Products-Completed Operations Aggregate

The products-completed operations aggregate is the maximum a CGL insurer will pay during the policy period for covered damages assigned to the products-completed operations hazard, subject to the policy’s limit rules. It is separate from the general aggregate in standard CGL structure. The limit applies across qualifying claims during the policy term, not once per product, claimant, lawsuit, or occurrence. The declarations, definitions, endorsements, and applicable policy edition determine how claims are assigned and whether a different structure applies.

This aggregate is a limit, not a separate policy and not a promise that every post-sale or post-completion claim is covered. Each claim must satisfy the Coverage A grant and the products-completed operations definition, occurrence trigger, insured status, and exclusions. A claim can fall within the hazard but still be excluded, while the aggregate can be partly or fully eroded by earlier covered payments.

How CGL limits fit together

A standard CGL declarations page may show an Each Occurrence limit, a General Aggregate limit, a Products-Completed Operations Aggregate, a Personal and Advertising Injury limit, and a Medical Expense limit. The Each Occurrence limit generally caps covered damages from a single occurrence. The products-completed operations aggregate caps the total paid under the products-completed operations hazard for all applicable occurrences during the policy period. The general aggregate generally applies to other Coverage A and C payments, subject to form language.

For example, a business has a $1 million Each Occurrence limit, a $2 million General Aggregate, and a $2 million Products-Completed Operations Aggregate. Three different customers suffer covered injuries from the same completed product during the year. Each claim may be subject to the per-occurrence limit, and all qualifying products claims together draw from the products-completed operations aggregate. The limit is not automatically refreshed for each customer or each lawsuit.

Limits can be changed by endorsements, project endorsements, or special sublimits. A products-completed operations aggregate may be written per policy period, per project, per location, or in another structure if the form allows and an endorsement says so. A certificate may list limits but cannot alter them. Verify the policy and endorsements, especially when a contract asks for a separate aggregate for each project or named insured.

Which claims go to this aggregate?

Products hazard generally involves bodily injury or property damage occurring away from premises the insured owns or rents and arising out of the insured’s product. Completed-operations hazard generally involves injury or damage away from those premises arising out of the insured’s completed work. The policy defines the relevant terms, including “your product,” “your work,” “products-completed operations hazard,” and “completed.”

A product is not automatically in the products hazard simply because it was sold. Ask whether the injury or damage arose out of that product and whether it occurred away from insured premises. A contractor’s work is not completed solely because the crew left for lunch or the business invoiced the customer; the form’s completion tests and facts control. Conversely, a warranty visit after completion does not always mean the original operation remained incomplete.

The injury or damage date may control under an occurrence policy. A product sold in one policy year can cause physical damage in a later year, and the later occurrence may involve a different policy period and aggregate, subject to related-claims and causation rules. Multiple injuries over time can raise questions about how many occurrences exist and which period is triggered. Do not allocate solely based on sale date or lawsuit filing date.

How payments erode the aggregate

Covered judgments and settlements can reduce the products-completed operations aggregate. Defense costs are treated according to the policy; standard CGL supplementary payments may be outside liability limits, but defense costs under a given form and endorsements must be checked. If an aggregate is exhausted, later covered products-completed operations claims may have no remaining limit under that policy period. A new renewal policy generally has new limits for its own period, but it does not retroactively restore exhausted prior-year coverage.

A limit ledger helps a company understand the remaining tower: starting aggregate, covered indemnity payments, any covered payments charged to limits, remaining balance, applicable per-occurrence cap, and policy period. Ask the insurer for current erosion information after major settlements. A certificate or declarations page only states the original limit, not the remaining available aggregate after claims.

Suppose a manufacturer starts the year with a $2 million products-completed operations aggregate. A covered fire caused by a defective appliance produces a $1.3 million settlement, and another covered bodily-injury claim later settles for $900,000. If both payments apply to this aggregate and no endorsement changes the accounting, the first payment leaves $700,000. The second claim may receive no more than the remaining aggregate and could be limited further by the Each Occurrence amount, retention, exclusions, or allocation.

A single catastrophic event can also implicate both the per-occurrence limit and the aggregate. The Each Occurrence limit caps the amount payable for that one occurrence, while the aggregate caps total payments for the hazard across the period. If a $3 million loss arises from one occurrence but the Each Occurrence limit is $1 million, a $5 million aggregate does not create a $3 million per-loss limit. Both limits apply.

Products aggregate vs. general aggregate

The General Aggregate and Products-Completed Operations Aggregate address different claim categories. A customer’s fall on an insured’s premises may be a premises-and-operations claim that uses the general aggregate, while a consumer injury from a product away from the insured’s premises may be in the products-completed operations hazard. The same company can face claims from both categories in one year. The policy’s definitions and the facts classify each claim.

Some commercial contracts require a general aggregate per project because construction sites can produce multiple premises or operations claims. That requirement is different from a separate products-completed operations aggregate for each project. The policy may offer an endorsement for one or both, or may not. Read the specific contract wording; “aggregate” without its category is incomplete.

The existence of a separate products aggregate can be especially important for manufacturers, contractors, distributors, and businesses with long-tail products. A product may remain in use after the policy expires, while the injury occurs years after sale. The limit available depends on the policy period that responds and the aggregate then available, not necessarily the policy active when the item was manufactured.

Multiple policies and annual towers

A business may buy a primary CGL layer and excess or umbrella policies. Excess policies may attach above the primary products-completed operations aggregate, but attachment, exhaustion, follow-form provisions, and excess-only exclusions differ. If the primary aggregate is shared or eroded, the excess policy’s attachment may require exhaustion in a specific way. Review the schedule of underlying insurance and confirm that the excess layer provides the intended limit for completed operations.

Renewing a policy with a different carrier can raise prior-products, retroactive-date, or prior-known-loss issues. An occurrence form may respond to bodily injury or property damage during its term even if the product was sold earlier, subject to terms. Claims-made excess or specialized product-liability policies can use a different trigger. Coverage across multiple years may require insurer notice and allocation. Keep product and incident records over the useful life of the product.

If the business acquires another company or product line, check whether its products and operations are covered by the policy and whether aggregates are shared. A newly acquired subsidiary may not automatically have the intended limit. The acquisition date, sale of products, representations, and known claims can affect underwriting and coverage. Notify carriers and update schedules or endorsements as required.

Products aggregate and completed-work examples

One product injures several people

A batch of space heaters has a wiring defect, and separate fires injure users at different homes. Determine the number of occurrences under the policy and applicable law; the answer can depend on causal commonality and form wording. Each occurrence limit may apply per occurrence, while the products aggregate limits total hazard payments. Do not automatically treat every heater or every claimant as a separate occurrence.

Completed roof work causes water damage

A contractor’s completed roof repair fails during a storm and damages the homeowner’s ceiling and furniture. The claim may involve completed-operations classification and the products-completed operations aggregate. The “your work” exclusion, subcontractor exception, storm causation, and property-damage definition still apply. The aggregate is not paid simply because the roof work was complete.

Customer loses use of an undamaged system

A customer’s production line is idle because installed software or equipment fails, but no physical damage occurs. The claim may involve loss of use or economic loss and could encounter the impaired-property exclusion or a technology exclusion. Even if the claim is classified as arising from completed operations, it must first satisfy the grant and survive exclusions before any aggregate is implicated.

Claims arise after a policy renewal

A product sold under an earlier policy causes bodily injury after renewal. The occurrence date, products-completed operations definition, policy period, known-loss facts, notice, and related claims wording determine which policy may respond. The prior policy may not apply simply because the product left the factory then, and the current policy may not apply if injury occurred before its effective date.

Questions to ask when placing coverage

• What exact bodily injury and property damage qualifies as products-completed operations under this form?

• What is the products-completed operations aggregate, and is it separate from the general aggregate?

• Are any project-specific, product-specific, or location-specific aggregates available by endorsement?

• Do defense payments reduce any limit, and how will aggregate erosion be reported?

• Which products, completed work, subsidiaries, and acquired operations are insured?

• How does each excess or umbrella layer attach after the underlying products aggregate is exhausted?

• What exclusions or limitations apply to recalled products, impaired property, pollution, professional services, or designated products?

• Which occurrence and reporting periods could respond to claims involving older products?

An insured should map its product lines, completed operations, policy years, and limits instead of relying on one limit number. At renewal, compare the products aggregate, general aggregate, exclusions, underlying schedule, and excess wording side by side. This is especially important when a contract specifies both a per-occurrence limit and a products-completed operations aggregate.

Common exam traps

• The products-completed operations aggregate is a total-period cap for that hazard, not a separate limit per product or lawsuit.

• The Each Occurrence limit and aggregate limit both apply; a large aggregate does not increase a smaller per-occurrence cap.

• Only claims that satisfy the insuring agreement and are classified under the hazard draw on the products aggregate.

• Defense-cost treatment must be read from the policy; do not assume all expenses either erode or sit outside limits.

• A CGL certificate does not establish aggregate erosion, a per-project aggregate, or the scope of an excess layer.

• A post-completion claim can still be excluded as damage to the insured’s own work or product.

For an exam calculation, identify the policy period, hazard category, occurrence count, per-occurrence cap, remaining aggregate, and any defense-cost treatment. Apply the smallest relevant limit after confirming coverage. Sitonce’s Texas Property and Casualty exam prep course covers CGL aggregate limits and products-completed operations.