“Your Work” Exclusion
under CGL Form

Q

A contractor was hired to power wash a house. In doing so, the exterior of the house was damaged. The commercial general liability carrier denied coverage because of the “your work” exclusions. I don't agree. I believe that the resulting damage to the house should be covered and only the cost of re-doing the power wash should be excluded. Can you clarify this for me?

New York Subscriber

A

There is no coverage under the ISO CGL policy for damage to the building that was caused by the power washing. Exclusions j.(5) and j.(6) apply to the loss. Exclusion j.(5) voids coverage for property damage to particular parts of real property on which work is being done if the damage arises out of those operations. Exclusion j.(6) excludes coverage for the particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired, or replaced because “your work” was incorrectly performed on it.

The work (power washing) being performed damaged the building. There is no separation between the damage and the power washing. This appears to be a classic case of faulty workmanship, which the CGL is not designed to cover. However, if the building were to collapse after the work had been completed and turned over to the owner, exclusions j.(5) and (6) would not apply if, say, the building collapsed because it was structurally damaged by the power sprayer. Since the work would have been completed in this second example, it would fall under the products/completed operations liability section. In this situation, the value of the power spraying job wouldn't be covered, but the resulting collapse would be.

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