Mississippi Flooring Contractor Insurance

At the state level, Mississippi treats flooring as a licensed trade: the Mississippi State Board of Contractors lists Floor Covering as a commercial specialty classification, and a firm that remodels homes answers to a separate Residential Remodeler license, with the size of the job deciding whether either one applies. The state also runs its own lead renovation program through the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which certifies renovation firms and their renovators in place of EPA, and the same department’s asbestos rule speaks to resilient floor tile, sheet vinyl and their adhesives by name.

Workers’ compensation completes the picture. The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission requires coverage of employers that regularly employ the number of people it prints, and coverage comes from an insurance company or from self-insurance the Commission approves. Each of those findings is set out below as the record verified it, with the source’s own words beside it and a note on what it means for someone running flooring crews.

The policies a flooring business carries are described on the flooring contractor insurance page and the pages linked from it. Everything that follows is particular to Mississippi and applies to a residential flooring crew in occupied homes, a commercial flooring firm on commercial jobs, a carpet installation business or a tile and stone shop.

Mississippi’s Floor Covering license and the residential remodeler rule

The Mississippi State Board of Contractors licenses commercial and residential contractors statewide, and floor covering is one of the specialty classifications a commercial license can carry. The board defines it to reach the preparation, installation, finishing and repair of carpet, resilient sheet goods, resilient tile, wood floors and other flooring materials; tile and marble work is a separate classification that requires a trade exam.

Authority: Miss. Code Ann. § 31-3-1; Miss. Code Ann. § 31-3-13(h); Miss. Code Ann. § 73-59-1(c); Miss. Code Ann. § 73-59-3(1)

The board prints the classification in a single entry on its classifications page:

“FLOOR COVERING A specialty classification that involves preparation, installation, finishing, maintenance and repair of flooring and floor coverings including carpet, resilient sheet goods, resilient tile, wood floors, resinous flooring and any other materials established as flooring and floor covering material, except tile and marble which requires a test.”

That scope is wide on purpose. Carpet, resilient goods, wood and resinous floors all sit inside it, and the exception at the end points a tile and stone shop to a different line on the same page:

“TILE AND MARBLE (Test Required) A specialty classification that involves installation, surface preparation and application of tile, marble, stone, or similar materials. The scope of work covers floor tile and countertops and wall splash and thin pavers including grouting and finishing.”

So the first licensing decision for a Mississippi flooring business is which classification describes its work. A shop that installs sheet vinyl and sets porcelain tile touches both entries, and the tile side carries a test.

The size of the job and the kind of building decide whether a flooring firm needs the license. The board requires a commercial license of contractors and subcontractors on commercial jobs above the cost threshold it prints, and a residential license for remodeling or additions to a home above a much lower threshold, which reaches a flooring firm that contracts for the improvement itself. A flooring subcontractor on a residential job is not among the trades the board licenses at any dollar amount, which are electrical, mechanical, HVAC and plumbing.

The board states the commercial duty on its question page, and this is where the threshold appears:

“All contractors and subcontractors performing work on commercial jobs over $50,000, including equipment installation, are required to have a commercial license issued by MSBOC.”

Subcontractors are named in that sentence. On a commercial job above the threshold, a flooring firm working under a general contractor holds its own commercial license; the general contractor’s license does not stand in for it.

Home work runs on a separate track. The board’s question page prints the residential thresholds this way:

“All contractors performing new residential construction over $50,000, residential remodeling or additions over $10,000, or residential roofing over $10,000, are required to have a license issued by MSBOC.”

The Residential Remodeler license reaches remodeling, repair or improvement of an existing residential building, required of a firm that undertakes improvements to an existing residence above the cost threshold the residential law prints. The residential law, as the board reprints it, defines a remodeler by what the firm undertakes:

“undertakes or offers to undertake the construction, or superintending of the construction, of improvements to an existing residence when the total cost of the improvements exceeds Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).”

The question page then closes the residential list with the only subcontractor trades it licenses on home work:

“Subcontractors performing residential electrical, mechanical, HVAC, or plumbing work on a residential construction or residential improvement project are required to be licensed by MSBOC.”

Flooring is not on that list. What decides the residential question is the contract: a firm that takes the job from the homeowner and contracts for the improvement itself is measured against the remodeler definition, while a flooring subcontractor under a licensed builder is not licensed as a subcontractor at all.

Habits that keep the two tracks apart in the office:

• Tag each estimate commercial or residential, and owner-direct or under another contractor. The board’s duties above sort on exactly those two lines.
• Price the whole improvement against the printed threshold before the proposal goes out, not only the flooring line, since the remodeler definition speaks of the total cost of the improvements.
• Keep the license certificate and its classifications in the bid folder. That way the classification is visible to a general contractor on a commercial job without a phone call.

The license and proof of insurance travel together on most commercial starts. For the certificate and additional insured wording a general contractor looks for, see the commercial flooring contractor insurance page; what a homeowner may want to see is on the residential page.

Mississippi runs its own lead renovation program for flooring crews

Renovation firms in Mississippi are certified under the state’s own EPA-authorized lead renovation, repair and painting (RRP) program, run by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. A firm that does renovation work in covered older housing or child-occupied facilities is certified by the state, its renovators are certified by the state as well, and the department must be notified before regulated work begins.

Authority: Miss. Admin. Code Title 11, Part 2, Chapter 9, Rule 9.1; Rule 9.2; Rule 9.4; 40 CFR Part 745

Mississippi appears on EPA’s own list of the programs it has authorized:

“EPA administers the RRP Program in most Tribes, states and territories, but has authorized the following to operate their own programs: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe-Boise Forte (Nette Lake).”

The department describes its side of that authorization on its lead page:

“MDEQ was authorized to enforce these same regulations within the State of Mississippi in January of 2003 and March of 2010 respectively.”

The department’s rule reaches any activity that disturbs painted surfaces in covered buildings, including the removal of building components and trim, so a flooring job that pulls painted baseboards, thresholds or trim in older housing brings the state rule into play. The department’s own comparison with the federal rule says the state program adds an advance notice before work begins and yearly recertification of both the firm and the renovator.

The department’s notification page states the reach of the rule in one sentence:

“Any activity that disturbs painted surfaces in residential structures and child-occupied facilities built before 1978 is subject to the regulations.”

Certification here has two layers, the individual and the company. The department’s certification page makes the company side explicit:

“An application for certification must also be completed and submitted for the firm (company) that employs the individual.”

And the rule ties the two together on each job:

“A certified renovator is assigned to each renovation performed by the firm and discharges all of the certified renovator responsibilities identified in paragraph G.(2) of this rule.”

A flooring crew rarely disturbs paint on the floor itself. It disturbs the painted edges: baseboards pulled so a new floor can run under them, thresholds, and trim at doorways, which is why the obligation sentence above names them. Only the building and the work on it can place a given job under the state rule or outside it, and this page does not make that call for you.

Walkthrough questions for older property:

• Ask the building’s age and whether it is housing or a facility children use. The notification page quoted above turns on both answers.
• Is anyone on your crew a state-certified renovator, and is the firm itself certified by the state? The quotes above describe two separate applications.
• Has the department been notified? The state program adds an advance notice the federal rule does not, so build that step into the schedule rather than the first morning on site.
• Is another trade taking off the painted trim? If so, know which firm is doing the disturbing before work begins.

Older homes raise several of these at once, and the residential flooring contractor insurance page gives them room. Lead and other contaminants raise their own policy questions, which the general liability page takes up.

Resilient floor tile, sheet vinyl and asbestos certification in Mississippi

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality runs the state’s asbestos program, and its certification rule speaks to flooring by name. Abatement of asbestos-containing material in school, public and commercial buildings must be done by people the Commission on Environmental Quality has certified, but the rule leaves resilient floor tile, sheet vinyl flooring and their adhesives outside that requirement when the department gets advance notice of the removal and the material is not sanded, ground, burned or sawed, and does not become friable.

Authority: Miss. Admin. Code Title 11, Part 2, Chapter 10, Rule 10.2; Rule 10.3; Miss. Admin. Code Title 11, Part 2, Chapter 1, Rule 1.8; 40 CFR Part 61, Subpart M

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality asbestos program works from a rule that sets its scope by building type:

““Asbestos project” means a project for the abatement of asbestos containing material (ACM) in school buildings, public buildings or commercial buildings”

The same definition goes on to carve out the materials a flooring crew handles most. The ellipsis is the record’s and marks only a page break in the source:

“except for abatement of asbestos-containing resilient floor tile, sheet vinyl flooring and associated adhesives provided there is a two-working-day advance … notification to the Commission of the abatement of asbestos-containing floor tile, sheet vinyl flooring and associated adhesives, unless sanding, grinding, burning or sawing occurs or such abatement is otherwise considered a “response action” or would cause the material to become “friable” as both those terms are defined under 40 CFR Section 763.83.”

Read the carve-out for its conditions. It depends on advance notice to the Commission, and it ends when the method sands, grinds, burns or saws the material or makes it friable. The removal method is therefore part of the asbestos question, and a floor that breaks up under the scraper, or a mastic that has to be ground off, is a moment to stop and reassess before the crew goes further.

Owners and operators of regulated demolition or renovation must have the affected building inspected for asbestos by a department-certified inspector before the work starts, and the department names floor tile among the building materials where asbestos is often found. Work on individual homes, including small residential buildings, is generally exempt from the department’s asbestos regulations unless it is part of a larger development project.

“thoroughly inspect the affected facility to determine the presence and required treatment of asbestos containing materials before the demolition or renovation activity”

“Asbestos is also often found in other building materials including floor tile, ceiling texture, and transite wallboard.”

The residential side is stated just as plainly on the department’s demolition and renovation page:

“Demolition and renovation activities associated with individual residences, including residential buildings with four or fewer dwelling units, generally are exempt from the requirements of MDEQ asbestos regulations.”

That exemption is from the department’s regulations. It says nothing about what an old floor in a house contains, and a residential crew still chooses how to take up a floor nobody has tested.

Owner routines that follow:

• When a tear-out in a school, public or commercial building is being priced, ask the building owner or general contractor for the asbestos inspection, and read what it found under the floor coming up.
• Every proposal should carry the planned removal method in writing. If the old floor forces a different method, talk to the owner before the crew changes course.
• Settle who sends the advance notice the carve-out depends on, and keep a copy in the job file.
• Share the inspection’s findings with the crew lead. The installer on the floor is often the first to see a second layer nobody mentioned.

Claims involving asbestos, and how finished work is treated once a room is back in use, are policy questions worked through on the general liability page. Tear-out under a general contractor brings the contract’s insurance terms, covered on the commercial page, and tile demolition has its own treatment on the tile and stone page.

Mississippi workers’ compensation and the flooring payroll

Every Mississippi employer that regularly employs the number of employees the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission prints, quoted below, must secure workers’ compensation. A covered employer buys a policy from an insurance company or gets the Commission’s approval to self-insure, and the Commission says the law gives special protection to employees of subcontractors. No state fund exists in Mississippi, so coverage comes from the private market.

Authority: Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-75; MWCC Rule 1.7 (Miss. Admin. Code Title 20, Part 1); Miss. Code Ann. § 73-59-3(2)(a)

The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission prints the employee count in its facts document:

“All employers with five (5) employees regularly employed are required to provide workers' compensation insurance coverage. If the employer has less than five (5) employees, workers' compensation coverage is not mandatory but may be provided voluntarily by the employer.”

The same document names the two ways a covered employer secures the benefits:

“An employer covered by the Law is required to secure the payment of workers' compensation benefits to its employees by purchasing workers' compensation insurance from an insurance company or by obtaining approval from the Commission to self-insure.”

Licensing and coverage meet at the board as well. Its application instructions carry their own line on proof:

“If you have 5 or more employees, please submit proof of workers compensation coverage.”

For a flooring firm with a growing crew, those two quotes are worth reading side by side. The count that makes coverage mandatory and the count at which the board asks for proof appear in different documents, so check both whenever headcount changes and whenever a license application or renewal is in front of you.

Subcontracted installers are the other half of the question. The Commission’s facts document puts it in one sentence:

“Finally, independent contractors are ordinarily excluded from coverage although special protection is given to employees of subcontractors.”

That sentence is short and does not settle a given arrangement. Your policy’s treatment of installers you pay as subcontractors, why their own certificates matter, and how an underwriter reads a flooring payroll are questions about the policy rather than about Mississippi, and the workers’ compensation page takes them up.

The Mississippi offices behind each finding

The Mississippi Insurance Department regulates insurance in the state. To check that an insurance agency, ours included, is licensed, use NIPR.com.

Beyond insurance, several state offices appear in the findings above, each linked to its own site and described by the role the record verified:

• Mississippi State Board of Contractors: statewide commercial and residential contractor licensing, including the floor covering and tile and marble classifications
• Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality: state environmental agency; runs the asbestos and lead-based paint programs for the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality
• Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality asbestos program: asbestos accreditation and certification, demolition and renovation notifications and work practices
• Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality lead-based paint program: state-run lead renovation, repair and painting program and lead abatement certification, authorized by EPA
• Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission: workers’ compensation administration and self-insurance approval

The contractors board heads the list because Mississippi licenses flooring statewide, so it is usually the first office a new flooring business deals with. The environmental department is listed for its own role and again for the lead and asbestos programs a flooring tear-out can meet.

Mississippi metro areas under one statewide license

Every metropolitan area on Mississippi’s list appears below as delineated by the Census Bureau, in-state principal cities first. The last one reaches across the state line, and its card lists only the Mississippi counties, because nothing on this page applies beyond them.

Building a Mississippi flooring insurance program from these findings

Those sections locate each Mississippi rule and the office that holds it. The insurance that responds when a job goes wrong is the set of policies a flooring business carries in any state, each with its own page:

• Bodily injury and property damage to others, finished work and tear-out: general liability.
• Coverage for your employees, and the question of subcontracted installers: workers’ compensation.
• Saws, sanders, nailers and stock moving between jobs: inland marine coverage for contractors’ tools and equipment.

Which of them weighs most turns on the work. Carpet installation businesses and tile and stone shops meet different owners, floors and tear-outs, and the service pages treat each separately. Once the license and certification questions for your Mississippi jobs are answered, a quote request is the next step.

What the state sets

Where we discuss it

Contractor license A state license or registration can reach this work

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General Liability

Lead-safe renovation The state runs its own lead-safe program

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Residential Flooring Contractor Insurance

Asbestos flooring and mastic A state program reaches flooring removal

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General Liability

Workers’ compensation Bought in the open market

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Workers Compensation

A panel for Mississippi in rows. Contractor license: a state license or registration can reach this work. It connects to the General Liability page. Lead-safe renovation: the state runs its own lead-safe program. It connects to the Residential Flooring Contractor Insurance page. Asbestos flooring and mastic: a state program reaches flooring removal. It connects to the General Liability page. Workers’ compensation: bought in the open market. It connects to the Workers Compensation page. Each row pairs a state rule with the page on this site that discusses it. No figures are shown.