General Liability Coverage: What It Pays and What It Excludes
General liability coverage pays when your business causes third-party bodily injury or property damage, plus the legal defense that follows. This page is the coverage mechanics: what triggers a payment, what is carved out, and what it tends to cost. For the buying decision and how much to carry, see the general liability pillar. Beaconcover is not a licensed broker; we explain the coverage and route you to carriers.
The short answer
General liability pays a third party (not you, not your employees) for bodily injury or property damage your operation caused, and pays your legal defense even for a groundless suit, up to the policy limits [III: general liability insurance, 2026-05]. It does not pay for your own injuries, your employees, your vehicles, or mistakes in your professional work. Those are workers' compensation, commercial auto, and professional liability respectively.
What does general liability cover?
Three buckets: third-party bodily injury (a client or visitor is physically hurt by your operation), third-party property damage (you damage property that is not yours), and personal and advertising injury (libel, slander, certain advertising claims), each with legal defense on top [III: general liability insurance, 2026-05]. Products-and-completed-operations is usually included, which responds to a claim arising from your finished work after you have left the site. Typical small-operator policies are written at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate limits, the level most client contracts and licenses specify; the required amount is often set by the client contract itself rather than chosen by the buyer.
What it excludes
The common exclusions catch people out. General liability does not cover: your employees' injuries (workers' compensation), vehicles used for work (commercial auto), professional errors or bad advice (professional liability), damage to the specific property you were working on (needs a care-custody-and-control endorsement), pollution, and intentional acts [NAIC: small business insurance, 2026-05]. The care-custody-and-control gap is the one most trades hit: damage to the exact item you were hired to work on is frequently excluded without a specific endorsement.
Typical cost
Cost depends on trade hazard, revenue, location, claims history, and limits, so a single national figure is misleading [III: business insurance basics, 2026-05]. Lower-hazard trades pay less than higher-hazard ones such as roofing, and the price is part of a larger program once employees or vehicles are added. Beaconcover does not publish a premium it cannot source; trade-by-trade ranges are on the profession pages and the cost guide.
Where to get quotes
Get quotes from two or three carriers that fit your trade. Several specialty small-business carriers issue the certificate of insurance online within minutes of binding, which matters when a general contractor is waiting on proof before you can start [SBA: get business insurance, 2026-05]. See the profession pages for trade-specific coverage and /methodology/ for what to look for in any plan.
Frequently asked questions
Third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, and personal and advertising injury, plus legal defense. Not your own injuries, employees, vehicles, or professional mistakes.
Not a broker. Beaconcover is an independent comparison site. We are not a licensed insurance broker, agent, or adviser; we route you to providers and do not sell, bind, or advise on policies, and nothing here is legal or tax advice. Coverage, price, and requirements vary by state, profession, payroll, and underwriting. See /methodology/ and /disclosure/. Last reviewed: 2026-05-16.