# General Liability Insurance



## mnjconstruction (Oct 5, 2008)

SAW.co said:


> 37% is high with my comp i'm paying 30% for any one making less than $25 hr. at $26 my comp rate drops to 10% it pays to hire help with more experience.


Yeah dudes in maine dont usally make over 26 an hour no matter how experienced they are. We just poor hillbilly folk up here. :thumbsup:


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## Pete'sfeets (Mar 20, 2011)

They usually link the liability insurance to your yearly sales, but 1mill isn't considered practical in todays economy , they want me to raise it to 2 million. mind you if I got sued for more than a million they wouldn't get anything anyhow,, shoot their lawyer and save a bundle,:cowboy:. I pay about 750, it used to be 600 a few years back,, hardly matched to inflation.


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## Astrix (Feb 23, 2009)

With respect to limits and deciding if you will buy $1 million, $2 million, lower or higher:

Most liability insurance limits refer to the third party settlement or court award only. Related legal and other expenses to determine the settlement amount are separate and will be paid over and above that with no limits.

As an example, say you have a $1,000,000 Commercial General Liability policy. There is a bodily injury claim and in the next two years that it takes to investigate and have the lawyers haggle back and forth, you can easily have $500,000 in lawyer's fees. The insurance company pays all that and it doesn't erode your $1,000,000 limit. If you lose the case in court or if it is decided to settle out of court, you still have access to the full $1,000,000 to pay for that award. In other words, a total amount of $1.5 million is paid.

Unfortunately, some policies will read that the limit includes expenses. 

If you have a policy where the limit includes claims expenses, then in the case of the above example, $500,000 would have been eaten up preparing for the court case and if the judge awards $1,000,000 you won't have enough insurance. Once your insurance limit is exhausted, you will be on the hook to pay the amounts over and above that. 

You should check with your broker to determine if your liability policy's limit is inclusive of claims expenses or not. Sometimes a cheaper premium is because you are getting the poorer deal. Because of the trend for increasingly higher legal fees, that is why many brokers are recommending that $1,000,000 is no longer enough but to go with $2,000,000 instead.


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## no limit (Jul 3, 2012)

Never thought about getting workers comp and most jobs I am in and out before any need for it. After getting 37 stitches in my hand because of an accident, I am looking around now.


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## sportsturfone (Apr 10, 2017)

Jenspan said:


> Thanks for your repy - you're a roofer? The highest premiums are saved for you guys!


Haha! That's so true. My brother is a roofing contractor and his liability premiums are through the roof! (pun intended)


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## Easy Gibson (Dec 3, 2010)

You must be desperate if you're asking us. Lol


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## GCTony (Oct 26, 2012)

The cost for GL depends on sales and the type of properties and work you do. It has little to do with employee health risk. I think our GL premiums are close to $10K yr but we work in commercial buildings, most time occupied. However our WC premiums are pretty low because most of us are classified as management.


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## GCTony (Oct 26, 2012)

sportsturfone said:


> Haha! That's so true. My brother is a roofing contractor and his liability premiums are through the roof! (pun intended)


Why are GL for roofers so high? Anyone know?


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## Easy Gibson (Dec 3, 2010)

It's risk assessment. 
The higher the risk, the higher the premium.


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