The building you are restoring is the property GL stops covering.
Standard general liability contains an exclusion for property in your care, custody, or control, the building you are working on and the contents you are handling. Restoration lives inside that exclusion, because you spend every job on and inside a customer property, often storing their belongings too. Care, custody, and control coverage is what responds when your work damages that property. Sized to a token limit, it fails on a real loss. We are independent, so we size it to the work you actually do.
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Standard general liability carries a care, custody, and control exclusion for property you own, rent, occupy, or that is in your care, and restoration means being on and inside the customer building for the whole job. That is why the exclusion, rather than a rare edge case, sits at the center of restoration liability.
Why the exclusion hits restoration hardest
Most contractors touch property in their care occasionally. Restoration does it constantly and by definition. You are inside the customer building, tearing out and drying and rebuilding, and often packing out and storing their belongings. Every hour of that work is spent on property the general liability care exclusion removes from coverage. So the exposure the exclusion creates is not incidental to restoration, it is the shape of the work, and closing it is a core part of building the program.
What the coverage answers
Care, custody, and control coverage responds when your work damages property in your care, most importantly the structure you are restoring. If your crew damages the building during the job, the general liability care exclusion can deny the claim, and this coverage answers instead. It sits next to bailee and inland marine coverage, which handle the personal property you store and transport, so the full operation is covered whether the loss is to the building or to the contents.
Sizing the limit to the real exposure
The most common failure here is a token limit. Many liability policies include a small care, custody, and control sublimit that looks like coverage but does not match a real restoration job, where the property at risk is an entire building and its contents. The right limit reflects what you can damage or hold at one time. We size it to your actual jobs and your contract requirements, so a single large loss does not blow through a sublimit that was never meant for restoration.
What it costs, and how it is written
Care, custody, and control is priced as part of your program, off the limit you need, the type of work, and loss history, not a flat rate. It is usually an endorsement or sublimit on the liability program, and raising it from a token figure to a realistic restoration limit is a modest cost against the exposure it covers. Getting the limit right is worth more than shopping the price, because the limit is what determines whether a real claim is fully paid.
Licensing and standards, Oregon first
We are based in Eugene, so Oregon is where we start. Oregon does not set a required care, custody, and control limit, so it runs under your CCB license and general liability program at whatever limit you carry, which makes a token sublimit easy to miss. We check the limit against your actual work and your contracts, and your state page has the local detail for the western states we serve.
Questions worth asking before you sign
Ask whether your general liability includes a care, custody, and control exclusion, since almost all do. Ask what your care, custody, and control limit is and whether it matches the buildings you work on. Ask whether contents you store are covered here or under bailee coverage. Ask whether your contracts require a stated limit. If the number is a small default, it will not hold on a real restoration loss.
Coverages this work needs
The lines that make up a care, custody, and control program. Each has its own page with what it does, how it applies, and where the gaps hide.
General Liability
Where the care, custody, and control exclusion lives. This coverage answers what the exclusion removes.
General liability →Contents Restoration
The segment built entirely around property in your care, where this limit carries the most weight.
Contents restoration →Equipment & Inland Marine
Bailee coverage for customer goods, alongside your own tools and gear.
Equipment & bailee →Contractors Pollution Liability
Covers contamination. Care, custody, and control covers physical damage to the property you hold.
Pollution liability →Professional Liability (E&O)
For valuation and process disputes, a different exposure from physical damage.
Professional liability →Water Damage Restoration
Where working on and drying the customer building triggers this exposure daily.
Water restoration →Restoration insurance by state
Mold licensing, the EPA lead rule, and construction licensing change at the state line. Pick yours for the local rules and what we can place there.
Go deeper in the Learning Center
Plain-language articles on the exact coverage questions restoration runs into. Straight answers, not sales pitches.
Care, custody, and control coverage questions
What is care, custody, and control coverage?
Why does general liability exclude property in my care?
How is it different from the contents and bailee coverage?
How do I know if I have enough limit?
How much does care, custody, and control coverage cost?
Does it cover damage I cause to the building I am restoring?
What does Oregon require here?
Will contracts require a stated care, custody, and control limit?
Reviewed for insurance accuracy by Richard Sweet, Vantage Point Risk. Last reviewed July 16, 2026. How we review this.
Is the property in your care covered, or just token-limited?
Restoration lives inside the GL care exclusion. We confirm the limit matches the buildings and contents you actually handle.
Cover the building you are working on, not a token limit.
Tell us about the jobs you take and what you store, and we will size care, custody, and control to the property actually in your hands.