Home Watch Insurance
What Every Home Watch Professional Needs to Know About Insurance
Understanding Your Coverage: General Liability vs. Professional Liability These two types of insurance protect your business in different ways — and most home watch professionals need both.
- General Liability Insurance: Covers third-party claims involving bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury that occur because of your business operations. For example, if a client trips over your equipment during a home visit and is injured, or if you accidentally damage a client’s property while on-site, general liability will respond to that claim.
- Professional Liability Insurance (Errors & Omissions / E&O): Covers claims arising from the professional services you provide — specifically, mistakes, oversights, or failures to perform your duties. For example, if you failed to notice a water leak during a scheduled check and the client suffers significant damage as a result, they could allege negligence in the performance of your professional duties. This is where E&O coverage steps in. In short: General Liability protects against physical accidents and property damage. Professional Liability protects against claims that you didn’t do your job correctly.
Occurrence vs. Claims-Made Policy
- Occurrence Policy: Provides coverage indefinitely for any incident that occurs during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is filed.
- Claims-Made Policy: Covers only claims filed during the active policy period. Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance typically falls under this type. Two important considerations:
- Retroactive Date: Ensure your policy’s retroactive date aligns with the date you started your business to avoid gaps in coverage.
- Tail Insurance: If you sell or close your business, you will need to purchase Extended Reporting Period (ERP) insurance — also known as “tail coverage” — to maintain protection for incidents that occurred while you were operating.
- Single Carrier for General and Professional Liability: Whenever possible, place both General Liability and Professional Liability coverage with the same insurance carrier. This simplifies your coverage and helps prevent disputes between insurers over which policy responds to a claim. When reviewing policy limits, keep these two terms in mind.
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