An independent insurance broker licensed in Texas will review your bid's insurance requirements for free, before you submit the bid. Morrow does this at no charge. Send the bid package and we mark up the insurance section in plain English, then price anything you would have to add, so the real number goes into your bid. Who this is for: Texas contractors and trades bidding to a general contractor, a private owner, or a city, county, school district, or state agency.
The short version
- A Texas licensed independent broker reviews bid insurance requirements for free. Placing your coverage later is how the broker gets paid.
- Send the whole bid package, not just the insurance page. Bond rules, workers comp wording, and the contract form all matter.
- Texas does not make private employers carry workers comp. Public bids do: on a city, county, school district, or state job every worker has to be covered, and you certify it in writing.
- Get the review done before bid day so the cost of any new coverage is in your price, not out of your profit.
Who does bid insurance reviews for free in Texas?
Independent insurance brokers do. A broker is paid by the insurance company when a policy is placed, so reading your bid package is how the broker finds out what you may need. That makes the review free to you, whether or not you win.
| Who | Cost to you | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Independent insurance broker | Free | A line by line comparison of the bid to your policies, and a price for any gap |
| Surety agent (writes your bonds) | Free with your bond account | A read of the bond requirements only |
| Construction attorney | Hourly | Contract advice, useful on large or unusual bids |
| The owner's bid desk | Free | Answers to written questions before the deadline, but no advice |
Morrow reviews bid packages for Texas contractors with no purchase required. The national version of this question is at who can review a construction bid's insurance requirements for free.
What is different about a Texas bid?
Workers comp on public work. Workers comp is optional for private employers in Texas. But a contractor or subcontractor working on a building or construction contract for the State of Texas, a city, a county, a school district, or any other political subdivision must certify in writing that it carries workers comp for every employee on that project (Labor Code Section 406.096). Each sub gives its certificate to the general contractor, who passes it to the public owner. If you are a non-subscriber (an employer that chose not to buy workers comp), a public bid means buying a policy, and that cost belongs in your bid. See do I need workers comp in Texas.
Bonds on public work. A Texas governmental entity must require a performance bond for the full contract amount when a public work contract exceeds $100,000, and a payment bond for the full amount when it exceeds $25,000 (or $50,000 for a city). The public owner may not tell you which bonding company to use. A bid bond, a promise that you will sign the contract if you win, is often asked for too. See does this bid require insurance, a bid bond, or both.
Sealed bids. Texas public construction is awarded under Government Code Chapter 2269. Bids are sealed, and if the owner scores anything other than price it must publish the scoring method. Insurance is a pass or fail item, so failing it makes your price irrelevant.
What will the review tell me?
| Bid item | What the broker checks | Illustrative national cost to close a gap |
|---|---|---|
| General liability limits | Whether your per incident and yearly limits match | Depends on your trade, your sales, and your claims history. Ask your broker for the price at each limit before bid day |
| Additional insured wording | Whether your policy adds the general contractor for your ongoing work, whether that protection continues after the job is finished, and whether the public owner named in the bid is picked up at all. Blanket wording usually covers only the party you contracted with | Often free for the ongoing work wording, otherwise $50 to $300 |
| Umbrella | Whether you have one, and whether it sits above auto and employers liability too | $1,000,000 umbrella: roughly $600 to $2,500 a year |
| Auto liability | Most bids want $1,000,000, far above the Texas minimum of $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage | Raising a two truck policy: roughly $400 to $1,200 a year |
| Workers comp certificate | Whether you can sign the public project certification | New policy: your payroll divided by 100, times your trade rate, then adjusted for your claims history and the insurer's own factor. Quoted in about a week |
| Pollution | Whether the scope touches fuel tanks, asbestos, mold, or soil | $1,000,000 policy: roughly $1,500 to $5,000 a year |
Those ranges are national illustrative figures, not Texas rates, and they move with your trade, payroll, sales, claims history, and insurance company. The review replaces them with your actual numbers before you sign the bid form. For what happens after the award, see who can help me meet a construction contract's insurance requirements in Texas.
What this looks like in real life
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: An electrical subcontractor in Fort Worth is bidding $260,000 of work on a county office building through a general contractor. The bid package wants $1,000,000 per incident general liability, a $2,000,000 umbrella, $1,000,000 auto, and the county's workers comp certification for every worker on site.
What went wrong: The sub carries the general liability its state license requires, a $500,000 auto policy, no umbrella, and has been a non-subscriber for years. The owner bids the job at his usual margin without reading the insurance exhibit.
What it cost: After the award, a workers comp policy for the crew came to about $8,700 a year, the umbrella about $2,100, and the auto increase about $700, all illustrative. Roughly $11,500 of new cost came straight out of a $26,000 profit line.
The fix: A free broker review three days before bid day would have put the $11,500 in the price. The sub still would have been competitive, because every other bidder faced the same public project rules.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Who can review my construction bid's insurance requirements for free in Texas?
An independent insurance broker licensed in Texas. The broker compares the bid's insurance section to your policies and prices any gap before you submit. Morrow does this for Texas contractors at no charge.
Q: Why would a broker review my bid for free?
Because the broker is paid by the insurance company only if a policy is placed later, and reading your bid is how the broker learns what you might need. There is no fee and no obligation to buy.
Q: Does a Texas public bid require workers comp?
Yes. A contractor or sub on a building or construction contract for the state, a city, a county, or a school district must certify in writing that every worker on that project is covered. Private work has no such rule, though most general contractors require it by contract.
Q: What bonds does a Texas public job require?
A performance bond for the full contract amount once the contract passes $100,000, and a payment bond for the full amount at a lower threshold set by state law. A bid bond is often asked for as well, and your surety agent handles all three.
Q: Do I need to buy the insurance before I submit the bid?
No. You need it in place before you start work. Get a firm price for anything you must add so the cost is in your bid, and confirm with your broker that it can be placed by the start date.
Q: How long does a bid review take?
A first read usually comes back within the hour on business days. Pricing a new umbrella or workers comp policy can take several days, so send the package as soon as you download it.
How Morrow helps
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that works with contractors and trades every day. Reviewing a Texas bid package's insurance section and pricing the gaps before bid day is something we do at no charge.
- Free contract review. Send us the contract or bid documents and we mark up the insurance section in plain English, whether or not you buy anything from us.
- Free, instant certificates. Clients issue their own certificates of insurance online in about a minute, any hour, any day, at no charge.
- Markets you cannot reach online. One application, shopped across many insurance companies for general liability, workers comp, auto, umbrella, and pollution coverage.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Your contract and your policy wording control in every case. Requirements vary by customer, by state, and by insurance company, so have a licensed advisor review your own contract and your own policy before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated September 2026.