General Liability
Start with the claims your business could face.
General Liability may address bodily injury, property damage and certain personal or advertising injury claims, subject to the policy.
Where General Liability may respond
A customer could be injured at your premises, an employee could damage property at a job site, or completed work could allegedly cause damage later. The facts and policy wording determine whether coverage applies.
Questions worth asking
- Are your actual operations and subcontracted work properly classified?
- Does the policy address products and completed operations?
- Do contracts require additional insured, waiver or primary-and-noncontributory endorsements?
- Are there exclusions affecting residential work, height, roofing, pollution or professional services?
A certificate summarizes insurance information; it does not add coverage or replace the required endorsement.
General Liability underwriting details
Carriers need more than a business name and revenue figure. Describe every operation, the percentage of work performed by each trade or service, where work takes place, whether products are sold or installed, how much work is subcontracted, and what contracts require. A classification that sounds close may not describe the exposure the insurer intended to cover.
Certificates and contractual requirements
Customers and project owners may request additional insured status, primary and noncontributory wording, waivers of subrogation, per-project aggregates or completed-operations protection. Each request should be compared with the contract and the policy. A certificate cannot create a right the policy does not provide.
Claims-made versus occurrence
Most General Liability policies are written on an occurrence form, but specialized liability coverages may be claims-made. The distinction affects which policy period may respond and why retroactive dates and continuous coverage can matter.
Information to gather
- Five years of currently valued loss runs when available
- Sample contracts and insurance requirements
- Revenue split by operation, state and product or service
- Subcontractor costs and written risk-transfer procedures
- Location, payroll and employee details
Ready for the next conversation?