Why Every Homeowner Needs a Home Inventory
What is Home Business Insurance Coverage and Why Is It Important?
It’s estimated that there are 15 million home businesses in the United States. More than 50% of startups are home-based. Each of these entities can benefit from business insurance that protects their business when homeowner’s insurance will not.
What is Home Business Insurance Coverage?
Commercial insurance provides coverage for items that may not be covered under a homeowners’ policy. A few of the items that are often not covered, include:
- Files
- Equipment
- Technology
Home business insurance will cover the items that your non-business policy will not. Self-employed professionals will want to consider this form of insurance if they:
- Serve clients or customers at home
- Maintain inventory and supplies at home
- Have employees that work in the home
- Store equipment in the home, such as computers
Insurance protects your business in the event that there’s a fire, theft or other incident that damaged the home. Business policies are underwritten to provide the security that business owners need when they’re operating a business and cannot afford to lose days, weeks or months of work due to the home being damaged.
Small businesses operating out of a home can benefit from a policy as much as larger businesses with employees.
What is Covered Under Home Business Insurance?
Ideally, you’ll look through your current home liability insurance policy to find gaps in your policy that may negatively impact your business. Review your policy’s coverage limits to ensure they’re adequate to cover your business.
Businesses have a lot of liabilities, including:
- Employee injuries
- Property damage
- Lawsuits
If your business stores data on servers or computers, data loss is another expense that may need to be paid out-of-pocket. Liability for certain types of consumer data won’t be covered without proper business insurance, leaving you at risk for substantial liability.
Coverage Under a Home Business Policy
Business owners should consult with their insurance company to ensure that they have the coverage necessary to cover the cost of all equipment, inventory and other items. Policies will often include numerous options:
- General Liability. A general liability policy will protect owners from having to pay potential liabilities out of their own pocket. This policy will cover you in the event of faulty products, negligence or personal injury claims. Equipment, inventory and other items will be covered in the policy.
- Business Owner’s Policy. A policy that is combined with general liability to provide coverage to structures on your property. The insurance may also cover damages to inventory or lost income due to waiting for structural damage to be repaired.
Endorsements may also be available, which allow you to further customize your insurance policy to meet the needs of your business. You may be able to add coverage for data breaches, which cost the average business over $8 million for each breach.
As a business owner, insurance reduces your liability while ensuring your business can still operate if equipment or inventory is lost in a fire, flood or due to other damage.
Home based businesses make sense for small business owners, and are how most of the world’s largest businesses started. If you obtain the appropriate insurance policy, you’ll be able to safeguard your business against unexpected expenses and liabilities.
What is not Covered Under Home Business Insurance?
Employee injuries are not covered under this type of policy. Worker’s Compensation is a separate policy that should be considered. This would protect you, if you or any of your employees suffer injuries or disease while in the course of doing their job.
Call Complete Insurance Agency at (305) 667-7717 to learn more.