General liability is the foundation of every commercial insurance program. It pays when a customer is injured at your location, when your work damages someone else's property, and when you have to defend yourself against a claim that turns out to be groundless.
Third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, personal and advertising injury such as libel or slander, and products-completed operations for work you finished months ago. Defense costs are typically paid outside your limit, which matters because attorney fees often exceed the settlement in a disputed California claim.
Most Bay Area landlords, general contractors and municipal clients require $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, plus additional-insured status and often a waiver of subrogation and primary-and-noncontributory wording. We read your contract before binding so the certificate you hand over actually satisfies it the first time.
California contractors face residential-construction exclusions, subcontractor warranty requirements and CSLB bond obligations that vary by carrier. Habitational work, roofing and anything involving heights change the market you belong in. We place these with carriers that genuinely want the class rather than pricing you out of it.