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Your Registration Needs Liability Coverage
In Connecticut
Home improvement contractors must carry at least $20,000 of liability coverage to register.
Ask AboutGeneral liability
Coverage depends on the policy terms.
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General Liability Insurance
A customer trips at your door, or your work damages someone’s property. General liability usually pays for your defense and for covered damages, up to your limits, and you have a person to call when it happens.
Where This Shows Up in Your Day
Where This Shows Up in Your Day
An illustrated job site. No people.
Why It Matters
- One fall at your door or one slip on a job can turn into a claim with your name on it.
- On the standard form, the insurer has a duty to defend a lawsuit seeking damages for a covered injury, and defense costs are not part of your limits.
- Medical payments can settle a small injury before anyone files suit.
Who Needs It
- Any business that customers, visitors or neighbors come near.
- A business that makes, sells or installs things, because the work can cause harm after it is done.
- A business whose contract asks it to name a customer on its policy.
What Does General Liability Insurance Cover?
A general liability policy answers claims brought by people outside your business. It has three parts, plus cover for work you have finished and for your defense.
- Bodily injury and property damage.
- Pays when your business is legally responsible for someone else’s injury or for damage to their property. For example, a customer catches a foot on a loose floor mat and breaks a wrist.
- Personal and advertising injury.
- Covers claims such as libel, slander, copyright infringement and using another business’s advertising idea. For example, a competitor says your flyer copied their slogan.
- Medical payments.
- Pays medical bills for people who are not your employees and are hurt on your premises or by your work, whoever was at fault, without a lawsuit. For example, a delivery driver slips on your steps and needs stitches.
- Products and completed operations.
- Covers injury or damage your work causes after the job is done. For example, a heating system you installed leaks three months later.
- Your legal defense.
- When a suit seeks damages for a covered injury, the insurer defends you and pays the defense costs. For example, a neighbor sues over a fence your crew damaged, and the insurer handles the lawyer.
The Small Business Administration describes general liability insurance as protection against financial loss from bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses, libel, slander, defending lawsuits, and settlements or judgments. What a policy covers comes down to its wording, including what it excludes and the conditions it sets.
What General Liability Does Not Cover
General liability is built for claims from other people. These losses belong on other policies, or need cover of their own.
- Injuries to your employees.
- Workers’ compensation covers an employee’s work related injury or illness. See workers’ compensation insurance.
- Your own building and equipment.
- Commercial property insurance protects company property. See commercial property insurance.
- Accidents in your vehicles.
- Auto liability is excluded and belongs on a business auto policy. See commercial auto insurance.
- Professional advice and errors.
- Professional liability covers malpractice, errors and negligence.
- Pollution.
- Excluded, with limited cover by endorsement and separate pollution policies for higher risks.
- Alcohol related claims.
- A standard policy does not respond without liquor liability coverage.
- Recalls and intentional harm.
- The standard business owners policy form does not pay to recall your products or work, and intentional injury is excluded.
How Much Does General Liability Insurance Cost?
There is no single price. The premium follows your kind of business, its size and its claims record, and these are the factors an insurer weighs:
- What your business does.
- The type of business decides how the policy is classified.
- How big it is.
- The rate can be applied to your square footage, your payroll or your gross sales, depending on how the business is classified.
- Your claims history.
- Past claims are read as a sign of future claims, and the greater the risk of future claims, the higher the premium.
- Your deductible.
- A higher deductible lowers the premium. Choose one you could pay without strain.
To start a quote, tell us what your business does and roughly how big it is.
General Liability Limits Explained
- Each occurrence limit.
- The most the insurer pays for one event, however many people make a claim from it.
- Aggregate limit.
- The most it pays for all events in one policy period. Products and completed operations carry their own aggregate.
- Occurrence or claims made.
- An occurrence policy covers incidents that happened while it was in force. A claims made policy covers claims made while it is in force.
- Above your limits.
- For higher limits, an umbrella policy sits over general liability.
If a contract names the limits it requires, send it before you sign and each clause is read against your policy.
Coverage by Industry
If customers, visitors or neighbors come near your work, a claim can come from any of them. These are some of the businesses that carry it:
State Facts
In Connecticut
- Contractors who work on homes of six units or fewer, condos or common interest communities, and charge more than $1,000 in any 12 months must register as home improvement contractors.
- A home improvement contractor must carry general liability insurance of at least $20,000 and give the insurer name and policy number to register.
- New home builders need a separate registration, also with at least $20,000 of liability insurance.
- A contractor that signs contracts as an LLC must register the LLC. An individual registration does not cover it.
- Doing home improvement work without registration is a criminal offense, and the state may impose civil penalties up to $1,500 per violation.
- A subcontractor who works only for a registered home improvement contractor does not need to register.
Read more: Connecticut contractor insurance requirements.
Source: Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does general liability insurance cover?
It protects against financial loss from bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses, libel, slander, defending lawsuits, and settlements or judgments. The policy wording determines what applies to a particular claim.
What does per occurrence mean on a general liability policy?
It is the most the insurer pays for one event, no matter how many people make a claim from it. A separate aggregate limit caps what it pays for all events in the policy period.
Does general liability cover my own building and equipment?
Generally, no. Commercial property insurance is the policy that protects company property.
Does general liability cover my employees if they get hurt?
Generally, no. Workers’ compensation insurance covers an employee’s work related injury or illness.
Does general liability cover accidents in my work vehicles?
No. Auto liability is excluded from general liability and belongs on a business auto policy. The commercial auto insurance page explains it.
Is a general liability policy the same as a business owner’s policy?
No. A business owner’s policy is a package that combines the typical coverage options. The article on general liability and the business owner’s policy explains the distinction.
What if I cannot get general liability insurance?
One insurer’s no is one answer from one insurer. Send us the details and the date you need coverage to start. Our practice includes commercial risks that other agencies find hard to place. We reach the surplus lines market through licensed surplus lines brokers. No agency can promise a placement.
If a standard insurer says no, your policy may be placed this way, and it works a little differently. Some hard to place risks are insured by surplus lines carriers. These carriers are not licensed by the state as admitted insurers. Their policies can cost more, cover less or differently, and follow different cancellation and nonrenewal notice rules. They are generally not covered by the state insurance guaranty fund if the carrier fails. Surplus lines coverage is placed through a licensed surplus lines broker. We explain the differences to you in writing before you decide.
Get General Liability That Fits Your Work.
Tell us what your business does and the date you need coverage to start, and send the policy you have now if there is one. The full range of business coverage is on the Business Insurance page.