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Construction and trades · 14 min

Licenses, insurance and bonds

Before your first job you need a license, a bond and insurance. Workers' comp is priced by your trade and your payroll. A bond pays your clients if you let them down, and then you pay the surety back.

OFFICE
Ticket 01 · The guess

What comp costs per hundred dollars of pay

In California, workers' comp is priced per hundred dollars of payroll, and each trade has its own rate. For carpenters paid less than $46/hourwcirb.com ·2026 an hour, how much does California's Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB), which suggests the rates the state's insurance commissioner approves, expect claims to cost for every hundred dollars you pay them?

$3
$0$20
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Sources and every number (2)

Sources

  • Classification Search: approved advisory pure premium rates effective September 1, 2026 (carpentry 5403 and 5432; plumbing 5183(1) and 5187(1); heating or air-conditioning equipment 5183(3); contractors' executive-level supervisors 5606; clerical office employees 8810) · Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB), 2026
  • Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2024: number and rate of fatal work injuries, by selected private industries (with the news release of February 19, 2026) · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024

Every number

  • $12.075wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for carpentry, workers paid less than the carpentry wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $5.321wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for carpentry, workers paid the carpentry wage limit or more, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $46/hourwcirb.com ·2026 · The hourly wage that splits California's two carpentry classes, from September 2026.
  • $5.716wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for plumbing, workers paid less than the plumbing wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $2.732wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for plumbing, workers paid the plumbing wage limit or more, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $35/hourwcirb.com ·2026 · The hourly wage that splits California's two plumbing classes (and its two heating and air-conditioning equipment classes), from September 2026.
  • $5.716wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for heating or air-conditioning equipment work with no ductwork, workers paid less than the plumbing wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $0.214wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for clerical office employees, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • 5,070bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in the US, 2024.
  • 3.3 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers, all US workers, 2024.
  • 1,034bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in the construction industry, 2024: the most of any private industry.
  • 9.2 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in construction, 2024.
  • 865bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in transportation and warehousing, 2024: the second most.
  • 20.9 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, 2024.
  • 13.8 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, 2024.
  • 12.2 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in transportation and warehousing, 2024.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Industries›
  3. Construction and trades
  • ·Before this: Is the job on budget?
  • ·Next: Crews, subs and why contractors fail
  • ·Free guide: How contractors make money
Skip to the lesson
Back to the home page and map, from TryOwning · Construction and trades · Lesson 3
Part 1 of 3Part 1 of 3, 0 done

Construction and trades · 14 min

Licenses, insurance and bonds

Before your first job you need a license, a bond and insurance. Workers' comp is priced by your trade and your payroll. A bond pays your clients if you let them down, and then you pay the surety back.

OFFICE
Ticket 01 · The guess

What comp costs per hundred dollars of pay

In California, workers' comp is priced per hundred dollars of payroll, and each trade has its own rate. For carpenters paid less than $46/hourwcirb.com ·2026 an hour, how much does California's Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB), which suggests the rates the state's insurance commissioner approves, expect claims to cost for every hundred dollars you pay them?

$3
$0$20
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (2)

Sources

  • Classification Search: approved advisory pure premium rates effective September 1, 2026 (carpentry 5403 and 5432; plumbing 5183(1) and 5187(1); heating or air-conditioning equipment 5183(3); contractors' executive-level supervisors 5606; clerical office employees 8810) · Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB), 2026
  • Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2024: number and rate of fatal work injuries, by selected private industries (with the news release of February 19, 2026) · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024

Every number

  • $12.075wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for carpentry, workers paid less than the carpentry wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $5.321wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for carpentry, workers paid the carpentry wage limit or more, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $46/hourwcirb.com ·2026 · The hourly wage that splits California's two carpentry classes, from September 2026.
  • $5.716wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for plumbing, workers paid less than the plumbing wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $2.732wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for plumbing, workers paid the plumbing wage limit or more, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $35/hourwcirb.com ·2026 · The hourly wage that splits California's two plumbing classes (and its two heating and air-conditioning equipment classes), from September 2026.
  • $5.716wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for heating or air-conditioning equipment work with no ductwork, workers paid less than the plumbing wage limit, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • $0.214wcirb.com ·2026 · California's advisory pure premium rate for clerical office employees, per hundred dollars of payroll, from September 2026: expected claims and the cost of handling them, before the insurer's own costs.
  • 5,070bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in the US, 2024.
  • 3.3 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers, all US workers, 2024.
  • 1,034bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in the construction industry, 2024: the most of any private industry.
  • 9.2 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in construction, 2024.
  • 865bls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries in transportation and warehousing, 2024: the second most.
  • 20.9 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, 2024.
  • 13.8 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, 2024.
  • 12.2 per 100,000 workersbls.gov ·2024 · Fatal work injuries per hundred thousand full-time-equivalent workers in transportation and warehousing, 2024.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Industries›
  3. Construction and trades
  • ·Before this: Is the job on budget?
  • ·Next: Crews, subs and why contractors fail
  • ·Free guide: How contractors make money