General liability · For contractors and owners
Someone else gets hurt. General liability answers the claim.
General liability answers claims that your work or your premises injured someone else or damaged their property. It pays for your defense, and any settlement or judgment up to the policy’s limits.
Light RFP Risk Management Services LLC · NY DFS License # PC-1978982
What general liability covers.
Typically covered
- Bodily injury to people who aren’t your employees: a visitor, a tenant, a passer-by
- Damage to property that isn’t yours, caused by your work or on your premises
- Completed operations: a claim that shows up after the job is finished and handed over
- Personal and advertising injury, such as libel, slander, or an ad that uses someone else’s slogan or copyrighted work, and, for landlords, wrongful eviction or wrongful entry into a tenant’s unit
- Legal defense costs for a covered claim, paid in addition to the limits on most standard forms
Where another policy answers
- Injuries to your own employees: Workers’ comp
- Your vehicles on the road: Commercial auto
- Your own tools and equipment: Tools & equipment
- Mistakes in design or professional advice: Professional liability
- Claims above your limits: Umbrella
Usually not covered
- Redoing your own faulty work (damage it causes to others’ property can be covered)
- Pollution, mold and asbestos, on most forms
- Damage to the part you’re working on, or to property in your care
Who on the block needs it.
Contractors and trades
Almost every RFP asks for it before you can be awarded the job, usually with the owner named as an additional insured.
Owners and operators
Covers the premises you own or control, like the lobby, the hallways and the common areas: the places a tenant or a visitor can get hurt.
How the RFP asks for it
Most RFPs state the limits they want, per occurrence and in aggregate (for example $1M / $2M), and often ask for additional insured status, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory wording. Larger jobs often add two more: additional insured for completed operations, and a per-project aggregate.
- Additional insured
- The owner or GC is covered under your policy for claims arising from your work, as far as the endorsement allows. Their claims use your limits.
- Waiver of subrogation
- Your insurer gives up the right to recover what it paid from the owner or GC.
- Primary and non-contributory
- Your policy pays first, before the owner’s or the GC’s own insurance.
- Completed operations
- The owner or GC stays covered for claims that come after the job is handed over, often for a set number of years.
- Per-project aggregate
- Each job gets its own aggregate limit, so a claim on another job can’t use up this one’s.
Own or manage buildings? Require general liability from every contractor you hire, with you named as additional insured, before work starts. Put it in the RFP.
How we quote it.
Light RFP’s brokerage quotes general liability alongside the rest of your program: you fill in the application, and our team takes it to market.
Tell us about the business
Your work or your buildings, the limits your contracts and leases ask for, and your claims history.
We take it to market
A Light RFP broker reads your application, contacts you about anything missing, and takes it to the insurers that write general liability for businesses like yours.
Compare the quotes
Limits, deductibles and exclusions side by side, matched to what your contracts, RFPs and lender require. Applying commits you to nothing; you choose whether to buy.
We place it
Our brokerage puts the policy you choose in force and issues the certificates your projects and lenders ask for.
Our application
4 sheets. Plan on 15 to 30 minutes for a contractor with one kind of work or an owner with one building.
- A contractor, one kind of work
- about 62 answers, 55 required
- An owner, one building with tenants
- about 70 answers, 61 required
Follow-up questions appear only when an answer calls for them.
What it asks
Open a sheet for a few of its questions.
GL-01Business
- What does the business do, and when did it start?
- What are your annual revenue, payroll and headcount?
GL-02Your work or your buildings
- Contractors: what share of your work is residential, and do you build new homes?
- Contractors: do you use subcontractors, and collect a certificate from each one?
- Owners: how many buildings and units, and what do your tenants do?
GL-03Coverage
- Which per-occurrence and aggregate limits do your contracts ask for?
- Who must be named as an additional insured, and on what terms?
GL-04Insurance and claims
- Do you have general liability today, and when does it expire?
- Any liability claims against the business in the last five years?
Have these ready
- Your business basicsLegal name, FEIN, the year you started, revenue, headcount and payroll.
- Contractors: your workPayroll by kind of work, what you subcontract and pay subs, and whether you collect their certificates.
- Owners: your buildingsEach building’s address, square footage, stories, units and year built, and what your tenants do. The form lists ten buildings. With more, send your full schedule of buildings to insurance@lightrfp.com (a spreadsheet is fine).
- Your current policyThe declarations page: limits, deductible, premium and when it expires.
- Your contracts and leasesThe limits they ask for, and who must be named as additional insured.
- Loss runs, if you have themFive years of claims history from your current insurer. You can send them after by replying to your confirmation email.
General liability questions.
What limits do I need?
Start with what your RFPs and contracts ask for: often $1M per occurrence and $2M in aggregate, with the owner or GC named as an additional insured. How the RFP asks for it explains the terms. Bring the spec, and we match your policy to it, then show you what higher limits or an umbrella would add.
What is an additional insured?
Another party, usually the owner or the GC, added to your policy so that a claim arising from your work is covered for them too. Most construction contracts require it.
Do I need my own if the GC or owner has a policy?
Yes. Their policy protects them, not you. Most contracts require each sub to carry its own general liability and name the GC and owner as additional insureds.
Do I need it if my tenants carry their own?
Yes. A tenant’s policy covers the tenant’s space and operations. The common areas, the structure and the owner’s own decisions are the owner’s to insure, and most commercial leases require tenants to name the owner as an additional insured.
Does it cover my employees if they’re hurt?
No. Injuries to your own employees are covered by workers’ comp.
How do I get a certificate for a bid?
Certificates come from the broker on the policy. Once a policy we place is in force, our brokerage issues the certificates your projects ask for, with the owner or GC added as an additional insured where the policy allows it. If another agent placed your current policy, that agent issues its certificates. Need cover by a bid date? Put that date in ‘When should the policy start?’ on the application.
What affects the price?
Mostly the work you do and how much of it: your class of work, your revenue or payroll, where you work, the limits you choose and your claims history.
Get a general liability quote.
Getting a quote is free. Light RFP earns a commission from the carrier on all policies.
Light RFP Risk Management Services LLC · NY DFS License # PC-1978982