Moon Insurance Managers, Inc.
Menu
Tel. (281) 484-8320

Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595

General Liability Insurance in Houston, TX

Somebody asked you for proof of liability insurance — a landlord before the lease, a client before the contract, a platform before the listing. This is the policy they mean. Here is what it covers, what it famously does not, and how to get the certificate they asked for without a week of phone tag.

Get free quote
  • 41years in Houston
  • 20+markets compared
  • Same dayDPS filing
  • #5595TDI license

Four things

What general liability covers

Someone else is hurt Bodily injury
The customer who slips in your shop, the visitor who trips in your office — injury to people who are not employees, on your premises or arising from your operations.
Someone else’s property is damaged Property damage
The client’s floor your equipment scratched, the borrowed projector that came back broken. Property that is not yours, damaged by your business.
Personal and advertising injury The narrow version
Claims like libel, slander, or using someone else’s advertising idea. It is a short list of specific offenses rather than a general shield for anything said online, and the difference matters the first time somebody threatens to sue over a review.
Defense Often the biggest bill
For covered claims the policy pays to defend the business — frequently the largest cost a liability claim generates, win or lose.

The policy also follows what you sell and what you finish: the product that fails after purchase, the completed work that causes damage later. For most main-street businesses that is a built-in part of the policy, worth understanding at exactly this depth. A business whose whole exposure is the product has deeper questions than a page like this should pretend to answer — that is product liability insurance, and it starts by working out whether the coverage is already sitting inside this policy. Serving alcohol is its own liability entirely, and its own page in time.

The gaps that cost money

The four things it famously doesn’t cover

This section exists because these four assumptions cause real gaps:

  1. Your employees’ injuries. That is the workers’ compensation question, and in Texas it is a genuinely interesting one, because the coverage is optional for most private employers. The full story is on our workers’ compensation insurance page.
  2. Your professional advice. Bad advice, missed deadlines, errors in the work product — that is professional liability, sold as errors and omissions. A separate policy, and a separate page.
  3. Your own property. The building, the contents and the stock are commercial property insurance’s job.
  4. Your vehicles at work. The van, the truck, the employee driving to a client — that is commercial auto insurance.

Where the requirement comes from

Why your lease got there before the law did

Texas law does not make an ordinary business carry general liability. Your paperwork does. Commercial leases require it and set the limits. Client master-service agreements require it. Vendor onboarding portals will not clear you without it. The most common ask is $1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate on a certificate, often with additional-insured wording for the landlord or the client.

So the practical question is not “am I required to have this?” It is “what does this clause require, exactly?” Bring the lease or the contract; reading the insurance clause with you is part of the quote, not an upsell.

Working on other people’s property for a living? Your version of this page is contractors general liability, where the certificate mechanics get their full treatment.

Have these ready

What a quote actually needs

This policy is rated on what the business does and how much of it you do, so the questions are short:

  • What the business is. The class of business does most of the work in the rating, which is why “we are a shop” and “we are a shop with a workshop out back” get different answers.
  • Annual revenue, and payroll if you have employees.
  • The premises — your own building, a leased suite, a shared space, or your house.
  • Whether anyone works on other people’s property, and how often.
  • Claims history, if there is one. Say it up front — it is better discussed than discovered, and a claim in the file is an ordinary fact about an ordinary business.
  • The contract or lease clause that started this, if one did.

That is usually a single call. Nothing on that list requires a driver license number or any other sensitive detail — this site never collects those.

One policy or two

When it comes bundled

For many smaller businesses the market’s answer is a business owner’s policy (BOP) — this coverage and commercial property in one policy, usually with business income included. Whether your business qualifies is a carrier-appetite question we can answer on one call, and eligibility rather than price is what decides it.

Above every liability limit sits the umbrella question — and it usually arrives as a contract asking for more total limit than this policy carries. Commercial umbrella is its own subject: it adds limits above the policies underneath, over a schedule that has to include this one to reach it.

No obligation

Get the certificate they asked for

Tell us what the business does and what the clause demands. We quote the policy, and the certificate goes where it needs to go. The phone is fastest: (281) 484-8320, or use the form below.

Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034. Policies written statewide — you do not have to be local.

Keep this to the basics — no contracts, loss runs, employee names, or incident details. Those come later, on the phone or through a secure route we will name.

Liability questions we get every week

What does general liability insurance cover?

Third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, and personal and advertising injury, plus defense costs for covered claims. It does not cover employee injuries, professional errors, your own property, or business vehicles — each of those is its own policy.

Is general liability required by law in Texas?

Generally no statute requires it of an ordinary business. Leases, client contracts and vendor agreements require it constantly, which is why almost every business ends up carrying it anyway. The practical question is not whether the law demands it but what your paperwork demands.

How much general liability do I need?

Start with what your contracts demand — most commonly $1,000,000 per occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate — then consider what you are actually protecting. The honest answer is a short conversation about your situation rather than a chart.

Does it cover my home-based business?

Do not assume so, and do not assume your homeowners policy does either — homeowners forms carry strict limits on business property and business liability. Tell us what you run from the house and we will tell you which policy the exposure belongs on.

What is a certificate of insurance?

The document that proves your coverage to a landlord or a client — carrier, limits, dates. It evidences the policy; it does not create or change coverage. Ours come from the certificate of insurance request desk.

Related