The base policy every contract asks for, and the one most often misread.

The most common contract requirement is $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, usually paired with additional insured for ongoing AND completed operations, a waiver of subrogation, and primary and noncontributory wording. Meeting the limit while missing those endorsements is the most frequent way a compliant-looking certificate fails.

Premises, operations, and completed operations

It helps to treat general liability as three coverages sharing one policy. Premises covers someone injured where you operate, the shop or the yard. Operations covers injury or damage you cause while the work is actually happening, the dropped tool and the flooded floor. Completed operations covers damage that surfaces after you have finished and gone.

For contractors, the third is usually the one that pays. Construction failures reveal themselves slowly, so the claim tends to arrive long after the invoice was settled. It is also the piece most likely to be restricted or dropped on a cheap policy, which is why we read for it specifically rather than assuming the label covers it.

What it will not do, and what covers that instead

The most expensive misunderstanding in contracting is expecting general liability to pay for redoing bad work. It does not. It is built to pay for damage your work causes to other property, not to tear out and replace the defective work itself. If your pipe fitting fails, the resulting water damage is generally the claim; the fitting is not.

The rest of the gaps have their own homes. Employee injury goes to workers compensation. Pollution and mold go to pollution liability. Design and professional judgment go to errors and omissions. Your own tools go to tools and equipment. General liability is the base, not the whole program.

What it costs, and what moves the number

General liability is rated off your trade classification, payroll and receipts, and loss history. Across contractor trades it commonly runs from roughly $500 a year for a low-hazard one-person operation up to several thousand for a crew in a high-hazard trade (industry ranges; your number depends on the work). The classification is the single biggest lever, more than the carrier or the negotiation. A contractor coded into the wrong class can overpay for years without ever knowing the code was the problem, which is why we check it before we shop it.

The endorsements contracts actually demand

Most contract disputes about insurance are not about the limit. They are about endorsements. General contractors and owners typically require additional insured status for both ongoing and completed operations, a waiver of subrogation, and primary and noncontributory wording. Those are three separate additions to the policy, and a certificate can list them while the policy behind it does not carry them.

That gap is only discovered at two moments: when a careful GC audits the certificate, or after a loss. We confirm the endorsement sits on the policy, not just on the paper.

The exclusions that get contractor claims denied

Beyond faulty workmanship, a few recur. Damage to property in your care, custody, or control is excluded, which matters because contractors are constantly working on property they do not own. Subcontractor work can be excluded or restricted on some forms. Residential or specific-project exclusions get attached quietly on hard-to-place trades. Height and depth restrictions appear on roofing and excavation policies. Any of these can remove your core operation from coverage while the policy still looks complete.

Questions worth asking before you sign

Ask whether completed operations is included and for how long it responds. Ask what your trade classification is and whether it matches the work you actually perform. Ask whether additional insured covers completed operations or only ongoing. Ask what is excluded for your specific trade. If the answers come back as reassurance rather than specifics, the policy has not been read against your work.