Entrepreneurs and other small business owners often run their operations from home. A common mistake many of them make is to rely on their homeowners insurance to protect their home based businesses. Unfortunately, homeowners insurance only covers injuries, damages, and lawsuits for incidents related to your family, personal visitors to your home, and property you use for personal reasons. It won’t cover assets, injuries, legal actions, or other things related to your business, which could leave you vulnerable.
You should also be careful if you’re using your home for business related activities that the company insuring it isn’t aware of. If they find out about this, it may cancel out your homeowner’s personal liability coverage. This puts both your home and business at risk, and it could make it more difficult for you to get home or business coverage in the future.
Because of this, you probably need business insurance in addition to your homeowners coverage. In this article, we’ll reveal the top 6 insurers for home based businesses and explain what you need to know to get business coverage.
- Top 6 home based business insurance companies
- Do I need home business insurance?
- I have homeowner insurance, why do I need home-based business insurance?
- What coverages do home based businesses need?
- What are some examples of the kinds of things covered by home based business insurance?
- What types of home based businesses need business insurance?
- Is there an easy way to get home business insurance coverage?
- How much does home based business insurance cost?
- How can I find cheap home based business insurance?
Top 6 home based business insurance companies
Here are our choices for the 6 best home business insurers in the United States and what makes each one unique:
- CoverWallet: Best for home based business owners that want to compare quotes quickly
- THREE: Best for all-in-one home business insurance coverage
- The Hartford: Best for home businesses looking for a solid and ethical insurer
- Progressive: Best for discounted home based business insurance
- Hiscox: Best for home based businesses with unique insurance needs
- Simply Business: Best brokerage firm to work with to find the cheapest coverage
CoverWallet: Best for home based business owners that want to compare quotes quickly
CoverWallet is a cutting-edge insurance provider. The firm has developed its own state-of-the-art platform, based on its own algorithms, to ensure it is able to connect small business owners with all the business insurance they need, at the most reasonable price. The platform makes it quick and easy to get quotes from several providers at once, making it possible to compare coverages and policy prices from highly reputable insurers all on a single screen.
The firm’s experts have used their extensive experience to make sure you only have to input the information needed to generate quick and accurate quotes. The entire process should take ten minutes or less.
You can feel confident knowing that CoverWallet is a part of Aon, an established company that provides advice to businesses on things like risk, health, and retirement.
Once you get your quote, CoverWallet makes it easy to purchase business insurance online or through an agent. When you get your policy through CoverWallet, it’s simple to manage your coverage online, including downloading a certificate of insurance, filing a claim, renewing your insurance, and more.
Here is a sample quote from CoverWallet.
THREE: Best for all-in-one home business insurance coverage
If you prefer a single source for all your home business insurance needs, THREE could be the solution for you. It protects all aspects of a business, including people, property, and operations, in a single comprehensive business insurance policy. It could be the easiest way for home business owners to get all the coverage they need.
You can also rest assured knowing that THREE is a part of the solid and established Berkshire Hathaway family of companies.
The Hartford: Best for home businesses looking for a solid and ethical insurer
The Hartford is one of the oldest companies of any kind in the United States. It’s been offering insurance solutions for more than 200 years and has helped one million plus businesses with their insurance needs. The company takes pride in the fact that the Ethisphere Institute named it a World’s Most Ethical Company twelve times. The Hartford’s longevity and focus on ethical business practices makes it a company you can feel good about doing business with.
The Hartford’s dedicated and highly experienced small business team is available to help owners explore their insurance options. If you decide to purchase insurance from The Hartford, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your home business to a strong, stable, knowledgeable, and ethical provider.
Here is a simple home business quote from The Hartford.
Progressive: Best for discounted home based business insurance
Progressive may seem like a less-than-serious company because of its ongoing series of commercials featuring Flo and her gang. You might feel concerned about entrusting your home business to the insurer.
The truth: It’s a reputable company that’s been in business since 1937. Progressive is known for its flexibility, great rates, and highly responsive service.
Progressive is famous for its discounts, which could help you save on your home based business insurance. You can earn discounts for things like:
- Purchasing multiple coverages, including your homeowners and auto insurance
- Paying annually rather than in smaller increments
- Agreeing to autopay.
It’s easy to get a quote online from Progressive. It should take you less than five minutes.
Here’s an example.
Hiscox: Best for home based businesses with unique insurance needs
Hiscox offers a complete array of business coverages and is a leading insurer that specializes in small business insurance.
Hiscox makes it easy to purchase all types of business insurance online. You can also speak with experienced business insurance experts who can help you customize your coverage to meet your unique needs. Hiscox also offers top tier service, provides fast quotes, instant coverage, and quick claims processing.
If you choose Hiscox for your home business coverage, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your organization to a firm that’s been in operation since 1901. More than 400,000 companies choose Hiscox for their coverage.
Simply Business: Best brokerage firm to work with to find the cheapest coverage
Simply Business is a broker specializing in small business insurance. They work with many carriers with a focus to help you find low-cost coverage that your business may need, including general liability insurance. They vet the carriers that they work with carefully to ensure that all of them have excellent financial ratings.
Pros:
- Easy to get and compare several quotes online
- Able to get quotes from A-rated carriers which you may not be aware of
- Knowledgeable agents that are available to help you along the process
Cons:
- Quotes online are available for general liability and professional liability only
- Have to file a claim directly with the carriers
Do I need home-based business insurance?
Business insurance is important for many reasons. It can help cover the costs of damage to property, injuries, and legal claims made against a business. Without it, a business owner must pay the expenses related to these things out of pocket, even if they have homeowners insurance.
Answering these questions will help you figure out if you need home business insurance:
- Do people come to your home for business related reasons?
- Do you store inventory in your home, garage, shed, or other related structures?
- Would your income be negatively impacted if your had to close your business because of damage to your home?
- Do you have anyone working for you, whether in your home or anywhere else?
- Do you keep information about your clients on your computer?
If your answer was YES to any of these questions, you may want to speak with an insurance agent or insurance company representative to find out if you should get coverage because your homeowners insurance might not provide enough protection for your home based business.
Without business coverage, you could be forced to pay for:
- Property damage
- Lawsuits
- Employee and client injuries
- Issues related to data loss, theft, and other computer hack attacks.
Ask yourself: Could you afford to pay for these things after an incident occurs?
If the answer is NO, you should consider business insurance coverage.
I have homeowner insurance coverage, why do I still need home-based business insurance?
When you run your business from home, your home now becomes your workplace. However, your current homeowners insurance may not include protection for your business related things like:
- Computers and other equipment
- Inventory
- Files and records
- Client injuries that happen in your home
- And more.
The purpose of the insurance is to help protect your home based operation from common risks most similar businesses face, along with industry specific ones. It can protect your financial assets from:
- Lawsuits
- Property damage
- Theft
- Vandalism
- Loss of income
- Employee injuries and illnesses
- And more.
This is the reason why your need home-based business insurance to protect you and your business when things happen.
What is business insurance for?
Business insurance can help you gain control over your home based business risks, which are considerable. It provides you with financial protection against losses that occur while conducting business. When you have business insurance coverage, your insurer helps pay the costs of covered losses up to the limits of your policy. Without coverage, you might have to pay for these things on your own.
What coverages do home based businesses need?
Different home based businesses need different coverages. Insurance needs for a small consulting operation will differ from those for a retail company or a legal practice. That’s why it’s important to speak with an experienced business insurance agent or company rep, or complete an application online to find out for sure.
Here are some common coverages most home based businesses could benefit from having.
- General liability, which helps protect your business from claims of bodily injury and property damage that happen in your home while conducting business or while you and anyone employed by you is working. This includes things like client injuries that result from a slip and fall in your home when they’re visiting for business reasons or property damage that happens because of a work-related accident in a client’s home. Learn more at how general liability insurance protects your business; the best general liability insurance companies; and the cheapest general liability insurance companies.
- Commercial property, which covers losses in your home workspace resulting from things like weather damage, fire, theft, or vandalism. Learn more about commercial property insurance and the best commercial property insurance companies
- Commercial auto, which pays for damage to vehicles and the cost of medical care if you or an employee is involved in an accident while driving for work related reasons. Similar to a homeowners policy, your personal auto insurance will not cover accidents that happen while conducting business. Learn more why small businesses need commercial auto insurance; the best commercial auto insurance companies; and how to find cheap commercial auto insurance.
- Workers’ compensation, which pays for medical care, lost wages, and more if an employee experiences a job-related injury or illness. If you have anyone working for you, it’s likely that your state will require you to get workers’ comp. Check with your state’s workers’ compensation board or agency to find out for sure. Learn more about the latest changes in workers comp insurance; the best workers comp insurance companies; and the cheapest workers comp insurance companies.
- Professional liability, which covers you and the people who work for you if you’re ever sued by a client for giving them bad advice or not performing services to their satisfaction. Learn more about professional liability insurance and the best professional liability insurance companies.
- Business income interruption, which will help replace a portion of your business income if your company is unable to operate because of covered reasons. Learn more at the best business income interruption insurance companies.
- Product liability, which covers you if a product you manufacture or sell is faulty and doesn’t perform as intended and you’re sued because of it. Learn more about product liability insurance and the best product liability insurance companies.
- Cyber insurance, which helps pay expenses related to the theft or loss of critical customer, employee, or business information. Learn more about cyber insurance; the best cyber insurance companies; and the best data breach insurance companies.
The simplest way to secure all these types of coverage is through a business owners policy (BOP), which typically bundles together business property and liability coverage. A BOP makes it easy to add on additional types of coverage beyond these. These are our recommendations of the best BOP insurance companies.
At a minimum, you probably want to have liability and property coverage through a BOP. And if you have employees, you’ll likely need workers’ compensation insurance. When you apply for coverage online, it’s likely that the insurer will offer up the additional coverages you need. An experienced business insurance agent or company rep will be able to recommend coverages to you, as well.
What are some examples of the kinds of things covered by home based business insurance?
Some examples include:
- You’re working in a client’s home and back into an expensive vase and damage it. Home business insurance will pay to repair or replace it.
- You, an employee, or subcontractor becomes injured or ill while working. Workers’ comp coverage will pay healthcare and physical therapy costs, disability benefits, job retraining costs, funeral expenses, and death benefits, as required.
- Your apartment building has a small fire, the sprinklers go off, and damage your computer equipment and paperwork. Home business insurance will help pay for repairs, replacement, and restoration, as needed.
Interesting fact: Certain clients may require you to get business insurance before they allow you to do any work for them. They will expect you to absorb the risk of doing business together, which is not unreasonable. A business insurer will help you secure coverage that meets the requirements of your client contracts.
What types of home based businesses need business insurance?
Some examples of the types of businesses that get this coverage include:
- Web Design Firms. Imagine that you work as a web designer out of a home office. The office likely has a significant number of computers and other pieces of business equipment, along with design software. The roof of a designer’s house is damaged by a wind and rain storm. Everything in the office is destroyed by water and scattered by the wind. A home policy will pay to repair the roof while a business policy will cover the business losses.
- Interior decorators. You have a solid track record as an interior designer. You find yourself working with a challenging client and everything on that job goes wrong. The painter uses the incorrect color paint. The furniture arrives after a critical deadline. A valuable rug gets damaged by a delivery person. The client sues you for failing to meet contractual deadlines and damages that happened while work was getting done. Home based business insurance will help cover your legal and settlement costs and to pay for the damage that happened while the work was getting done.
- Photographers. A client comes to your home for a photo shoot. She trips over a cord and falls. She breaks her arm during the incident. Your homeowners policy refuses to pay for her medical costs because the fall happened while you were taking professional pictures. Your business insurer agrees to cover the costs.
These are just three examples of the types of home based businesses that could benefit from business coverage.
Is there an easy way to get home business insurance coverage?
A business owner’s policy (BOP) combines general liability and commercial property insurance. Combining these coverages in a single policy makes it easy to manage your business insurance. Plus, a BOP makes it simple to add other types of coverage to the policy. A BOP is an efficient way to secure business insurance coverage.
How much does home based business insurance cost?
The good news is that home-based business insurance isn’t very expensive. On average, home-based businesses pay $30 a month for a BOP policy, which covers general liability and commercial property coverages.
However, premium costs can vary because they’re based on many factors including:
- The age and value of your business property
- The contents of your property
- Your business type
- The limits and coverage options you choose
- Whether or not you choose full or partial replacement cost
- And more.
What’s important is that you get quotes from multiple providers so you can compare coverages and costs to get the best and most cost effective coverage for your home business.
How can I find cheap home based business insurance?
Here are some tips to help you find the coverage you need at a fair price:
- Shop around for the best value. Get quotes from a few companies or compare the multiple quotes generated by a service like CoverWallet.
- Don’t stop shopping around. Make sure you get new quotes before you renew your policy.
- Take advantage of discounts. If they’re not offered to you when getting a quote, ask about them, whether you’re buying online or through an agent.
Taking these steps will help ensure you’re not paying too much for your home business insurance.
