The insurance stack: what the law requires, what the customer requires, and what actually protects you
In one paragraph
California requires two things of a sole-owner or corporate C-10: the $25,000 bond and workers' compensation (or a valid exemption). It requires general liability only of LLCs. Everything else, general liability, commercial auto above the state minimum, tools and equipment, umbrella, is demanded by the people who hire you, and by the arithmetic of one bad day. This lesson sets out each layer, who asks for it, and how to read the certificate a general contractor will demand before you set foot on the job.
The rule
CSLB requires every licensee to keep a $25,000 contractor's bond (B&P 7071.6) and a workers' compensation certificate or exemption (B&P 7125). Only a limited liability company licensee is required by the license law to carry liability insurance, at least $1,000,000 aggregate for five or fewer personnel of record (B&P 7071.19). For auto policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, the Vehicle Code minimum is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for injury and $15,000 for property damage (Veh. Code 16056(a)(2)).
Why it matters
The bond pays the customer and then bills you; it protects no one on your side of the table. A sole owner with no general liability who burns a wall or floods a kitchen through a wire hole pays for it personally. And no general contractor, property manager or public agency will put you on a job without a certificate of insurance naming them, so general liability is not optional in practice even where the statute does not require it.