Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance vs Gallagher: How Do They Compare for Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance?

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance markets lead umbrella and excess casualty as an explicit U.S. product line. Gallagher says its casualty practice places umbrella and excess liability with outside carriers as one line within a broader casualty program; these descriptions do not identify a policy-specific issuer. ^6,¹²

What Is Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance?

BHSI provides commercial and specialty insurance in the U.S., with product-specific industry lists that include healthcare, energy and technology. Online quote and application submissions are nonbinding. ^1,^2,^3,⁴

Read the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance profile

Read the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance page

What Is Gallagher?

Gallagher’s technology specialists serve startups through global enterprises, while its executive-risk team supports IPO and M&A needs; small firms seeking one simple digital quote should compare online agencies. ^7,^8,^9,^10,¹¹

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Read the Gallagher Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance page

What Is Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance?

Umbrella or excess insurance adds liability limits above the policies named in the quote after a covered claim exhausts their limits. It may fit if a contract sets higher limits; check which primary policies are listed and any gaps between them. ^13,^14,^15,^16,¹⁷

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What Are the Key Differences Between Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance and Gallagher Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance?

Capacity Reference and Program Design

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance’s guide names lead umbrella, follow-form excess, and retained-limit forms, with $10 million excess capacity for selected risks. Gallagher describes designing casualty-program structure, coverage, limits, and pricing around a client’s needs rather than listing a standard umbrella capacity figure. Buyers should treat the first as a selective guide reference and the second as a practice-level design approach, then compare written limits and attachments from the actual market. ⁵ ¹²

Policy Features and Advisory Work

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance’s umbrella/excess marketing overview lists pollution and contractor-form features. Gallagher describes casualty-practice services including meetings with finance, HR, operations, and risk teams, coverage-gap and contract-form review, plus claims and loss-control advocacy. Gallagher scopes these services across casualty lines rather than solely umbrella. A buyer can ask how its review addresses an umbrella layer while separately checking Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance’s policy-specific endorsement wording. ⁶ ¹²

What Should You Confirm in Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance and Gallagher Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance Quotes?

Ask Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance which listed form and selected-risk capacity could be quoted for the schedule. ⁵
Ask Gallagher how its casualty gap and contract review addresses the requested umbrella placement. ¹²

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance and Gallagher Review Scores

These averages can combine ratings for different products, locations, and customer groups, including approximate BBB grade conversions. Read each review for the sources, scope, and calculation.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Review Score

-/ 10

Review Score

No reviews found

The public ratings for Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance are low but thin: Trustpilot shows 2.1 out of 5 from 9 reviews and BBB shows 1 out of 5 from 6. Both mix travel and commercial customers, so we don't count them in a score.^[5]^[7]

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Gallagher Review Score

9.3/ 10

Review Score

3 rated sources

Gallagher has strong Trustpilot feedback and a favorable historical large-commercial survey result. Neither directly measures today’s US small-business service.^[2]^[4]^[6]

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Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance vs Gallagher Umbrella and Excess Liability Compared

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance vs Gallagher: Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance: documented features by provider

Criteria	Lead umbrella and excess casualty	Gallagher Umbrella/Excess Liability Insurance
Role in This Line	Confirm in your quote.	Gallagher's Casualty practice places umbrella and excess liability coverage with outside carriers as one line within a broader casualty program; it does not underwrite the policy. ¹²Company-reported. Group-level casualty practice page.
Issuing Insurer	Confirm in your quote.	The casualty practice page does not name the insurer that would issue a given client's umbrella or excess policy. ¹²Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level casualty practice page.
Who It’s For	BHSI lists manufacturers/distributors, real estate, grocery, financial institutions, construction, energy and trucking as umbrella/excess targets. ⁶Company-reported. BHSI US lead umbrella/excess casualty targets. Material limitation: Targets remain subject to restrictions and underwriting appetite.	The casualty practice page does not name a target industry, size or minimum premium for umbrella/excess placements; it describes the practice generally as serving clients with a broader casualty program. ¹²Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level casualty practice page on 2026-09-23.
Coverage Features	BHSI markets lead umbrella and excess casualty as an explicit product line and lists pollution/contractor-form features. ⁶Company-reported. US commercial casualty placements. Material limitation: Marketing overview; the manuscript and broker-specific forms require underwriting.	Gallagher groups umbrella/excess liability with automobile liability, workers' compensation and general/product liability under its casualty practice, offering "customized excess casualty program design and placement" and non-traditional alternative risk programs, but does not describe specific attachment points, exclusions or triggers. ¹²Company-reported. Group-level casualty practice page; a service description, not a specific policy's insuring agreement.
Limits and Retentions	The appetite guide lists lead umbrella, follow-form excess and retained-limit forms, with $10 million excess capacity and more for selected risks. ⁵Company-reported. Select risks in the guide’s US casualty appetite. Material limitation: Capacity is not a quote or universally available layer; “more” is risk-selective.	The casualty practice page does not publish specific umbrella/excess limits, attachment points or premium ranges; it says program structure, coverage, limits and pricing are designed to fit the client's current and future needs. ¹²Not publicly disclosed. Checked the group-level casualty practice page.
Risk Services	Confirm in your quote.	Gallagher describes pre-renewal meetings with a client's finance, HR, operations and risk-management stakeholders, a gap analysis and contract/form review to close coverage gaps between policies, and a dedicated claims and loss-control advocacy group that reviews legacy loss information to build claim-mitigation and loss-prevention programs. ¹²Company-reported. Group-level casualty practice page; described at the practice level across all casualty lines, not exclusively for umbrella/excess.

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Sources for Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance vs Gallagher

Sources About Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance

At A Glance. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; United States section, zero-based PDF pages 49–53 (viewer pages 50–54): product/industry lists on pages 49–50; U.S. disclosure/version footer on page 53 is 2026-8-03 A. The 2026-09-14 A footer is on preceding European page 48, not the U.S. section. Accessed 2026-09-29.
About Us. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; About BHSI; company profile page re-opened through official site on 2026-09-28; company says it is part of National Indemnity group. Accessed 2026-09-28.
Terms of Service. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; Important Information Concerning Use of this Web Site, paragraphs 2–4; nonbinding submissions, contracted-agent authority, state variation, product availability and policy-specific terms. Accessed 2026-09-28.
Public Disclosure — Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Singapore Branch. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; Singapore branch public disclosure, Company Profile ¶¶ 1–2; direct page opened 2026-09-28. ¶ 1 identifies BHSIC as a Nebraska-domiciled direct P&C insurer; ¶ 2 states BHSIC is wholly owned by National Indemnity Company, itself wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated. Accessed 2026-09-28.
Casualty Appetite Guide - U.S. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; Casualty appetite PDF page 1: $50K minimum premium, GL/products/lead umbrella/excess lines, selected $10M excess capacity, placement forms and target/avoided classes; guide dated 2026-07-15. Accessed 2026-09-28.
Casualty. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance; US casualty product lines and features: Primary General Liability lines 10-34; Primary Products/Completed Operations Liability 35-44; Lead Umbrella and Excess Casualty 46-63. Accessed 2026-09-28.

Sources About Gallagher

Technology Insurance. Gallagher; Introduction; Solutions and coverages for the technology industry: Technology errors and omissions including cyber, Intellectual property insurance, Product liability, Employee benefits; Data-driven insights; global network. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Insurance for Technology & IT Businesses. Gallagher Small Business; Protection for IT Professionals & Their Technology-Based Businesses; recommended coverage menu, including Surety Bond Programs; Connect With An Advisor. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Executive and Financial Risk Insurance. Gallagher; Opening (insurance broking and placement); three key services; Directors and Officers; IPO and direct listings; Employment Practices; Fiduciary; Employee Dishonesty (Crime) and Fidelity Bond; Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion; M&A Transactional Insurance. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Legal Information. Gallagher Small Business; Producer identification immediately above Quick Links. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Woodruff Sawyer Is Now Gallagher. Gallagher; Opening; Executive and Financial Risk consulting; Continued access to client portals; contact form. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Casualty Insurance. Gallagher; Holistic approach for better insurance and risk management in casualty: Automobile Liability, Workers Compensation, General/Product Liability, Umbrella/Excess Liability and alternative forms of risk transfer; Robust casualty risk analysis process; Casualty Practice Summary. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Sources for the Umbrella and Excess Liability Insurance Guide

Liability Insurance. Insurance Information Institute; Heading Umbrella Liability Insurance; sentence Umbrella Liability—also known as Excess Liability Insurance; underlying policies listed with limits; typically GL, auto and employers’ liability; starts when a covered loss exhausts the primary per occurrence limit; Most umbrella policies exclude EPL, professional liability, product recall, workers compensation, asbestos, pollution, war and terrorism. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Commercial Insurance Guide. California Department of Insurance; Commercial Umbrella; excess over a basic liability policy; auto/CGL/WC or any liability policy can be covered; may respond if basic policy not in force or for gaps; SIR when no underlying. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Lines of Insurance. California Department of Insurance; Umbrella or Excess Liability Policy: excess limits over existing liability; may provide additional coverages not provided by underlying policies. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Coverage Hub. Coverdash; Excess & Specialty: Umbrella; Excess Liability. Accessed 2026-09-16.
Products. Kinro; 09 Umbrella/Excess: additional limits above scheduled underlying policies; when to review; reviewed with. Accessed 2026-09-16.