If you're a civil contractor, you carry a lot of liability. You're responsible for all the vehicles and equipment on your construction site, you're liable if something goes wrong with your building once it's finished, and you carry some responsibility if you can't finish the job for any reason.

Because of these issues and others, civil contracting insurance is essential. However, it can get expensive. Here are a few ways to save:

1. Pay Up Front

In many cases, you can save on coverage if you pay up front. When getting quotes for civil contractor insurance, ask if they offer discounts for paying all the premiums right away. If you can't afford to pay up front, take the opposite approach and look for a company that allows monthly installments without any price increase.

2. Look for Extra Perks

In some cases, it's better to focus on extras rather than trying to save. To that end, if you have two insurers with the same quote, dig a bit deeper and see what else the policy offers. For instance, some civil contracting policies include extra coverage for equipment that you hire to use on your site or extend coverage in cases where you allow other people to hire your equipment. Look closely for benefits like that.

3. Make Sure You Have Adequate Coverage

Perks aside, it's also important to ensure you have adequate coverage. Are all your vehicles covered? Do you have worker's compensation coverage for your workers? Liability coverage for your business? Products liability to cover liability that may arise after your project is completed?

On top of that, you need to ensure you have all the special contracting coverage you need. That may include bid bonds or surety bonds depending on the project.

4. Show the Insurer Proof of Savings or Assets

Many of the above policies work just like any other type of insurance. If you make a claim, you only pay the excess. However, when it comes to civil contracting policies such as bid bonds, things work a bit differently.

A bid bond, for example, is a type of insurance you buy when putting in a bid on a project. If you are chosen for the project but you have to turn it down, the bid bond covers the cost of finding a new contractor. The client makes the claim on this bond to the insurer, but ultimately, you have to cover the entire cost of the claim. If you have assets or savings on hand to do that, the insurer may be willing to offer you a lower rate because their risks are lower.