In Understanding Completed Operations Coverage Needs in Construction, we introduced a hypothetical concrete company. This growing trade contractor faced a coverage gap five years after pouring foundations for a Texas condo complex. Their new carrier denied the claim due to a condo exclusion, and their prior coverage had expired. The question this article will answer is: What should they have done differently? More importantly, what can retail agents do to prevent this scenario from playing out with their own clients?
UNDERSTANDING COVERAGE TRIGGERS + TIMING
After working with a variety of different trade contractors, we’ve identified three common mistakes that repeatedly create coverage gaps. The good news? All three are preventable with proper communication and documentation.
- Switching Carriers Without Full Disclosure
Obtaining coverage with a new carrier is the most common culprit, and it’s usually driven by price pressure. A contractor may receive a renewal with a 15-20% increase, or greater, in a challenging venue. It’s not uncommon for the retail agent to market the risk in favor of finding a cheaper option. Once secured, everyone celebrates the savings. What no one discusses, or may not even be aware of, is that the new policy excludes condo work, townhomes, or tract housing that the contractor performed three years ago.
While nuances of coverage always exist, in most circumstances the contractor assumes their prior policies cover their older work. The prior carrier assumes they’re off the hook once the policy expires. The new carrier has no idea the older work exists because nobody told them about it.
This isn’t malicious. It’s just human nature. When reviewing a renewal application or switching carriers, the primary focus is on current and upcoming work. Jobs from three, four, or five years ago? Those feel like ancient history. But in a state with a 10-year statute of repose, work from five years ago is only halfway through its exposure period.
The Fix: Before any carrier transition, agents must review completed job lists for the prior 6-10 years (depending on the state) and explicitly disclose any condo, townhome, tract, or multi-unit residential work. At a minimum, an insured needs to understand that they have the option to continuously renew the same or substantially similar terms, even if they ultimately elect a cheaper option. That decision should be informed, not accidental. - Incomplete Job Lists
Ask a trade contractor for a list of their projects, and you’ll typically receive their current backlog along with a list of last year’s completed work. You generally will not receive information about the condo conversion completed in 2019, the townhome project in 2020, or the tract housing development in 2021. 
Why? Because contractors don’t usually think in terms of insurance exposure periods. They think in terms of revenue cycles. Once a job is complete and paid, it’s mentally filed away, and they move on to the next. However, missing or incomplete details about older projects can prevent underwriters from accurately evaluating exposures. And more critically, it prevents agents and their wholesale partners from identifying potential gaps in coverage continuity.
The Fix: In challenging construction defect venues, asking for completed job lists going back through the statute of repose should be standard practice for any trade contractor account. At a minimum, it should be asked whether certain types of work were performed in the past. Yes, this requires more work up front. Yes, contractors may push back. But these are the questions that solidify you as a trusted advisor. - Staff Turnover + Institutional Memory Loss
A contractor’s project manager retires. The original agent moves to a different agency. The contractor has a new risk manager who wants to “review” the insurance program to save money. It’s easy to see how, over time, institutional knowledge about past projects evaporates.
Five years later, when a condo claim surfaces, nobody at the contractor’s office remembers the specific contract requirements, insurance stipulations, or coverage discussions from that time. The current staff inherited the business but not the context.
This is especially problematic for smaller contractors without dedicated risk management staff. One or two key people may hold all the historical knowledge, and when they leave, that knowledge walks out the door with them.
The Fix: Document everything. Agents should maintain their own records of completed projects, especially high-risk work types like condo, townhome, tract, and mixed-use developments. Don’t rely on the contractor to remember what they completed five years ago. Be proactive, and you’ll help avoid future headaches. Additionally, when there is staff turnover within a contractor’s team or the retail agent’s team, it’s important to treat the change as a trigger to review historical exposures. A new contact is an opportunity to reestablish the whole picture rather than continue on autopilot.
UNDERSTANDING COVERAGE TRIGGERS + TIMING
Understanding when a construction defect loss legally “occurs” is one of the most confusing aspects of completed operations coverage. Different courts and jurisdictions treat timing differently, and defects often develop slowly. Sometimes damage begins during construction. Sometimes it begins years later, and other times it isn’t discovered until long after the work is complete.
The specific trigger varies by jurisdiction, but the practical takeaway is simple. If a contractor lets completed operations coverage lapse at any point during the statute of repose, they risk having no carrier to cover a claim when the loss is ultimately tied to their work. That means the contractor risks claim denial, out-of-pocket legal fees, and ensuing breach-of-contract claims. Whether the damage started five years ago or was discovered last month, a break in continuity can leave the contractor unprotected.
Continuous completed operations coverage for the work the contractor performs ensures that at least one policy remains active throughout the exposure period, regardless of how the courts interpret the timing. Without that continuity, even technically defensible claims can be denied before they ever reach the merit discussion.
THE AGENT’S OPPORTUNITY: A PROACTIVE CHECKLIST
Retail agents play a crucial role in identifying coverage vulnerabilities before they become disasters. Below is a proactive checklist that can help ensure your clients maintain coverage:
- Know the statutes. Understand the statute of repose in each state where your clients work. If your client works in multiple states, you need to know all the relevant timeframes.
- Maintain detailed job lists. Collect completed job information going back through the statute of repose. Organize the information by project type, completion date, and residential exposure. If the client rarely constructs condos or townhomes, document the few times they did.
- Ask about WRAP participation. Ask if the client joined any wrap-up (OCIP/CCIP) programs, confirm how completed operations were handled, and identify projects that already carry dedicated coverage.
- Verify contractual obligations. Review general contractor agreements for actual insurance requirements. Don’t assume the typical GL “contractor forms” automatically satisfy every contract.
- Confirm continuous coverage. Before any carrier transition, verify that completed operations coverage for all prior work will remain in place. If moving to a carrier that excludes certain work types, the contractor needs to understand precisely which prior exposures will be left unprotected.
- Budget for extended coverage where needed. Educate clients on long-tail exposure before they bid on high-risk residential work. Help them price appropriate insurance into their proposals rather than discovering the cost after the contract is signed.
MARKETPLACE REALITIES
Here’s the hard truth: despite an influx of new capacity in the construction market, the appetite for new construction of tract homes, condos, and townhomes remains limited.
Most construction carriers exclude these project types entirely. Others price coverage at a steep premium, manage capacity tightly, and introduce complicated, inconsistent, language surrounding the number of units included and the size of the development in question.
Trade contractors that rely solely on practice policies often find fewer carrier options and higher base rates when condo or townhouse work is added to their portfolio. Smaller trades generating under $10 million in annual revenue feel this pressure most acutely, in part because they lack familiarity with OCIP/CCIP’s, project-specific placements, or budgeting for these specialized coverage options.
These are not always quick and straightforward problems to address, but the retailers who prevent or step in to cure these issues will gain long-term clients based on trust (not price).
THE TOUGH CONVERSATION YOU NEED TO HAVE
Diligent agents and brokers don’t shy away from difficult conversations upfront: they reframe the narrative because these details matter.
Before you reach out for a quote, have the conversation about completed operations. Walk through the completed job list, identify high-risk work types, review the statute of repose timeline, and explain what a coverage gap would mean for your client’s business. These discussions may feel like extra steps, but they are precisely what signal to clients that you are a true advisor who understands their risks and is committed to protecting them.
BOTTOM LINE
Completed operations coverage gaps don’t happen because contractors are careless. They happen when carrier transitions, incomplete job histories, or lapses in continuity go unaddressed during the statute of repose. Even a minor oversight can leave years of prior work uninsured.
Proactive planning is critical. Partner with your CRC Specialty Producer early to review job histories, evaluate carrier transitions, and structure coverage that protects your clients long after the project is complete. Reach out today.
CONTRIBUTORS
- Ryan Levy is a Senior Broker with Team RTP in CRC Specialty’s Dallas, TX office.
- Matt Herzog and John Davis are Brokers with Team RTP in CRC Specialty’s Dallas, TX office.