Have a Home-based Business? Don’t Leave Yourself Unprotected!
Just because you own a home-based business doesn’t mean your home insurance policy will ensure you’re covered. What you NEED to know!
The Internet has facilitated many things: social media, online shopping, working from home. In fact, one of the fastest-growing sectors today is the home-based business.
With more and more Canadians operating successful businesses from their homes, there are specific details pertaining to operating from home that need be taken into consideration. One of those details is insurance coverage and how their home-based business operations might impact their home insurance.
Your home insurance might offer home-based business coverage as an extension, but don’t take for granted that your residential policy provides adequate coverage for your business operating from home – most DO NOT.
Even if you’re home business only operates on a part-time basis, you may want to consider home-based business insurance to ensure you and your business property are covered.
Benefits of a home-based business insurance plan
If you’re operating a home-based business, a home-based business insurance plan will cover your office equipment, business inventory on and off-premise and business interruption insurance if anything were to happen to your home because of an insured loss.
Home-based business coverage insures the things you need to run your business: furniture, equipment, desktop and laptop computer, software, cell phone, and fax machine. It also includes items you stock, or goods and inventory you hold for sale.
Most importantly, it will cover you for additional liability for clients, delivery personnel, and any employees in the event of a mishap or accident.
Is home-based business insurance right for you?
Whether you should or shouldn’t insure your business at home really depends on the extent of the business activities you conduct at home.
If you have a lot of high-value equipment and no clients or employees coming to your house, it’s likely less expensive and perfectly adequate for you to add your equipment to your existing home coverage as an additional endorsement.
However, if you do work for the government or other high-profile agencies such as working as an author, event organizer, HR consultant, marketing consultant, translator or for a non-profit organization, you may want to consider coverage specific to your activities: Errors & Omissions insurance.
Errors and Omissions can provide the necessary coverage in the event your business is held to be liable if a client claims financial loss due to an error or omission on your part, or that of an employee – which is required for some contracts.
Note that if clients or employees come into your home for the business purposes, you may not be covered under a standard home insurance policy for liability.
Additionally, if your business is larger than the typical one to two-person home-based business operation, you may need to consider standard commercial insurance. Your broker will be able to advise you as to what your particular situation requires.
We can provide the necessary home office insurance extensions to bridge the gap between your residential policy and the needs of your small, home-based business.
We can also answer any questions you may have. Talk to us!
