Why is product-completed operations necessary?
Product-completed operations insurance is crucial for your business’s protection, even after you’ve finished a project or sold a product. While it might seem like your responsibility ends once the project is done or the product is in the hands of the customer, the reality is quite different. Your business could still face damage from potential legal and financial issues, including:
- Medical expenses
- Repair or replacement costs
- Legal fees
For example, a customer may discover a product defect or get an injury related to your product or service years down the line. Your business remains susceptible to claims and lawsuits, sometimes for years to come. This extended liability period could extend well beyond your expectations, with some statutes of limitations lasting for 10 years or more.
That’s why products-completed insurance is a critical safeguard for your business — to shield you from unforeseen challenges.
Products-completed operations vs. product liability: What’s the difference?
Products-completed operations insurance and product liability insurance are related concepts but cover different aspects of business insurance:
- Products completed operations cover both products and completed services, so it can help provide coverage for incidents that have left the control of your business.
- Product liability insurance focuses exclusively on incidents that happen while the product is in your or your customers’ possession.
For example, your construction business builds a new house for a client. Months after you’ve completed the house and the client has moved in, a structural fault in the foundation causes the house to sink.
Products-completed operations comes into play here to help you cover repair costs because it’s related to the work you completed (the construction) even though it happened after you finished the project and handed it over to the client.
In comparison, say your hardware store sells an electric heater to a customer and because of some faulty wiring, it catches fire and damages a customer’s property. Here, product liability insurance can help you cover repair costs and other damages because the product was in the customer’s possession when it malfunctioned.
How NEXT protects your small business and products
At NEXT, we’re 100% committed to small business owners and want to help you get the coverage you need for your business and its offerings.
That’s why we offer customized business insurance that fits your needs. Simply answer a few questions online and get your tailored instant quote within 10 minutes. Once you’ve bought coverage, you have immediate access to your certificate of insurance.
Start a free instant quote today.
