· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Handyman Service
Almost every handyman says he is insured, and almost every homeowner takes the word as a yes. The word covers too much ground for that. It can mean a liability policy that pays if the house is damaged, a workers’ compensation policy that pays if someone is hurt on the job, both, or a policy that lapsed in the spring. Before the first visit for general repairs around the house, it is worth knowing which kind matters for your job, what Tennessee actually requires of the person you are hiring, and how to check it without relying on a piece of paper he hands you. We expect these questions ourselves, and the answers below are drawn from the state’s own guidance.
Two policies that answer two different questions
General liability is the policy that answers for your house. If a ladder goes through a window, a drill bit finds a water line inside the wall, or a mounted shelf comes down and takes a vanity top with it, liability coverage is what the contractor’s insurer would look at. It does not pay for the contractor’s own injuries, and it does not fix workmanship he simply got wrong.
Workers’ compensation answers for the people doing the work. A handyman who falls from a stepladder in your stairwell, or a helper who cuts a hand on a tile saw in your driveway, is a workers’ compensation question. The two are separate policies from separate parts of an insurance company, and a certificate can show one without the other.
For a homeowner, the second is the one that gets skipped. Damage to the house is easy to picture; an injured worker on your property is not, and it is exactly the situation in which you most want someone else’s policy to be the first one asked to pay. If you are unsure how your own homeowner’s policy would respond, that is a question for your own agent before the work starts, not after.
What Tennessee requires, and the one-person exception
Tennessee treats construction differently from most businesses. Outside construction, an employer generally has to carry workers’ compensation once it has five or more employees, but in construction the requirement starts with one (Tennessee Department of Labor, Who Must Carry Insurance). The state’s construction page goes further: a construction employer has to cover seasonal and part-time employees and family members working for the owner, and the owner of a construction business has to carry coverage on himself unless he applies for an exemption, which covers only the person it names (Tennessee Department of Labor, Construction).
That gives a homeowner a simple question to ask: who is coming? A handyman who works alone and holds an exemption may lawfully have no workers’ compensation policy at all. The exemption does not stretch to the nephew who carries the drywall in or the friend who helps hang a door. If anyone else is going to be in your house doing the work, the business should have a policy, and an exemption certificate in the owner’s name is not an answer for them. The same page notes that coverage can be looked up with the department’s online verification tool, and exemptions on its Exemption Registry.
General liability is a different matter. We found no Tennessee rule that requires a handyman working below the contractor-license threshold to carry it, so treat it as something to ask for rather than something the law guarantees. The state’s consumer guidance treats it the same way: before hiring, confirm the contractor has coverage for workers’ compensation, damage and general liability, and ask for certificates showing a current effective date (Tennessee Attorney General and Department of Commerce and Insurance, March 2025). Licensing is a separate line, set by the size of the project and the kind of work, and what a handyman cannot legally do here covers where it falls.
What a certificate of insurance shows, and what it does not
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary: the insured business, the insurer, the policy numbers, the dates each policy runs and the limits. It is useful for exactly that. It is not the policy, it can be printed long before the policy is cancelled, and a copy can be edited by anyone with a scanner.
Tennessee’s labor department is direct about this in advice it gives to contractors who hire other contractors: never accept a certificate straight from the other contractor, and always confirm the coverage with the insurance agent (Tennessee Department of Labor, Certificate of Insurance). If a general contractor should not trust a handed-over certificate, a homeowner has less reason to. The same page points out something the certificate cannot tell you at all: whether Tennessee is listed under item 3A of the workers’ compensation policy. That matters when the crew’s company is based in another state, because a policy written elsewhere may not reach a job here, and only the agent or the carrier can say.
So read the certificate for the things it can show you. The name on it should match the business you are hiring, not a cousin’s company. The dates should cover the days of your job. If there is no workers’ compensation section and the handyman is bringing help, that is the conversation to have before anyone unloads a truck.
- Business name matches the person or company you are paying
- Policy dates cover the whole job, not just today
- Liability limits are filled in, not blank
- A workers’ compensation section, or an exemption in the owner’s name if he works alone
- The agent’s name and phone number, which is the line you call
The call that settles it, and the rest of the paperwork
Call the agent listed on the certificate, or the carrier if no agent is listed, using a number you find yourself rather than one written on the paper. Ask three things: is this policy in force today, does it run through the dates of the job, and does the workers’ compensation coverage apply in Tennessee. An agent who will not answer a homeowner can usually send a fresh certificate straight to you by email, with your name as the certificate holder, which at least means it came from the office and not from a truck.
The same consumer guidance from the state covers the money side, and it belongs in the same conversation: state law bars a contractor from asking for more than one third of the price as a down payment, cash should be avoided, and nothing should be paid in full before the work is done. Get a written estimate or contract and keep a copy. On a project of $25,000 or more the contractor needs a state license before bidding, and that can be checked free at Verify.tn.gov; below that, local requirements apply.
Most handyman work never comes near those numbers, and most of it never involves anyone getting hurt. The checks take ten minutes, and they matter on the day something goes wrong. Our page on finding a handyman who turns up covers scope and scheduling, and when you are ready to list the jobs, our free estimate form is the place to start. Ask us the same questions about coverage; we would rather be asked.
Sources
- NCCI standard workers compensation and employers liability policy, form WC 00 00 00 C (as published by the North Carolina Rate Bureau) — The policy applies the compensation law of each state named in Item 3.A; work in an unlisted state is not covered unless the insurer is told within thirty days.
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Who Must Carry Insurance? — Construction employers need workers’ compensation from one employee; most other businesses at five or more.
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Construction (Who Must Carry Insurance) — Part-time, seasonal and family employees covered; owners covered unless exempt; the exemption covers only the named person; verification tool and Exemption Registry.
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Certificate of Insurance — Never accept a certificate directly from another contractor; confirm with the agent; the certificate does not show whether Tennessee is listed under item 3A.
- Tennessee Attorney General and Department of Commerce and Insurance, tips to avoid home improvement fraud (March 20, 2025) — Confirm workers’ compensation, damage and general liability coverage; certificates with a current effective date; one-third down payment limit; $25,000 license threshold; Verify.tn.gov.