General Liability Insurancein Arizona

Not by state law for most businesses. Commercially it is close to mandatory anyway, because landlords require it for leases, clients require it in contracts, and general contractors require it before subcontractors walk on site.

The market imposes what the statute does not. In practice, businesses that go without it are turning down work whether or not they realize it.

Your own employees' injuries, which is workers' compensation and is mandatory in Arizona. Professional advice and errors, which is errors and omissions coverage. Business vehicles, which is commercial auto. And damage to your own property, which is commercial property coverage.

General liability protects against claims brought by others. It is a layer in the stack, not the stack.

The market standard is one million dollars per occurrence with a two million dollar aggregate, and those are the figures most contracts and leases specify.

Higher-risk trades and larger contracts sometimes require more. Where they do, a commercial umbrella sitting above the general liability policy is usually a cheaper route to the higher number than raising the underlying limit.

A one-page document proving your coverage is in force, showing the limits and often naming a client, landlord, or general contractor as additional insured.

As your agency we issue certificates on request, usually the same day, including the additional-insured wording a contract requires. Send us the contract language rather than guessing at it, because the wording and the actual policy endorsement have to match.

It scales with trade, revenue, and payroll. Office-based and low-risk businesses often pay surprisingly little. Contractors pay more, because their claims run larger and their exposure is on someone else's property.

A quote takes a short conversation about what the business actually does day to day, which is a different question from what your license category says.

If you go to client sites, sell a product, or have anyone at all visit your workspace, yes. Claim size does not scale down because your business is small, and a single liability claim is one of the more reliable ways for a sole operator to be forced out of business.

It is also frequently the document that lets a one-person operation bid on the work that would grow it.

The per occurrence limit is the most the policy pays for any single claim. The aggregate is the most it pays across the whole policy term, no matter how many claims there are.

On a standard one and two million structure, one large claim can use the per occurrence limit while leaving room under the aggregate. Several claims in one year, though, can exhaust the aggregate and leave you exposed before the term is even up.