What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?

General liability covers accidents causing bodily injury or property damage. Professional liability, or errors and omissions, covers claims that your professional services were negligent or inadequate. In restoration, an allegation of a failed clearance or incomplete remediation is a professional claim, which general liability generally does not cover, so the two coverages address different exposures.

Do restoration contractors really need E&O?

Often yes, especially for remediation and protocol-driven work. Many restoration claims allege the work itself was inadequate rather than an accident, and that is professional exposure. If your work is judged against a standard or a written scope, professional liability is what responds when a client alleges you fell short.

Is professional liability separate from pollution coverage?

It can be separate or combined. For restoration, professional and pollution coverage are often written together on a contractors environmental form, because a claim can involve both a pollution condition and an allegation of faulty service. We coordinate them so a mold or remediation claim does not fall into a gap between the two.

What claims does it typically respond to?

Failed clearance testing, alleged incomplete or improper remediation, recurrence after the job, and scope disputes are typical. Whether your program responds depends on carrying professional liability with a services definition that matches your work, and coordinating it with your other coverages, which we review.

Professional Liability for Restoration Contractors

When the claim is faulty work, not an accident.

Restoration is protocol-driven work, and many claims allege that the work itself was inadequate, a failed clearance, an incomplete scope, a missed moisture source, rather than a sudden accident. That is professional exposure, and general liability generally does not cover it. Professional liability, or errors and omissions, is the coverage that responds.

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Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, covers claims that your professional services were negligent, inadequate, or failed to meet the standard, which general liability, focused on accidents causing bodily injury or property damage, generally does not address. For restoration contractors it responds to failed clearances, incomplete remediation, and scope and protocol disputes.

The gap general liability leaves

General liability covers accidents that cause bodily injury or property damage. It does not generally cover an allegation that your work was professionally inadequate, that you missed a moisture source, failed a clearance, or did not meet the remediation standard. Those are professional claims, and without professional liability they can be uncovered even when general liability is in force.

Where it matters most in restoration

Mold and biohazard remediation, water restoration with moisture-mapping and drying decisions, and any work delivered against a written protocol or scope all carry professional exposure. The more your work is judged against a standard rather than a physical accident, the more professional liability matters. It is often paired with pollution coverage on a combined contractors environmental form.

Common professional claims

Failed post-remediation clearance testing, alleged incomplete or improper remediation, re-growth or recurrence after the job, and disputes over whether you met the agreed scope are typical professional claims. Whether your program responds depends on having professional liability and coordinating it with your pollution and mold coverage so the claim has somewhere to land.

How we handle it

We add professional liability where your restoration work carries protocol and scope exposure, often combined with pollution on a contractors environmental form, and confirm the definition of professional services matches what you do. We coordinate it with general liability, pollution, and mold coverage so a faulty-work allegation is covered rather than caught between policies.

When the claim is faulty work, not an accident.

The gap general liability leaves

Where it matters most in restoration

Common professional claims

How we handle it

Common questions.

If a client alleges faulty work, are you covered?

Keep going.

Mold Remediation

Contractors Pollution Liability

Biohazard & Trauma Cleanup

Cover the faulty-work claims GL does not.