Dear Hopeful,
Good luck with your adventure. I'm in Virginia so I'm not sure how pertinent any of my advice will be.
My wife and I own a small TF business, specializing in custom homes with organic touches. We hold a $2 million liability policy and a comprehensive manufacturing policy. After being in business for a number of years, a casual conversation with our agent pointed out two things: standard liability covers only damage you do to others. For example, if during a raising, you drop a bent on a delivery truck delivering windows, your policy would cover the cost to repair the truck and replace the windows. The dropped and broken bent is not covered. In another example, a finished frame is stacked in your yard waiting to be delivered when it is destroyed by unknown vandals. While a standard comprehensive policy will cover the cost to replace the wood, your labor is not covered. For us, that represents the vast part of total value.
As I said, our situation and laws may be different. You need to find an agent that handles other builders as clients and is willing to talk with you about your specific situation. Walk through your operation with your agent, maybe even bringing him or her to your shop. As the insurance industry faces smaller profits, they are writing fewer new policies and hiding more exclusions.
It is probably still possible to find insurance but the search here has become exponentially more difficult.
Good luck,
Bob
