Care, custody, and control is one of the coverages restoration contractors most often overlook, and it sits directly over one of their biggest exposures. Restoration means working on and storing the customer’s property, and standard general liability commonly excludes damage to property in your care. Here is what care, custody, and control coverage does and how to size it.
The exclusion behind the certificate
General liability generally covers damage to property you do not control. It commonly excludes damage to property in your care, custody, or control, which is the property you are actually working on or storing. In restoration, that is the customer’s building and contents, so the exclusion sits directly over your core exposure. The certificate will not warn you; the exclusion is in the form.
Where it applies in restoration
It applies to the structure you are drying or cleaning, the contents you pack out and store, and the property you secure during mitigation. A dropped item, a drying error that damages finishes, a loss at your storage facility, all involve property in your care. Care, custody, and control coverage is what responds to that damage, where general liability does not.
Sizing the limit to peak, not average
The most common mistake is a limit set to an average rather than a peak. If a fire or theft hit a full pack-out in your warehouse, the limit needs to respond to the total value on hand, not a typical day. The coverage should be sized to what you actually hold at peak storage, so a single large loss does not exceed the limit.
Coverage plus documentation
Care, custody, and control coverage responds to damage or loss, but many contents claims are disputes over condition or count. Detailed inventories, photos, and clear intake and release records are your first defense, and the coverage backs them up. The two work together: coverage for the loss, documentation for the dispute.
Questions to ask your advisor
- Is damage to the property I work on and store actually covered?
- Is the limit sized to my peak storage value, not an average?
- Is property covered in transit as well as in storage?
- How does the coverage interact with my documentation on disputes?
- Is it coordinated with my general liability and property coverage?
Care, custody, and control is the coverage for the property you are trusted to hold. In restoration, that property is present on nearly every job, and standard general liability usually excludes it. Placing the coverage and sizing the limit to your real peak exposure is what keeps the customer’s building and contents from being an uninsured loss.