Massachusetts Fencing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Massachusetts rate for fencing workers comp, class 6400 (Fence Erection - All Types), is $2.88 per $100 of payroll (effective July 1, 2024). Your experience modifier and any carrier discounts adjust it.
This is the published manual rate, so it already includes carrier expenses. Source.
Massachusetts class code for fencing
- 6400: Fence Erection - All Types
Massachusetts has its own classification system and manual, with NCCI-style numbers for most trades but its own codes in places (roofing split into 5545 sloped and 5547 flat, no 5537 HVAC class, no 5436), plus a wage-based Massachusetts Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program (MCCPAP) credit for qualifying construction employers.
Fence work carries hand tool injury, post-hole digger / auger risks, lifting, and underground utility strike risks. Chain-link work uses cutting tools with finger injury exposure.
What comp costs per fence installer in Massachusetts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 16,210 construction laborers on payrolls in Massachusetts (May 2025), the 26th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $30.48 an hour, 35% above the US median of $22.66.
This trade is a smaller part of the Massachusetts job market than it is nationally: construction laborers hold 0.63 times their national share of jobs there.
At the published Massachusetts rate of $2.88 per $100 of payroll for class 6400, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.88 for every hour worked, or $1,826 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $5,478 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Massachusetts pay runs from $21.72 an hour at the 10th percentile to $47.54 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.63 an hour on a new hire and $1.37 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Massachusetts
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners of an unincorporated business excluded by default; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 5 days; 21+ days paid retroactively from day one
- Penalty for going without: Immediate stop-work order plus $100 per day, and criminal exposure for willful failure
Massachusetts is an administered-pricing state, so carriers generally cannot compete on base rates the way they do elsewhere.
Massachusetts vs neighboring states
- Connecticut: about $4.97 per $100 of payroll
- New York: about $5.07 per $100 of payroll
- Vermont: about $5.16 per $100 of payroll
Massachusetts has the lowest fencing comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges more per $100 of payroll.
If your crews work across the line, list those states under item 3.A or 3.C of your policy before the job starts. Rates follow the state where the work is done, not where your office is.
What moves a fencing comp bill
- Fence erection rates sit above most interior trades because of post-hole augers, heavy material, and power tools. Auger training cuts the most serious claims.
- Fence crews often add decks, gates, or ornamental metal work, and those can rate in different classes. Tell your carrier what share of the work each represents.
- Seasonal crews and day labor are common in fencing. Every worker you pay counts at audit, so keep records for temporary hires.
- If you only sell and subcontract the installs, your own exposure is mostly sales and clerical, but only if every installer carries their own coverage.