Commercial property insurance covers your business’s real estate and its contents. It helps pay for repair or replacement when business property is lost, damaged, or destroyed.

Your business assets aren’t just expensive – they keep your business running. With commercial property insurance, you’ll be able to afford repairs for necessary equipment after an unexpected event like a fire or a break-in.

A commercial property insurance policy can cover your:

Business-owned building
Commercial property insurance protects a building owned by your business against fire, vandalism, and other types of damage.

Furniture and fixtures
The furniture and fixtures inside your owned or rented building are protected by commercial property insurance.

Supplies and equipment
If your business’s supplies or equipment are damaged, lost, or stolen, commercial property insurance coverage can help repair or replace them.</P

Inventory
Commercial property insurance protects your inventory against theft, fire, and other causes of loss.

Commercial property insurance covers a commercial building and its contents. However, it doesn’t cover every risk or type of property. Here are a few situations where you may need additional coverage.

Goods in transit and mobile equipment

If your business needs coverage for items in transit or equipment that moves to different worksites, consider inland marine insurance or equipment floater insurance. These policies cover equipment, tools, and other possessions that move from place to place. It also includes items in a business’s temporary care, such as loaned artwork.

Damaged customer property

General liability insurance covers property belonging to your customers and clients. It helps cover legal costs if someone sues over a broken item or an accidental injury.

Business interruption

Business interruption insurance, also called business income insurance, covers financial losses when a disaster forces a business to close temporarily. It can pay for loss of income, employee wages, and other day-to-day expenses.

This policy sometimes includes extra expense coverage, which covers costs beyond your routine operating expenses. For example, you might need to move to a temporary location or hire additional employees after a disaster.

Employee theft

Employee dishonesty coverage reimburses your clients if an employee steals items or money from them. This coverage includes fidelity bonds, which protect your business and its clients against dishonest employees.

Malfunctioning equipment

Equipment breakdown coverage pays to replace malfunctioning equipment after a mechanical or electrical failure. You can add this extra coverage as an endorsement on your commercial property insurance policy.

Destroyed payment records

If a burst pipe or other incident destroys customer records, your business could have trouble collecting outstanding customer payments. Commercial property insurance doesn’t cover the extra cost of recovering these payments unless your policy has an accounts receivable endorsement.

Landlords often require proof of commercial property coverage, liability coverage, or another type of business renter’s insurance from their business tenants. Though landlords carry property insurance for their buildings, they won’t take responsibility for any expensive business property a tenant keeps in the space.

Additionally, lenders often mandate business property insurance for the life of the mortgage.

Even when it’s not required, commercial property insurance is important for any business that owns a building, valuable equipment, or expensive inventory. It helps your business recover financially from fires, theft, and other damaging events.

Remember, homeowner’s insurance doesn’t usually cover lost or damaged business equipment, so you may need to purchase commercial property insurance if your business operates out of your residence.