Gaizer.com Tips for Business Start-ups

In general, you do not interact with clients at your home office if you run a home-based business. Your bigger concern is protecting the equipment (property insurance), not the customer liability (casualty insurance). Depending on the scope of your home-based business, your homeowner’s policy might not be enough to cover the cost of your business equipment. A homeowner’s policy usually covers a few thousand dollars, which is often not enough to cover you business equipment losses. If this is the case, you will have to shop around for more substantial business insurance or increase the coverage of your homeowner’s insurance.

Even if you are not meeting clients in your home office, you might have liability issues. If, for instance, you are selling food products wholesale or creating a product, your product still has liability. You should get special product liability insurance based on what type of business you are doing.

Finally, if you are a professional such as a lawyer or doctor working from your home, you might need to purchase professional liability insurance for your home-based business.

Insurance Solutions for the Home-Based Business

The easiest way to insure a home-based business is to increase the coverage of your homeowner’s policy to a suitable amount. With a small premium increase, you can increase your property coverage by thousands of dollars. If you see a limited number of clients in your home, you can also purchase homeowner’s liability insurance. With this, if a client gets hurt in your home, you will have insurance coverage for the liability you have against them.

The homeowner’s insurance packages are very limited. If you have expensive equipment, many clients visiting, or you are a potentially risky business, then you will have to purchase a home-business insurance policy. The home-business insurance policy offers you better coverage against business interruption and product and service liability, and provides more protection against customer liability and lawsuits. Some home-business insurance policies allow the home business to have full time employees. Overall, this solution is more comprehensive and more professional; however, be prepared to pay more than you would if you just extended your homeowner’s policy. Keep in mind that home-business insurance and homeowner’s insurance are two different insurance solutions.

If you have an outside office or storefront, you need regular business insurance. This is usually referred to as a business owner’s policy. This type of insurance covers many business risks and can be customized to fit your particular business needs.