Commercial Insurance Coverages
We Place in New York

What it covers

General liability is the policy every GC, landlord and managing agent in New York will ask you for — whether you are the contractor on the job or the owner of the building. It answers third-party bodily injury, property damage, personal and advertising injury, and completed operations.

What NYC does differently

Two New York statutes do what generic GL copy never mentions. Labor Law 240 imposes absolute liability for gravity-related injuries to workers — fault is not a defense — and Admin Code 7-210 makes building owners responsible for the sidewalk, not the city. Cheap policies routinely exclude Action Over, height work, or both.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

Action Over, Labor Law 240/241, height or elevation limits, residential or habitational work, and prior-work completed-operations carve-outs are the ones that void the claim New York is most likely to produce. We read those before we place the policy.

Coverage includes

• ✓Bodily injury coverage
• ✓Property damage protection
• ✓Personal and advertising injury
• ✓Products and completed operations
• ✓Medical payments coverage
• ✓Defense costs

What it covers

Workers compensation pays medical costs and wage replacement when an employee is hurt on the job, and it includes employers liability for related suits. In New York it is mandatory for nearly every employer, including part-time building staff and many officers who assume they can opt out.

What NYC does differently

New York runs a state fund (NYSIF) alongside the voluntary market. NYSIF is a reliable backstop, but many employers do better in the voluntary market once their loss history and class codes are clean. Your experience modification factor is calculated on roughly a three-year window of losses versus expected — a single serious claim can raise premiums for years after the invoice for that claim is paid.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

Misclassified payroll, unpaid subcontractors treated as employees by the Board, and officers who thought they were excluded are the usual failures. If a 1099 worker is reclassified after an injury, you can owe benefits and penalties with no policy responding the way you expected.

Coverage includes

• ✓Medical expense coverage
• ✓Lost wage replacement
• ✓Disability benefits
• ✓Death benefits
• ✓Employer liability protection

What it covers

Commercial auto covers liability, physical damage, and related exposures for vehicles used in the business — from a single van to a full fleet. It is built for vehicles titled or regularly operated for commercial purposes, not for occasional personal-car errands.

What NYC does differently

In New York, the gap most operators miss is hired and non-owned auto (HNOA). If an employee drives their own car to a showing, a supply run, or a site visit and causes an accident, your commercial auto policy on the company truck usually does not respond. HNOA is the endorsement that protects the business for that exact exposure — and it is the scenario your own clients ask about most often.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

Personal vehicles used for business without HNOA, rented vehicles without hired-auto coverage, and drivers never scheduled or disclosed are the common holes. A clean fleet policy can still leave the entity exposed the moment someone uses a personal car for work.

Coverage includes

• ✓Liability coverage
• ✓Collision and comprehensive
• ✓Uninsured motorist protection
• ✓Medical payments coverage
• ✓Hired and non-owned auto coverage

What it covers

Builders risk covers the structure and materials while a project is under construction — fire, theft, vandalism, weather, and other physical loss depending on the form. It is temporary property insurance for the period between groundbreaking and substantial completion.

What NYC does differently

In New York renovations and new builds, soft costs and delay-in-completion coverage are routinely under-bought. Hard costs (materials and labor in place) get quoted carefully; interest, extended general conditions, architects' fees, and lost rental income after a delay often sit outside the basic form unless you add them. On a brownstone gut reno or a mid-rise schedule, that soft-cost gap is where the real money lives.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

Assume soft costs, delay in completion, and existing-structure renovation limits need a hard look. Flood, theft from unlocked sites, and faulty-workmanship carve-outs also catch owners who bought the cheapest binder the GC handed them.

Coverage includes

• ✓Building materials coverage
• ✓Equipment on-site protection
• ✓Soft costs coverage
• ✓Transit coverage
• ✓Extended coverage options

What it covers

An equipment floater (inland marine) covers tools, machinery, and contractors' equipment that move between shops, trucks, storage, and jobsites. Commercial property at a fixed address usually will not follow that gear once it leaves the premises.

What NYC does differently

The New York contractor gap is less about whether you have a floater and more about where the form actually applies: on the jobsite, in transit, and in storage. Theft from open NYC sites is common; so is loss from a van overnight or from a rented storage unit that was never scheduled. Coverage that is strong at the shop can be thin the moment equipment sits on a sidewalk staging area.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

Unattended vehicle theft limitations, unscheduled high-value items, employee dishonesty, and storage locations not listed on the policy are the usual misses. If your schedule still lists last year's inventory, the claim will be adjusted to last year's inventory.

Coverage includes

• ✓Portable tool coverage
• ✓Equipment in transit protection
• ✓Jobsite equipment coverage
• ✓Replacement cost coverage
• ✓Theft and vandalism protection

What it covers

OCP is a policy an owner or general contractor buys for themselves. It covers third-party injury and property damage claims arising from one named contractor's work, plus defense costs, and it sits apart from that contractor's own insurance.

What NYC does differently

New York Labor Law can put liability for certain construction injuries on the owner and GC directly, even when they did nothing wrong. Additional insured status on the contractor's GL is borrowed coverage. OCP is a policy you own, so it stays in force even if the contractor's coverage lapses.

What gets excluded that shouldn't

OCP does not cover the contractor's employees, damage to the project itself, or the contractor's liability for their own operations. The usual mistakes are treating additional insured status as the same thing as OCP, buying it for the wrong contractor relationship, and assuming it covers the building.

Coverage includes

• ✓Third-party bodily injury and property damage claims arising from a named contractor's work
• ✓Liability that lands on you directly as the owner or GC
• ✓Defense costs for claims tied to the contracted work
• ✓Coverage written around one contract and one scope of work
• ✓Protection independent of the contractor's own policy