{"id":6164,"date":"2014-07-25T23:54:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T04:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salvador-ins.one.zysites.com\/blog\/insurance-for-home-based-businesses\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T11:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:18:07","slug":"insurance-for-home-based-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/blog\/insurance-for-home-based-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurance for Home-based Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What homeowners policies don\u2019t cover<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Many\u2014though not all\u2014homepreneurs need extra protection beyond their homeowners policies. That\u2019s because most homeowners policies lack these important coverages:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul style=\"margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Business personal property<\/strong><br \/>\nMost homeowners policies provide limited coverage of $500 to $1,000 for tools, machines or other equipment you use exclusively for your business. If your belongings are worth more, you definitely need extra coverage.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Premises liability<\/strong><br \/>\nSuppose you cut hair in your basement, and a customer trips and falls over a misplaced basketball. That customer might sue you. If he does, you\u2019ll want premises liability since your homeowners policy won\u2019t cover a liability claim filed by a business client.If the injured customer is a friend who was lingering around after the haircut for coffee, you might still be on the line. \u201cIf there\u2019s no business policy in force, there is a gray area in this situation,\u201d says McConnell. \u201cBut if you have both types of insurance, you\u2019ll be assured of being covered.\u201d When it comes to liability, it\u2019s better to be safe than sorry since these claims tend to be the most expensive.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Off-premises liability<\/strong>If you think that an accident that doesn\u2019t happen on your property isn\u2019t your problem, think again. Home-based business owners are often liable for injuries their clients or their clients\u2019 property sustains away from their home. For example, a real estate agent could be liable for injuries a potential buyer sustains during a home showing.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Professional liability<\/strong><br \/>\nBusinesses that offer professional services or advice also should consider purchasing professional liability coverage. Professional liability provides coverage for negligence claims as well as defense costs of lawsuits, even if they\u2019re groundless.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Business income and extra expenses<\/strong><br \/>\nBusiness income coverage ensures you receive your regular income when a covered loss damages your premises. Extra expenses kicks in if you need to temporarily rent space or equipment after a\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0078c5; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.businessdictionary.com\/definition\/covered-loss.html\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">covered loss<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Three ways to get the coverage you need<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">If you need more coverage than your homeowners policy offers, you\u2019ll need to consider the size of your business, the kind of work you do, how many clients visit your home and how often you work off-premises.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">The three most common coverage options include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul style=\"margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Homeowners policy endorsement<\/strong><br \/>\nAn endorsement is often the best option for smaller operations with minimal business property and client visitations. For starters, it increases the level of protection for your business personal property. You can also purchase business liability insurance if a small number of visitors come to your home.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">In-home business policy<\/strong><br \/>\nThis option often works best for a mid-sized business with pricier equipment and a steadier stream of clients visiting a home. Most policies reimburse you for the loss of important papers and records, accounts receivable and off-site business property. Some even include business income and extra expenses and cover a small number of full-time employees.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\"><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Businessowners policy (BOP)<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you have more than a handful of employees, a lot of costly tools or equipment, or a need for a high level of liability coverage, a BOP is probably your best bet. That\u2019s because it offers the broadest amounts of coverage for business property and equipment, loss of income, extra expenses and liability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">A BOP policy should be purchased in addition to a homeowners policy since a homeowners policy is still needed to cover the building, personal property and personal liability that\u2019s not covered by the BOP policy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Depending on which policy you choose, you might also want to consider these extra coverages offered from ERIE\u2019s\u00a0affordable, full coverage protection\u00a0for businesses of all sizes.:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul style=\"margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; list-style-image: initial;\">\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Workers\u2019 compensation\u00a0if you have employees<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Disability insurance to protect your income if you\u2019re ever injured and can\u2019t work<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">Business auto insurance if you use vehicles for business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #6e6e6e; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What homeowners policies don\u2019t cover Many\u2014though not all\u2014homepreneurs need extra protection beyond their homeowners policies. That\u2019s because most homeowners policies lack these important coverages: Business personal property Most homeowners policies provide limited coverage of $500 to $1,000 for tools, machines or other equipment you use exclusively for your business. If your belongings are worth more, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":null,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-business"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salvadorinsurance.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}