biBERK vs Hiscox vs Thimble: Online Contractor Insurance Compared

Short answer first. If you want the cheapest general liability policy you can buy online from a company that actually holds the risk, get a biBERK quote, because it is Berkshire Hathaway selling direct with no agent in the middle and published premiums starting at $27.50 a month. If your customers or a general contractor keep asking for certificates, additional insureds, and professional liability alongside your GL, Hiscox is the one built around that paperwork, with monthly payments at no extra fee and a portal that issues ACORD certificates on demand. And if you are between jobs, just starting, or need to be insured for one project starting tomorrow, Thimble is the only one of the three that will sell you a policy by the day, week, or month from your phone.

All three will get you a certificate of insurance in minutes. The differences are who is actually on the hook when you file a claim, how they price you, and whether the flexibility you are paying for is worth what it costs.

First Question: Who Is Actually Insuring You

This is the part that gets skipped on every comparison chart, and it matters more than the monthly price.

biBERK is a carrier. It is part of the Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group, and its whole pitch is that it insures your business directly, without a broker, and passes the savings on to you. The company says that is up to 20% less than comparable policies elsewhere, and that the group paid $62 billion in claims in 2025. When you buy from biBERK, the company you are talking to is the company paying the claim.

Hiscox is a carrier too, for the policies it sells online. The fine print on every Hiscox page says the coverage is underwritten by Hiscox Insurance Company Inc. in Chicago, and it publishes its balance sheet right there in the footer. Hiscox also sells through independent brokers and agents, and if you buy that way, your changes and questions go through the broker instead of Hiscox directly. For the online product, you are dealing with the insurer.

Thimble is an agency, not a carrier. Its own disclosure says Thimble Insurance Services is the trade name of Verifly Insurance Services LLC, a licensed insurance producer that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Insurance Group. That is a strong parent, but it means the policy Thimble arranges is issued by an insurance company behind the app, and your claim is handled by that carrier. Products are subject to state and class availability, which is Thimble's way of saying not every trade in every state gets the same offer.

None of this makes one of them bad. It tells you what you are buying. A direct carrier controls its own underwriting and claims. An agency arranges coverage from somebody else. When you get the quote, look at the declarations page and find the line that says who issued the policy. That is the name that matters if a homeowner ever sues you.

What Each One Publishes About Price

Here is what the three companies say on their own sites in September 2026. These are published starting points and averages, not quotes, and every one of them carries a disclaimer that your real premium depends on your trade, state, payroll, limits, and claims history.

biBERK says general liability premiums start as low as $27.50 a month, and that buying direct saves up to 20%. For contractors specifically, the company lists remodelers, painters, finish carpentry, framers, drywall, flooring, cabinetry and trim, new home construction, residential remodeling general contractors, and handymen among the classes it writes.

Hiscox publishes that general liability can typically cost $30 a month or less, with a worked example of $29.17 a month, or $350 a year, for a $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate policy with no deductible. Read that example carefully, because it is priced for an IT consultant and a business consultant, not a contractor. A remodeler with a crew and power tools will not see $29 a month. The page is honest that industry is the first factor in the rate, and contracting sits well above consulting on risk.

Thimble is the only one that publishes contractor-specific averages, and the table is worth staring at for a minute. The company says general liability for contractors averages $18.27 by the hour, $101 by the day, $104 by the week, and $108 by the month. A day costs almost as much as a month. That is not a typo. Short-term coverage is priced to cover the same set-up cost and risk whether you use it for eight hours or thirty days, so the per-day price of a one-day policy is brutal and the per-day price of a monthly policy is reasonable.

biBERK: Direct From Berkshire Hathaway, Cheapest on Paper

biBERK's model is simple. There is no agent, no broker fee, and the quote is entirely online or over the phone with a licensed rep who works for the company. For a contractor, that means the published $27.50 a month starting point for GL is the lowest floor of the three, and the up-to-20% savings claim is the company's own number for cutting out the middleman.

For contractors, biBERK sells six lines: workers comp, general liability, a business owner's policy that combines GL with property coverage, commercial auto, cyber, and umbrella. The GL policy can be endorsed with contractors installation, tools and equipment coverage, which is the one you want if your saws and nail guns ride in a truck every day, plus hired and non-owned auto, employment practices liability, and employee benefits liability. Certificates come from the website whenever you need one.

The trade list is long and residential-heavy: painters, remodelers, residential remodeling general contractors, finish and rough carpentry, framers, drywall, flooring, cabinetry and interior trim, glazing, fencing, masonry, and new home construction. That is most of the people reading this.

Two things to check before you get excited. biBERK does not write in every state, and its site sends you to a coverage map rather than claiming national reach. And "starts at $27.50" is the floor for the lowest-risk classes, so a contractor with payroll will land higher. Get the quote before you assume.

Best for: contractors who want an annual policy from a carrier with a big balance sheet at the lowest published price, and who are comfortable buying without an agent.

Hiscox: Built Around the Paperwork Contractors Get Asked For

Hiscox has been in the small-business game a long time, and its contractor page is aimed squarely at the trades that live on certificates: general contractors, finish carpenters, handymen, and skilled tradespeople who get told by a GC or a property manager that they need proof of coverage by Monday.

What Hiscox does well is the administrative side. Monthly payments come with no additional fee, which matters for cash flow on a policy that might run a few thousand dollars a year. The policy portal will issue a standard certificate of insurance, issue an ACORD form naming an additional insured, and send policy documents without a phone call. The company says its general liability satisfies most standard contract insurance requirements, and that a covered claim gets a dedicated claims representative immediately. It also offers professional liability for contractors alongside GL, which is the coverage that responds when a client says your advice or design was wrong rather than that you broke something.

The price story is where you have to read carefully. Hiscox's cost page leads with $29.17 a month, and that number is real, but it is a consultant's rate. Contractors are a higher-risk class and will be quoted accordingly. The company is up front that industry, location, and business size are the three inputs, and that the quote is the only number that counts. Hiscox is offered in 49 states.

One structural note: if you buy Hiscox through an independent agent or broker rather than online, changes and service go through that agent. Decide which channel you want before you start, because switching later is a hassle.

Best for: subcontractors and small GCs who are constantly asked for certificates and additional insured endorsements, who want monthly billing with no fee, and who may need professional liability alongside their GL.

Thimble: Insurance by the Job, and When That Actually Makes Sense

Thimble started as a way to buy liability coverage by the hour for gig work, and it is still the only one of these three that will sell a contractor a policy for a single day. You get a quote in the app or on the site, pay, and the policy and certificate land in your inbox in minutes. You can modify, pause, or cancel instantly, add additional insureds when a contract requires it, and get as many certificates as you want at no charge.

Two coverage details are better than you would expect from an app. First, Thimble includes what it calls Customer Property Protection on its general liability products, which removes the standard exclusion for damage to property in your care, custody, and control. In plain English: if you are installing a homeowner's new range and you drop it, most GL policies pay for the dent in the floor but not the range. Thimble's approach is designed to cover the range too. Second, its Business Equipment Protection covers gear you own, rent, or borrow on a blanket basis for items under $2,500 each, without scheduling every tool.

Now the honest part. Thimble's own averages say a month of contractor GL runs about $108 and a day runs about $101. If you buy day policies for a few jobs a month, you will pay more than an annual policy from either of the other two, and you will have gaps in between when you are not covered at all. Thimble's FAQ is also clear on two limits: it does not offer builder's risk, and your policy does not cover subcontractors you hire, who need their own. And because Thimble is an agency, the carrier on your declarations page is the one that handles your claim.

So when does by-the-job coverage actually make sense? When you are brand new and need a certificate for your first paid job before you have any track record. When you do seasonal or occasional work and would otherwise go uninsured. When a one-off project needs a specific additional insured for a week. And when you need to be covered tomorrow morning and everyone else is quoting you for Thursday. Those are real situations, and for them Thimble is the right tool. The mistake is treating it as a permanent substitute for an annual policy once you are working every week.

Best for: new contractors, part-time and seasonal operators, and anyone who needs a certificate today for one specific job.

How to Actually Decide

Start with how many days a year you are working. If it is most of them, you want an annual policy, and the question is biBERK or Hiscox. Get both quotes at the same limits on the same day, $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate is the standard ask, and compare the total, not the starting-at number. Then ask each one what the tools and equipment endorsement adds, because that is the coverage a contractor actually files claims on.

If you are working a few weeks a year, or you have one job that needs coverage now and nothing on the calendar after it, get the Thimble quote for the month, not the day. A month costs about seven dollars more than a day on Thimble's own averages and covers you for thirty of them.

Whichever way you go, ask two questions before you pay. Who issues this policy, and how fast can I get a certificate with an additional insured on it? The first tells you who pays the claim. The second tells you whether you will lose a job waiting on paperwork.

The Bottom Line

biBERK is the direct carrier with the lowest published floor and the biggest parent, best for an annual policy bought without an agent. Hiscox is the carrier built around certificates, additional insureds, monthly billing, and professional liability, best for subs and small GCs who live on paperwork. Thimble is the app-based agency that will cover you by the day or month, best for new, seasonal, and one-job situations, and not a long-term substitute for an annual policy.

Price matters, but the name on the declarations page matters more. Buy from whoever gives you the clearest answer to who is actually insuring you.

If you are still sorting out which coverages you need, our complete guide to contractor insurance walks through every policy type, our breakdown of general liability insurance for contractors covers what GL will and will not pay for, and what workers comp really costs covers the policy that every one of these three sells but nobody wants to think about.

You can compare insurance vendors that work with residential contractors on VendorRack, alongside the rest of the tools and services the trades actually use.