Occasionally we receive a request to add " Broad Form Property Damage" to a General Liability policy. As with Broad Form Contractual Liability the difficulty with adding this wording is that "Broad Form Property" is no longer a defined term in the standard CGL policy. What happened is that the Commercial General Liability Form began to automatically include coverage that is equivalent to "Broad Form Property" and this coverage did not have to be added to any policy so the term is not specifically defined in GL policies which already include the equivalent to this type of coverage. The carrier therefore becomes unwilling to add this wording since it could confuse the wording of the policy.
Rather than request that Broad Form Property Damage be included in the CGL policy it really makes more sense to ensure that it has not been removed from the policy with the following exclusions:
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Exclusion—Damage to Work Performed by Subcontractors on Your Behalf (CG 22 94 or 22 95)
However there are circumstances when this coverage may still be denied because (1) is not property damage, (2) is not an occurrence, or (3) the work for which coverage is being sought violates certain legal principles that many purchasers and sellers of insurance most likely do not understand.
See this article from IRMI who are probably the most knowledgeable regarding contractors insurance. Also read this definition of Broad Form Property Damage endorsement which properly places this wording to pre-1986 policies.
Floyd SloatVenture Insurance Services
866-726-8442