What is products–completed operations coverage?

The part of CGL that responds after the work is done

A commercial general liability policy divides a contractor’s exposure into two phases. Ongoing operations coverage responds to injury or damage that happens while the work is in progress. Products–completed operations coverage responds to injury or damage that happens after the work has been completed and turned over to the owner.

For a subcontractor, completed operations is where construction-defect risk lives. A roofing sub finishes a job in the spring; two winters later, faulty work causes water intrusion that damages the interior. That later damage is a completed-operations claim, because the sub’s operations were already finished when the damage occurred.

Why completed operations matters long after the job closes

The timing is the whole point. Many construction defects are latent— they don’t reveal themselves until seasons of weather, settling, or use expose them. Claims can arrive months or years after final payment, up to the limits set by a state’s statute of repose. If the coverage that would respond to those claims has lapsed or never named the general contractor, the GC can be left holding a defect claim with no help from the sub’s carrier.

• Defect claims routinely surface after the project is closed and the crew is gone.
• The sub’s CGL must still be in force, on an occurrence basis, for its completed-operations coverage to respond.
• The GC needs to be an additional insured for completed operations, not just ongoing operations, to benefit.

Ongoing vs. completed operations additional insured: CG 20 10 and CG 20 37

This distinction trips up many contractors. Being named an additional insuredon a sub’s policy is time-specific, and the two standard endorsement forms cover different windows:

• CG 20 10 adds the GC as an additional insured for the sub’s ongoing operations—claims arising while the work is being performed.
• CG 20 37 adds the GC as an additional insured for the sub’s completed operations—claims arising after the work is finished.

Because they cover different phases, a GC who requires only CG 20 10 may have no coverage under the sub’s policy for a defect discovered post-project. This is why well-drafted contracts require bothforms— often written as “CG 20 10 and CG 20 37” or a blanket endorsement that includes both ongoing and completed operations.

Watch the aggregate and duration

Completed-operations losses draw on the policy’s products–completed operations aggregate, which is often a separate limit from the general aggregate. And because coverage must be in force when the claim occurs—not just when the work was done—GCs frequently require subs to maintain completed-operations coverage and additional insured status for a period of years after the project, matching the applicable statute of repose.

How does Wardly help?

Wardly is free COI tracking software built for general contractors. It reads each sub’s certificate of insurance, checks whether the GC is named as an additional insured for both ongoing and completed operations, watches expiration dates so completed-operations coverage doesn’t quietly lapse, and grades every certificate A–F. See how it compares to myCOI and TrustLayer on the comparison hub.

This is general information, not legal or insurance advice.