Consulting gig. Have you done it?

schmalts

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Has anyone worked as a consultant, and if so what did you use for liability insurance? I retired in April and 5 months later the engineering manager wanted me back for a couple weeks. I did go back but worked under a independent outside contractor. I already have a LLC but i would need to have liability insurance to go back on my own. I just don't know if it's worth the hassle. Anyone ever done it and what was your insurance costs?
 
No help with insurance. But a ton of fireman and superintendents i know are retiring and coming back as consultants while collecting there retirement. Often times making more than they were originally because the employer is no longer supplying them with retirement or insurance benefits. Something to keep in mind.
 
Not consulting, but I have a side gig as an independent contractor working on my HOA’s community water system, and I had to get liability insurance. I tried to do it on my own but the nuances of the work made it not fit within any of the online quote requests, and I ultimately went through a broker. I think it was worthwhile as someone in the industry can give guidance about the nature and amount of risk that you need to cover - the last thing you want is to get bankrupted by your side gig.
 
Did it early in my career. Quit my job in CA to move to NC. After I quit, several large contracts we’d bid on got approved and they needed help. So for the next year I was billing them 50 hrs a week at a rate 3x what my previous salary was. Accumulated a lot of savings and bought our first house. Financially it was awesome, but I wasn’t really meeting people since I was mostly at home coding all the time. So I found a full-time in-office job in NC and took a big pay cut, but still did some moonlight work for the CA company.

Don’t regret doing it, but also don’t regret going back to a regular job and the career I’ve had since. I didn’t have any insurance, but this was back in the last century.
 
This is who I use for professional liability E/O Insurance for my land survey business. They’re endorsed by the NSPS. And they are very familiar with the technical services industry.
Not that it matters, but they are big hunters themselves too.
Ask for Jeff, Page or Pete.

 
I fired up a LLC in October, I have been surprised how hard it is for a new company to insure itself. As a sole proprietor I found insurance pretty easily. Once I switched over to a LLC no one would touch it because i didn’t have 2+ years in business. Finally, the existing policy was rewritten with a name change and they charge me 600 more a year. The vehicle I personally own had to become a commercial vehicle. I pay 2200 a year for that now.

Forming a LLC to get this grant was not the most efficient thing I’ve done.
 
Even though I'm retired, people often ask if I will do construction projects for them. My easy out is, "Sorry, I don't have liability insurance anymore.". Why the hell do you want to work more after retiring? You have more money then buzz will ever dream about. Get some hobbies!
 
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