Hidden Contractor Insurance "Exclusions"

Construction companies are required to maintain current Insurance policies in order to legally conduct work within Washington State. Astute homeowners who verify insurance coverage before hiring a contracting firm are often surprised to learn that all General Liability (GL) policies contain “exclusion” clauses that, under common circumstances, limit or even cancel out the entire coverage.

For example, in the course of construction, if a home has been exposed to even a partial amount of mold or similar “organic pathogens,” which at some point could affect the inhabitants or render the home “less desirable,” the typical GL policy will exclude coverage for the entire job. This applies to all trades; and under such conditions, it causes the homeowner to lose protection from a contractor’s insurance.

One of the most common “exclusions” involves water—something homeowners in Western Washington are regularly exposed to. Common policies held by viable construction companies offer 1 to 2 million dollars of coverage, but if a home has been “aggravated by moisture,” even remotely, and irrespective as to whether or not that trade contributed to such exposure, then the insurance is seriously compromised. CBIC, one of the major insurance providers, cuts a $1,000,000 policy, whenever moisture affects a structure, down to a measly $25,000, and other providers exclude coverage all together.

In other words, if your toilet seal brakes, a pipe springs a leak, an appliance spills water, or dry-rot is discovered, you will likely not be covered adequately by the vast majority of contractor insurance policies.

Now that a new law has come into effect, regulating all contracting work and all landlord work on homes that might contain lead, homeowners are instructed to hire only EPA certified firms that disturb any structures that contain paint. The shocking part of this is that the EPA does not require contractors to be insured for such certification. As a result, the majority of firms that claim to be certified to renovate lead surfaces do not have insurance policies that cover homeowners for such hazardous material. As a result, the entire job would become “un-insured.”

Only companies who carry both a GL policy for contracting work AN D also carry a CPL policy for hazard conditions, will adequately maintain insurance coverage for homeowners under such conditions. CPL stands for “commercial pollutions liability”—and it is designed to specifically reinstate the “exclusions” that so often render contractors insurance policies ineffective for homeowners. On the other hand, many “restoration” type companies carry CPL coverage, but not GL policies. In such cases, they are covered to remove damaged conditions, like water or fire losses, but they are not covered to re-construct the damaged property; leaving the homeowner to find a different contractor to fix everything.

For these reasons, CUSTOM is dual-insured. We maintain both GL and CPL policies for your protection.