insured. TradeGuard writes these policies, and for clients we insure we issue COIs within two minutes in the vast majority of cases, guaranteed within 24 hours. Call (913) 689-5474 or request a quote.

Why Overland Park contractors get sent back for a new certificate

Almost every certificate problem in Overland Park comes from the same misunderstanding: contractors assume the city that issues the permit is also the authority that set the insurance requirement. In Overland Park it is usually neither one authority nor one standard. There are up to three layers, and they do not ask for the same limits.

Layer one: the Johnson County contractor license.

Overland Park does not run its own contractor licensing program. It is one of the participating jurisdictions in Johnson County Contractor Licensing, and the City requires an active Johnson County contractor license for covered building permit work. That is the scope to hold in mind: the requirement attaches to permitted work, not to every activity a contractor might perform in the city, and the City notes an exception for residential fences. The county requires general liability of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence with $1,000,000 completed operations, from a carrier licensed in Kansas, plus workers compensation with $100,000 employer's liability if you have employees. Full requirements and the exact certificate holder format are on our Johnson County contractor license insurance page.

Layer two: the Overland Park permit.

The license is county-issued; the permit is city-issued. Overland Park reviews and inspects the work through its own Permits, Licenses and Inspections group at City Hall, 8500 Santa Fe Drive. A current county license is what gets your company recognized as an eligible permit applicant, and your certificate has to still be in force when the permit is pulled, not just when the license was first approved.

Layer three, for anyone touching the street: the right-of-way permit.

This is the layer that surprises people. If your work goes into the public right-of-way, Overland Park applies a separate and higher insurance standard than the county license does. That is the section below, and it is the most common reason an Overland Park contractor gets sent back for a new certificate.

What the right-of-way permit requires (OPMC 13.12.460)

If you are excavating, boring, cutting pavement, replacing a driveway approach, running utilities or otherwise working in the public right-of-way, this is the standard your certificate is measured against. The requirements come from Overland Park Municipal Code 13.12.460, as amended by Ordinance No. RW-3296.

General liability: $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate.

The code requires the permittee to file “evidence of commercial general and automobile liability insurance with an insurance company licensed to do business in Kansas,” and states that “the general liability limit will be not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence and two million dollars ($2,000,000) in aggregate.” Note the aggregate: the county license asks for $1,000,000 completed operations, the right-of-way permit asks for a $2,000,000 aggregate. A policy written to satisfy the county alone does not automatically satisfy this.

Automobile liability: $1,000,000 combined single limit.

“The automobile liability limit will not be less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) combined single limit.” The county contractor license does not impose an auto limit, so this is frequently the coverage a contractor discovers is missing, or is written too low, on the day the permit is needed.

The City must be an additional insured.

The code states plainly: “The City shall be listed as an Additional Insured on all required insurance.” Additional insured status is an endorsement to the policy. It is not created by typing the City's name into the certificate's description box, and a reviewer who knows the difference will catch it. Where the endorsement is required, we request it from the insurer.

A performance and maintenance bond, held for two years after the permit.

The permittee must maintain a bond “at all times during the term of the permit, and for two (2) years thereafter,” in a form approved by the City Attorney. For a single right-of-way permit the amount is “$2,000 or the value of the Restoration, whichever is greater.” A bond is a surety product, not an insurance policy, and is bought separately.

Certificate and bond on file with the City Clerk.

“A copy of the Liability Insurance Certificate and Performance and Maintenance Bond must be on file with the City Clerk.” Filing is a step of its own. Having the coverage is not the same as having filed the evidence of it.

If you expect to pull more than one right-of-way permit in a year, the code lets you post a single annual bond instead of bonding each permit:

  • Up to 10 right-of-way permits a year: a $15,000 annual bond
  • Up to 25: $30,000
  • Up to 50: $50,000
  • Unlimited: $100,000

The City Engineer may increase the required amount for a large build-out or a project of significant scope.

The code exempts these from the performance and maintenance bond, though not from the insurance requirement:

  • Driveway replacement
  • Landscaping work such as irrigation systems and tree planting
  • Plumbing connections for new residential or commercial construction

Workers compensation for Overland Park crews

Two separate things decide whether you carry workers compensation in Overland Park, and contractors routinely conflate them. The first is licensing: Johnson County requires workers compensation with $100,000 employer's liability if you have employees, and accepts a notarized waiver if you genuinely have none. The second is Kansas law, which sets its own payroll threshold and applies whether or not anyone asked you for a license. Meeting the county's documentation requirement is not the same as being compliant with the state.

The details, including the threshold, the exclusions and the officer opt-out, are on our Kansas contractor workers comp requirements page. If you are a roofer, Kansas adds a state registration on top of the county license, with its own liability certificate; see Kansas roofing registration insurance.

A note on crews you treat as subcontractors: whether a worker is your employee is decided by the facts of the relationship, not by how you pay them. If that classification is wrong, the payroll shows up at audit. We review payroll and entity type before quoting for exactly this reason.

Trades we insure in Overland Park

Overland Park work runs from Johnson County residential remodels to commercial tenant finish along the College Boulevard corridor, and the trade mix reflects that. These are the trades we write:

Site work: asphalt paving, demolition, earthwork, excavating, grading, land clearing, road construction, site utilities installation, storm drain, water line, retaining walls.

Concrete and structure: concrete, flatwork, foundations, masonry, framing, storm safes.

Roofing and exterior: roofing, gutters, siding, stucco, EIFS, waterproofing, sealants and caulking, curtain wall installation, storefront systems, glazing, window installation, exterior doors, garage doors, fencing.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, ductwork installation, sheet metal, boiler installation, chiller installation, refrigeration systems, mechanical contracting, mechanical insulation.

Interiors and finishes: drywall, insulation, painting, flooring, carpet, tile, LVP, vinyl, granite, finish carpentry, trim carpentry, fireplaces, bath hardware, window treatments.

Landscaping: landscaping, irrigation, sod.

Services: cleaning.

If you don't see your trade, call us and we'll tell you what we can do. TradeGuard Insurance is a licensed insurance agency (NPN 22154473) based in Leawood, Kansas, and can quote and place policies in all 50 states.

Certificates for Overland Park jobs, in minutes

The certificate is usually the thing standing between you and a start date. A general contractor asks for proof before you mobilize, the City Clerk needs the right-of-way certificate on file, and the county needs a current one on the license. These are three different holders wanting three differently worded documents from the same policy.

For clients we insure, we issue COIs within two minutes in the vast majority of cases, guaranteed within 24 hours. Tell us who the holder is and what the contract or permit requires, and we produce the document in that form rather than sending a generic copy that gets rejected. Request a certificate of insurance if you are already with us.

One thing worth being clear about, because it causes real losses: a certificate is evidence of coverage, not coverage itself. It confirms what the policy said on the day it was issued. It does not extend coverage, it does not amend the policy, and it does not stay true if the policy later lapses.

How TradeGuard handles Overland Park contractor insurance

  1. 1Tell us the trade, the entity, and whether any of the work goes into the right-of-way. That last answer decides whether you are insuring to the county's $1,000,000 per occurrence standard or the city's $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate standard, plus auto.
  2. 2We review your payroll, your entity type, and the insurance requirements in any general contractor's subcontract before quoting, so the policy is built against the strictest requirement you actually face rather than the lowest one on the list.
  3. 3We check that the insurer is authorized in Kansas and review its ratings, and we request the endorsements the work calls for, including additional insured status where Overland Park or a general contractor requires it.
  4. 4We issue the certificate naming the holder in the format the county or the City Clerk asks for. In the vast majority of cases we issue COIs within two minutes, guaranteed within 24 hours.
  5. 5We track your policy renewals and send updated certificates at renewal, so an expired certificate is not what stops your next permit. Your license and registration renewal dates stay yours to watch.

Get a Quote for Your Overland Park Contractor Insurance.

Call (913) 689-5474 or request a quote.

Request a Quote Call (913) 689-5474

Frequently asked questions

No. Overland Park is a participating jurisdiction in Johnson County Contractor Licensing, so the contractor license that lets you pull an Overland Park building permit is issued by the county. Overland Park issues the building permit itself, and separately issues right-of-way permits with their own insurance requirements.

Overland Park Municipal Code 13.12.460 requires commercial general liability of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in aggregate, and automobile liability of not less than $1,000,000 combined single limit, from an insurance company licensed to do business in Kansas. The City must be listed as an additional insured on all required insurance.

It can be, but only if it is written to the higher standard. The county license requires $1,000,000 per occurrence with $1,000,000 completed operations. The right-of-way permit requires $1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate, adds an automobile liability limit the county does not impose, and requires the City as an additional insured. Insure to the right-of-way standard and the county requirement is met along the way.

The Johnson County contractor license requires workers compensation with $100,000 employer's liability if you have employees, and provides a notarized waiver for contractors without employees. Kansas also has its own payroll threshold that decides when coverage is mandatory regardless of licensing. Those rules are on our Kansas contractor workers comp requirements page.

No. They are separate requirements and separate products. The code requires both the liability insurance and a performance and maintenance bond, and requires the bond to be maintained during the permit term and for two years after it. No performance and maintenance bond is required for driveway replacement, landscaping work such as irrigation systems and tree planting, or plumbing connections for new residential or commercial construction.

For policies we already write, in the vast majority of cases we issue COIs within two minutes, guaranteed within 24 hours. Request the certificate and tell us who the holder is and what the job requires. That turnaround is for issuing a certificate on an existing policy. If you are not insured with us yet, or the job needs an endorsement the policy does not already carry, we need the trade, entity and payroll information to quote and place the coverage first, and adding an endorsement depends on the insurer.