TL;DR
Business insurance that can cover property damage or injury claims caused by the contractor's operations, subject to policy limits and exclusions.
What it means
Business insurance that can cover property damage or injury claims caused by the contractor's operations, subject to policy limits and exclusions.
Where it sits in the glossary
General liability insurance is part of the Legal group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
General liability insurance is the contractor's protection against accidents that cause property damage or third-party injury during the job — a ladder through a window, water damage from a plumbing mishap, a slip on a wet driveway. Ohio does not require it to hold an OCILB license, but most reputable contractors carry it.
Coverage limits and exclusions vary widely. Homeowners on larger jobs should ask the insurer to send a certificate directly, name the homeowner as a certificate holder, and confirm that the work being done is not on the policy's exclusion list.
ProFix tools that touch this term
Where this term gets mixed up
GL is not workers' comp
GL is for damage to others. Workers' comp is for the contractor's own crew.
COI from the contractor vs. from the insurer
A PDF from the contractor can be edited. A certificate sent directly from the insurer is harder to fake.
Where this term comes from
Private insurance market; Ohio Department of Insurance.
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.