Contractor General Liability Insurance
Wilshire Center Insurance Services Offers General Contractor Liability, Construction Defect, Builders Risk and Owner Protective Liability.
Contractor General Liability Insurance protects contractors financially from amounts they become obligated to pay due to damages or medical payments because of bodily injury, property damage or personal/advertising injury to third parties occurring during the policy period caused by or relating to the contractor’s work. It is strongly recommended that Contractors maintain this coverage for their own protection and because contractors are often required to provide proof of such coverage to get accepted for a project.
What does a contractor General Liability policy cover?
A Contractor General Liability policy covers third-party claims from damages that arise from the operations of the insured contractor business. Coverage does not include faulty workmanship or damages to the insured’s work. Coverage applies to claims including bodily injury, property damage, product and completed operations, medical payments and personal and advertising injury. Below are descriptions of the coverages:
- Bodily Injury – Injury, sickness or disease sustained by a person, including death.
- Property Damage – Physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property.
- Product and Completed Operations – Coverage is provided for Bodily Injury and Property Damage after a project is completed, but only covers work performed during the policy period.
- Medical Payments – Medical expenses are covered for bodily injury caused by an accident during the policy period. Coverage is typically limited to $5,000.
- Personal and Advertising Injury – Injury arising out of false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, use of another’s idea in an advertisement, copyright infringement, or publication of material that slanders, libels or violates a person’s right to privacy. Not common with contractor general liability claims.
Most often a policy will have coverage with limits of $1 million per occurrence, $2 million in aggregate and $2 million product/completed operations. Insurance companies can offer several variations of those limits. If additional coverage limits are required a contractor may purchase an Excess policy. The Excess policy will cover damages above the base General Liability policy’s max limits.