Non-Renewed by Your Carrier? Start Here.
A non-renewal is a placement problem with a deadline. It is not a verdict on your business, and it is not the same as a cancellation.
Cancellation means the carrier ended the policy mid-term, usually for non-payment or material misrepresentation. Non-renewal means the policy runs to its expiration date and then stops. You keep coverage until that date. You also keep the clock, and the clock is the whole problem: a general contractor who finds out your certificate expired on Friday will pull you off the job Monday.
This page is the sequence we run for Texas contractors who come to us mid-non-renewal.
First: What Your License Actually Requires
If you hold a TDLR electrical or HVAC license, or a Responsible Master Plumber designation, your license depends on continuous coverage. There is no grace period written into any of them.
The TDLR certificate forms say the carrier shall endeavor to notify the department at least 30 days before a cancellation or non-renewal by the carrier, and no more than 10 days after one you initiate. 'Endeavor' is doing real work in that sentence — don't assume TDLR will be told. Your license depends on continuous coverage whether or not the notice arrives.
For a Responsible Master Plumber, the COI on file with TSBPE is what lets you pull permits. If it lapses, the permits stop.
Sources: 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 73.40 · 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 75.40 · TSBPE certificate of insurance form · TDLR Form ELC-LIC-021 · TDLR Form ACR-LIC-009 · Tex. Occ. Code § 1301.552
Step 1: Get the Reason in Writing (Days 1–3)
Ask your current agent to request the underwriter's stated reason for non-renewal in writing. The reason determines the entire strategy, and every carrier you approach next will ask for it.
There are three kinds, and they need three different responses:
| Reason | What it means | What the next carrier needs |
|---|---|---|
| Appetite exit | The carrier stopped writing your class of work statewide. Nothing to do with you. | A clean resubmission to carriers still writing the class. Usually the easiest fix. |
| Loss-driven | Your claims history triggered it. | A documented remediation story attached to the submission. |
| Exposure-driven | Something changed — you added roofing, started working at height, hired a crew, took on commercial jobs. | Honest reclassification, and often a different market than the one you left. |
A non-renewal with no stated reason reads as a red flag to every underwriter who sees it. A non-renewal with a narrow, documented cause reads as a known quantity. Getting that paper is worth the phone call.
Step 2: Pull Your Loss Runs (Days 1–5)
Request five years of loss runs from your carrier. You are entitled to them.
Then read them the way an underwriter will:
- Open reserves inflate the file. One unresolved claim with a large reserve can look worse on paper than it will ever settle for. If a reserve is stale or overstated, say so in the submission and explain why.
- Check for misclassified claims. Claims filed against the wrong entity or the wrong policy period show up on your record anyway. Carriers do not correct these on their own.
Step 3: Build the Remediation Narrative (Days 5–10)
If the non-renewal was loss-driven, the submission needs three things in writing, on one page:
- Root cause. What actually happened, stated plainly, including the claim the underwriter flagged.
- Corrective action. The specific change — a written safety program, a subcontractor agreement requiring certificates, new hot work procedures, a hire, a piece of equipment retired.
- Proof it works. Training records, the clean stretch since the fix, a photo of the new setup, updated sub agreements.
Underwriters decline the accounts they can't explain to their own manager. Handing them the explanation changes the odds.
Step 4: Go to Market — Including the Markets You Can't Reach Alone (Days 10–25)
This is where a non-renewal gets placed or doesn't.
If no standard carrier will write your class, you need the excess and surplus lines market, and E&S is broker-access only. You cannot buy it directly.
What matters in a surplus lines placement:
- Surplus lines carriers are not backed by the Texas guaranty association. Financial strength rating matters more, not less.
- For electrical contractors, TDLR accepts an eligible surplus lines carrier or any carrier rated B+ or higher by A.M. Best. Check the rating before you bind, not after.
- Forms are not standard. A surplus lines policy can exclude things an ISO form covers. Read the exclusions, especially subsidence, EIFS, residential, and work over three stories.
Sources: Tex. Ins. Code § 981.101 · 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 73.40
Step 5: Protect the Certificate Chain (Throughout)
While you're shopping, your existing certificates are still out there with general contractors, municipalities, and property managers. A gap between policies breaks additional insured status on every one of them.
Don't let the old policy lapse before the new one binds. If the dates won't line up, ask about a short-term extension or a bridge — a few days of overlap costs far less than one GC discovering a gap.
If you carry claims-made coverage, ask about tail coverage before you switch. A claims-made policy covers you only while it's in force. Switch carriers without a tail and work you completed last year is uncovered when the claim shows up next year.
What This Costs You If You Wait
The contractors who come out of a non-renewal worst are the ones who wait until the final two weeks. By then the good markets are out of time to underwrite, and what's left is whatever will bind fast — usually a higher rate on a narrower form.
Thirty days is workable. Ten is not ideal.
Questions People Ask
What's the difference between non-renewal and cancellation?
Cancellation means the carrier ended the policy mid-term, usually for non-payment or material misrepresentation. Non-renewal means the policy runs to its expiration date and then stops. You keep coverage until that date.
Can I get contractor insurance after being non-renewed?
A non-renewal is a placement problem with a deadline. It is not a verdict on your business, and it is not the same as a cancellation.
What does a new carrier need to see after a non-renewal?
Ask your current agent to request the underwriter's stated reason for non-renewal in writing. The reason determines the entire strategy, and every carrier you approach next will ask for it. Request five years of loss runs from your carrier. You are entitled to them.
Does TDLR accept surplus lines carriers?
For electrical contractors, TDLR accepts an eligible surplus lines carrier or any carrier rated B+ or higher by A.M. Best. Check the rating before you bind, not after.
How much time do I need to replace a non-renewed policy?
Thirty days is workable. Ten is not ideal. The contractors who come out of a non-renewal worst are the ones who wait until the final two weeks.