Your homeowners policy stops at the door of your business. Here is what picks up.
A business run from home is a business, and the homeowners policy that covers the house was written on the assumption there is not one. Most homeowners forms cap business property at a small sum, exclude liability for business activity, and pay nothing for lost income when the home is unusable. A home-based business policy fills those three gaps for a fraction of what a storefront pays, because the exposure is smaller and the underwriter knows it. We place them for consultants, makers, online sellers, tutors, therapists and the hundred other things people do from a spare room.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What home-based business businesses actually need.
General liability
A client, a courier or a student hurt at your home, or damage your work causes at a customer's premises, with the legal defense.
Without it — The homeowners policy excludes bodily injury and property damage arising from business pursuits. The visitor who slips on your step while collecting an order is your claim to pay.
Business property
Your equipment, inventory, tools and the furniture the business uses, at home and while it travels with you, at replacement cost.
Without it — Homeowners forms typically limit business property to $2,500 at home and a few hundred dollars away from it. A laptop, a printer and a season of inventory pass that in an afternoon.
Business income
The income you lose and the extra costs you pay while a covered loss at the home keeps the business from operating.
Without it — A house fire is covered as a house fire. The months of orders you could not fill are not, unless a business policy says so.
Professional liability
For advice, design and services: the claim that your work was wrong and cost the client money.
Without it — General liability answers injury and property damage, not a bad recommendation. A consultant, a bookkeeper or a designer needs the second policy.
Products liability
For makers and sellers: the claim that something you made or sold hurt someone.
Without it — A candle, a cosmetic, a food product or a children's item made at the kitchen table carries the same liability as one made in a factory, and marketplaces now ask for proof of it.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A client or delivery driver is injured at the home
Covered by General liability
The homeowners insurer denies it as a business pursuit, and the claim is paid out of pocket or fought in court under your own name.
Common
Equipment and inventory lost to fire, theft or a burst pipe
Covered by Business property
The homeowners policy pays its business property sublimit, often $2,500, against a loss that can be ten times that.
Less common, severe
A product you sold causes an allergic reaction or an injury
Covered by Products liability
The marketplace suspends the store until a certificate arrives, and a homeowners policy will not issue one.
Common
A client says your advice or design cost them money
Covered by Professional liability
No liability policy written for injury and property damage responds to a financial loss from bad advice.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
A home-based policy is written for a business that lives quietly inside a house. Some businesses have outgrown that description without noticing, and those are placed on a standard business policy instead.
Where a home-based policy is not the answer
Customers on site all day
A salon, a daycare or a repair shop run from the home is a premises exposure the home-based form is not priced for.
Can it be placed? Yes, on a business owners policy that rates the foot traffic honestly.
Employees other than family
Workers compensation is required from the first employee in most states, and a home-based package does not include it.
Can it be placed? Yes, as a separate workers compensation policy alongside the package.
Inventory in a rented unit
Stock kept at a storage facility or a rented garage is off the premises the policy describes.
Can it be placed? Yes, by scheduling the second location.
A commercial vehicle
A van wrapped with the business name and used for deliveries is a commercial auto exposure, and personal auto insurers exclude it.
Can it be placed? Yes, on a commercial auto policy.
What our home-based business clients ask us.
Does my homeowners insurance cover a home-based business?
A little, and less than most people assume. Homeowners policies typically cap business property at about $2,500 at home and a few hundred dollars away, and they exclude liability for business activity outright. Some insurers sell an endorsement that raises the property limit and adds modest liability for a low-traffic business. Beyond that, a separate home-based business policy or a business owners policy is the answer.
How much does home-based business insurance cost?
Usually the least of any business policy, because the exposure is small: no premises open to the public, little inventory, few visitors. A consultant or an online seller with no employees pays a few hundred dollars a year for liability and property together. Products, employees, visitors and vehicles each move the price, and each is a question we ask before quoting.
Do I need a business license or LLC before I can be insured?
No. A sole proprietor operating under their own name can be insured, and many are. An LLC changes who the named insured is, not whether coverage is available. What the application does ask is what you do, what you sell, who comes to the house and whether anyone works for you.
What does a home-based business insurance application ask for?
The applications we work from ask what the business does and where, whether customers or deliveries come to the home, the value of equipment and inventory kept there, annual revenue, whether you have employees, whether any product you sell is consumed or applied to the body, and whether you have had claims. It is a short form and an honest description of the business answers most of it.
Can I get a certificate of insurance for a marketplace or a client?
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons a home-based business buys the policy. Etsy, Amazon and wholesale buyers ask for proof of liability, and a landlord or a client site asks for the same. A certificate is issued the day the policy binds.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.