Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Ira Gammerman, J.), entered May 15, 2001, which, in this action for a declaration that defendant insurers are obligated to pay defense costs and indemnify plaintiff in connection with claims raised in an arbitration proceeding, inter alia, declared in various defendants’ favor and granted defendants’ motions pursuant to CPLR 3211 or 3212 to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed, with costs.
The policy exclusions relied upon by the primary insurers were applicable and excused the insurers from defending and indemnifying in the underlying arbitration proceeding. The damages to waterproofing, caulking and expansion joint work were said to be caused by the “volumetric expansion and contraction” of concrete components installed by plaintiff Blakeslee, and were thus attributable to an operation performed by a “subcontractor working directly or indirectly on [plaintiff general contractor Pavarini’s] behalf’ and, as such, excluded from coverage pursuant to exclusion j (5) of the
Finally, Pavarini’s contention that its client’s damages arose from “continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same harmful conditions” and thus resulted from an “occurrence” not within the scope of the cited exclusions, must be rejected. The claim of Pavarini’s client in the arbitration was essentially for breach of contract and, as we have observed, a contract default under a construction contract is not to be equated with an “accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions” under the subject policies (see George A. Fuller Co. v United States Fid. & Guar. Co., 200 AD2d 255, 259-260 [1994], lv denied 84 NY2d 806 [1994]).
We have considered plaintiffs’ remaining contentions and find them unavailing. Concur — Nardelli, J.P., Andrias, Sullivan, Rosenberger and Wallach, JJ.