Home Based Business Insurance: What You Need To Know

There are hundreds of thousands of home based businesses across America. Whether you are a professional consultant, a dog walker, an eBay expert or a cosmetic sales associate odds are that you do not carry business insurance or believe you have coverage on your homeowner policy for your business.

Almost every homeowner policy excludes business pursuits from your personal liability coverage. They also have very limited property coverage for business property. If you have say $50,000 in inventory that you sell on eBay in your garage and have a fire or theft, you will likely be limited to $2,000 on your homeowner or renters policy. 

Although most homeowner policies exclude home-based businesses it should be your first place to look for coverage. Some insurers are willing to issue an endorsement that will extend coverage to the home business. Typically, there's an additional fee, but it is usually inexpensive and worth every cent. If this is not a possibility there are many insurance companies that can write a separate Business Owner Policy (BOP) that can protect you, your business and your business property. Typical premiums for small in home businesses are around $500 per year. 

If you provide professional advise or services such as consulting, accounting, legal or otherwise you should seriously consider adding professional liability (Errors & Omissions) coverage. This is typically more expensive coverage since it is more likely to be used if you are in a professional field. We see minimum premiums in the $900 per year range for $1,000,000 in coverage.

There could be additional insurance needs as you start or grow your home based business. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions on your home based business insurance needs or anything else.