Industry Friends,
My small business (located in North Florida) was awarded a weekend/overnight sub-contracted job. The job consists of moving fitness equipment from one building to another while the fitness center is being renovated. A few of the larger pieces will need to be partially disassembled and reassembled to allow them to fit through smaller doorways. That's it, that's the full scope of work.
The vendor who is hiring me has some pretty...Industry Friends,
My small business (located in North Florida) was awarded a weekend/overnight sub-contracted job. The job consists of moving fitness equipment from one building to another while the fitness center is being renovated. A few of the larger pieces will need to be partially disassembled and reassembled to allow them to fit through smaller doorways. That's it, that's the full scope of work.
The vendor who is hiring me has some pretty steep insurance requirements which I don't mind bumping my coverage up for (It is what it is... "Spend money to make money". The issue I'm running into is with their Workers Compensation requirement(s). They're insisting that I have WC coverage even though I'm a Sole Proprietor. Yes, I know you can get an exemption for this but apparently as a Sole Proprietor, you don't qualify for the exemption. However, to request an exemption you need to be a corporation or an LLC. Since I don't qualify for the exemption, I've attempted to get WC coverage. Every insurance provider I've reached out to has said the same thing - "It's impossible to cover you because you don't have any employees."I have been operating under these parameters for many years and this is the first time I'm running into this issue. Any other time the Worker's Compensation (and sometimes Auto coverage) was brought up I was able to get it waived by the vendor's compliance team.
Even though I don't agree with vendors terms, I'm willing to concede and get the required coverages in order to secure the bid and complete the job.
Can someone please make this make sense and/or offer any guidance?
Keeping this post anonymous so that said vendor can't see my identity. If you're able to provide any kind of advice/guidance, I'd be happy to discuss offline.
Thank you in advance!
Sincerely,
An honest hardworking entrepreneur working to provide for their family. Show more