General liability
Third-party injury and property damage from your operations, including the water damage this trade is defined by.
The trade where a small leak becomes a large claim.
Water and heat exposures behave differently from other trades, and the policy that covers them should be built accordingly.
What this trade actually faces
The exposures worth naming out loud
- Water damage from a failed connection, sometimes discovered days later and floors below.
- Heat sources and torch work in occupied structures.
- Frozen and burst lines in northern Michigan seasonal properties.
- Emergency and after-hours service calls, often in unfamiliar buildings.
- Equipment and fixtures bought for a job before installation is complete.
Coverages that answer them
What goes on the policy, and why
Products & completed operations
A connection that fails weeks after you left is a completed-operations claim, not a general-operations one.
Installation floater
Furnaces, water heaters, and fixtures you have purchased and are installing but have not yet handed over.
Tools & equipment
Covers your tooling in the van and on the site rather than only at a shop you may not have.
Workers' compensation
Required for most Michigan employers, and priced by classification — which makes accurate payroll reporting worth getting right.
Commercial auto
Service vehicles, including hired and non-owned exposure.
Coverage descriptions are general. What a policy actually covers depends on its own terms, conditions, and exclusions, and on the carrier issuing it. A licensed agent reviews the specifics with you before anything is bound.
A hypothetical worth thinking about
A cottage you winterised in October is found flooded in February. The question a carrier will ask is not only whether the work was performed correctly, but what the policy says about water damage, about completed operations, and about seasonal and vacant properties. Northern Michigan makes this an ordinary conversation rather than an exotic one, which is why it should happen before the season, not after.
Illustration only — not a description of an actual claim, and not a statement of what any particular policy would pay.
What we need from you
Have these handy and this takes a few minutes
- Annual revenue and payroll
- Service vs. new-construction mix
- Whether you do torch or hot work
- Seasonal or cottage work, if any
- Vehicles, and any losses in the last five years
Related trades
General Contractors & Remodelers
General liability, tools, work comp, and vehicles reviewed together — with certificates issued when you need them, not three days later.
Electricians
Electrical work carries fire and completed-operations exposure that generic business policies price badly and explain worse.
Rather talk?