What is Commercial Property Insurance?
While a building that you own or lease and the belongings in it may not be a source of direct income for your company, if they were damaged or destroyed by any of these hazards, the expense to you to repair or replace them could be extremely costly.
In the case of a catastrophic loss, you might also be forced to close your doors while everything is being restored to its original state, which could mean sacrificing critical business income for an indefinite amount of time. That’s why, it is vital to have insurance that protects not only the space where you work, but also everything in it.
Commercial property insurance, also called building insurance, generally covers all the items that make your business “go” every day, including valuable physical assets such as:
- Inventory
- Equipment
- Machinery
- Customer’s personal property that is in your care
- Tools
- Computers
- Electronic Data
- Perishable materials, like food or flowers
- Employee uniforms
- Furniture
- Valuable papers and records
- Outdoor signage and awnings
In addition, if your business owns any type of structure, like an office building, warehouse, storefront, manufacturing facility, storage unit, garage, or other premises, commercial property insurance is protection that is critical to have in place.
Even if you operate a business out of your home or do purely online business transactions, think of the many items you use daily – computers, printers, cell phone, office supplies. It’s essential that you have the right financial protection in place in case any of this company property is lost, stolen or damaged.
What type of commercial insurance coverage you need, and how much is required, will vary based on the risk factors associated with your location and the nature of your operation as well as the total value of your physical assets. Working with a local and extremely hands-on insurance professional, like Austin Insurance, who has access to multiple top insurance carriers, ensures that you can find the proper commercial property insurance solution for your specific type of business and industry.
Selecting the right commercial property insurance solution for your business.
At Austin Insurance, we have spent the last five decades helping small to mid-sized South Shore businesses like yours gain access to the best commercial property products at highly competitive rates. Through our partnerships with exceptional national insurance carriers, we can provide you with the optimal options to fit your specific business, location, and physical assets, including:
Common Property Insurance Products
- Direct Damage Coverage protects loss or damage to physical property if by a covered loss. This is what most business owners think of when they hear the term “Commercial Property Insurance.”
- Other People’s Property Coverage protects possessions owned by someone else that your company is using in its business, such as a leased piece of equipment.
- Business Income Coverage replaces income your company loses should you have to shut down temporarily due to damage to physical assets caused by a covered peril.
- Extra Expense Coverage provides reimbursement for expenses you might incur – like a short-term lease – in order to avoid shutting down your business while repairs are being made.
- Leasehold Interest Coverage is crucial protection for businesses that lease a workspace, whether it’s an entire building or just one unit. This protection safeguards you against financial losses resulting from the cancellation of your lease should the structure become partially or wholly uninhabitable due to physical damage.
- Crime Insurance protects you and your property against theft, robbery, and burglary of cash, stock, securities, and fixtures, whether by a third party or an employee.
- Fidelity Bonds are another type of coverage that provides protection for your business against employees who commit fraudulent or dishonest acts that result in losses of company monies, securities, and other property.
Specialized Property Insurance Products
- Inland Marine is key coverage for companies, like landscaping and construction operations, whose business is primarily done at off-site locations. It protects business property that is in-transit or at a project site should they be damaged or destroyed.
- Builders Risk is essential coverage for general contractors, subcontractors, and building owners to have. It protects these parties against financial losses incurred should physical damage from fire, windstorm, or another covered peril impact the construction process.
- Boiler and Machinery, or Equipment Breakdown Coverage, can protect a wide range of equipment, including HVAC systems, ovens, boilers and furnaces, refrigeration units, elevators, and office equipment, in the event of an accidental breakdown. It is also designed to reimburse for business interruption losses as a result of this damage.
- Ordinance Insurance, also referred to as law insurance, is strongly recommended for any commercial property owners. It ensures that if you ever have to rebuild your property due to major damage by a covered peril, you will have coverage for expenses related to demolishing your building(s) and rebuilding them up to current code.
- Debris Removal Insurance is another vital coverage choice for commercial property owners because it is designed to pay for the cost of removing rubble, waste, and other remains before the rebuilding process begins on a damaged or destroyed property.
Figuring out which of these commercial insurance products are right for your business can get complicated. And trying to contain the costs of securing this critical protection can be even more frustrating. But, by working with the Austin team, you will get help with not only finding the proper protection for all your physical assets but also with uncovering the many ways there are to save money and keep your premiums in control.
For most small to mid-sized businesses, it often makes economic sense to combine all their property insurance needs with their liability insurance requirements into a Business Owners Policy (BOP). However, there are other package options, like a Commercial Package Policy (CPP) that our professionals can tailor to meet the specific risks and requirements of your unique operation.
As your insurance partner, we’re here to ensure that no matter what type of company you have, you purchase the best commercial property solutions for your particular business, at the most competitive prices.
How Austin takes care of you and your valuable business property is different from all the rest.
The very first thing we are going to do when you choose to ask us for advice about your commercial property insurance is to pay a visit to you in person.
Part of our goal in doing this is to get to know all about you and your business so that we can provide you with exceptional service for the long-term. But, more than that, this visit gives us the important opportunity to thoroughly evaluate the structure where your company is located and all its business-related contents. We will go on a fact-finding mission, exploring your entire property and reviewing all your physical assets, taking our own measurements and pictures.
As a result of this hands-on approach, you also get the added benefit of having an insurance partner help you identify areas of risk that you may not be aware of and that could potentially affect your premium for the worse. For example, when we walk through the interior of your building, we might see that a fire extinguisher or a sprinkler system inspection tag is missing. By alerting you to this, you will have the time to get them tagged before the insurance carrier comes in to do their own inspection of your property. You can count on the experienced Austin team to do everything we can to make sure you are not presenting any red flags to a potential insurer and that you get access to the most prestigious insurance products at the best rates.
If you’re thinking that this seems somewhat unusual for a local insurance professional to personally inspect every commercial property, whether owned or leased, before we write it, then you would be 100% accurate. This personalized process not only ensures that we get the most accurate property valuation we can, but also that we never do you a disservice by selling you something that isn’t right for your business or up to par with what you currently have for coverage.