The moment you take the customer belongings, GL stops covering them.
Contents restoration is a business built on holding other people property: packing it out, cleaning it, inventorying it, and storing it until the structure is ready. The central exposure is damage to or loss of those goods while they are in your care, and that is precisely what a standard general liability policy excludes. The coverage has to be built around care, custody, and control and bailee limits sized to what you hold. We are independent and based in Eugene, so we build it around your actual operation.
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The care, custody, and control exclusion in a standard general liability policy is written to remove exactly what a contents operation does all day: hold and handle property that belongs to someone else. So the coverage that pays a contents claim is not the GL, it is the care and bailee limits you deliberately add, sized to the value you can hold at one time.
Why contents is a property problem inside a liability business
Most restoration exposure is about liability for what you do. Contents is different, because the biggest exposure is the customer property itself, sitting in your truck, your process, and your warehouse. A general liability policy is built to cover harm to third parties, not to answer for goods in your care, so it excludes them. That makes contents a property and bailee problem wearing a restoration jacket, and it has to be insured that way.
The coverages that fit the work
Care, custody, and control coverage responds to damage to property in your care during handling and storage. Bailee coverage, usually through inland marine, covers customer goods in transit and warehoused, sized to your peak stored value. Professional liability answers valuation and process disputes. Commercial property covers the warehouse and your own equipment in it. Contractors pollution liability still applies because contents from a water, fire, or sewage loss carry contamination. The base GL and workers comp sit underneath.
What it costs, and what moves the number
Contents restoration is priced off payroll, revenue, and above all the total value of customer goods you hold at one time, not a flat rate. As a reference point, restoration general liability commonly runs about $500 to $3,000 a year on its own, and the care, custody, and control and bailee limits a contents operation needs are added on top based on your storage values. The stored value is the main driver here, more than the labor, which is why an accurate peak-value figure matters to the quote.
Inventory, valuation, and the disputes that become claims
A large share of contents claims are disagreements, not disasters: what an heirloom was worth, whether an item was damaged before or during your process, what went missing between pack-out and return. Detailed inventory and photo documentation are your best protection, and properly sized care, bailee, and professional limits are what respond when a dispute turns into a claim anyway. The operation that documents well and insures the stored value correctly is the one that survives a bad contents loss.
Licensing and standards, Oregon first
We are based in Eugene, so Oregon is where we start. Contents work itself is not separately licensed, but it usually rides alongside water or fire restoration under your CCB license, bond, and general liability. If the contents come from a pre-1978 building, lead and asbestos rules can apply to the source loss through the CCB lead certification and DEQ. Your state page has the local detail.
Questions worth asking before you sign
Ask what your care, custody, and control and bailee limits are and whether they match your peak stored value. Ask whether goods are covered in transit as well as in the warehouse. Ask whether professional liability responds to valuation disputes. Ask whether the warehouse building and the stored goods are both covered. If the limit is smaller than what you can hold, a single facility loss can exceed your coverage.
Coverages this work needs
The lines that make up a contents restoration program. Each has its own page with what it does, how it applies, and where the gaps hide.
Care, Custody & Control
The core line here: damage to customer property while it is in your hands, which GL excludes.
Care, custody & control →Equipment & Inland Marine
Bailee coverage for the customer goods you pack out, clean, and warehouse, plus your own gear.
Equipment & bailee →Professional Liability (E&O)
For valuation disputes and claims that an item was damaged or lost in your process.
Professional liability →Contractors Pollution Liability
Contents from a water, fire, or sewage loss carry the contamination GL excludes.
Pollution liability →Business Owner's Policy
Bundles property on the warehouse or storage facility where packed-out contents are held with your general liability.
Business owner's policy →General Liability
The base, read carefully, because the care exclusion is exactly what contents work triggers.
General liability →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.
Contents restoration insurance questions
What is contents restoration insurance really covering?
Why does general liability exclude the property I store?
What is bailee coverage and do I need it?
How do valuation disputes create claims?
How much does contents restoration insurance cost?
Does the warehouse where I store contents need its own coverage?
What licensing applies in Oregon?
Will insurers and TPAs require certificates for contents work?
Reviewed for insurance accuracy by Richard Sweet, Vantage Point Risk. Last reviewed July 16, 2026. How we review this.
Are the customer goods in your care actually covered?
GL excludes the property you hold. We size care, custody, and control and bailee limits to what you store before a loss tests them.
Cover the belongings, not just the building.
Tell us how much you pack out and store and we will size care, custody, and control and bailee coverage to the value you actually hold.