Commercial & Buildings
Commercial & Building Insurance
When you are operating a business, you seek insurance either because your third party business partners, such as landlords, banks, owners, lenders, and etc., are asking for it or for the protection of your own business in almost all cases. And here on this section, we are going to cover business insurance, what is also known as "hazard insurance".
There are two main types of business insurance: Liability Insurance and Property Insurance. While there is an insurance program that provides only one of these coverages, there are also many other insurance programs that provide both of these coverages. Liability insurance is what most landlords typically require all tenants to acquire simply because they can be waived from the liability that is caused by their tenants. A simple example could be a slip and fall incident where it is caused by the existing hazardous condition that originally made by the tenant's mistake. On the other hand, property insurance is what most banks require, along with liability as well, to protect any assets purchased by the loan received. A simple example could be a restaurant that receives the loan to purchase kitchen equipment, and the bank requiring an insurance coverage for these purchased equipment. If you are a building owner, you need both liability and property coverage to protect your assets against any damages made on your property as well as protecting yourself against any liability issues risen out of everyday business operation.
But whether you need a liability insurance or just a property insurance, it is imperative to understand what are available options out there that you may seek to insure for the betterment of your business. See below list of insurance coverage that you may choose to insure for your business:
- Business Owners Policy (BOP): This type of business insurance provides both liability and property as well as other additional coverages as a comprehensive package. This is somewhat similar to Commercial Package insurance, but the difference is it provides more additional coverages than Commercial Package and usually includes Business Income coverage (Business Interruption). Admitted carriers usually provide this type of insurance.
- Commercial Package (PKG): A commercial policy that provides multiple coverages such as general liability and commercial property. Besides liability and property, all other coverages are optional including business income. E&S carriers usually provide this type of insurance coverage (See below to find out what E&S is).
- Lessor's Risk Only (LRO): An insurance coverage that insures only buildings and attached fixtures for its owner(s). This insurance does provide general liability as well. Any business personal properties (see below for definition) known as BPP must be added separately (may combine them altogether in LRO). LRO usually doesn't come with BPP, because the lessor usually don't operate their business within its building. If the lessor does operate their business by occupying some of the spaces within the building, then they need to get BOP instead of LRO.
- Commercial General Liability (CGL): This is a liability insurance that only covers general liability part of any business operations.
- Business Personal Property (BPP): An insurance coverage that insures only certain properties such as inventories, equipment, furniture, or vehicles that don't require license.
- Building: An insurance coverage that insures building and associated properties such as building fixtures and attached furniture and equipment.
- Tenant's Improvements & Betterments (TIB): This optional coverage protects tenants against any damages done on the renovated area of the premises. This coverage limit is sometimes included in BPP limit.
- Excess & Surplus (E&S): This is an excess insurance market where ONLY non-admitted carriers offer/provide insurance coverage because of the initial application is rejected by local carriers (admitted carriers). Both admitted & non-admitted insurance carriers must be licensed and maintain a certain amount of capital to write insurance coverage, but the difference is admitted carriers are licensed with domicile State, which in this case is California. Please visit California Department of Insurance (CDI) website at insurance.ca.gov for more info.
- Owner, Land Lord, or Tenant (OLT): Land Lord usually requires this type of insurance. It is referred to as 'OLT CGL'.
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Below list shows some examples of business classes we are specialized in:
- After School Tutor
- Contractors
- Hospitals/Clinics
- Non-profit Organizations
- Retail Stores
- Online Retail Stores
- Wholesale/Distribution
- Manufacturing
- Restaurants
- Taverns & Bars
- Coin Laundromat
- Dry Cleaner
- Auto Repair Shop
- Car Wash
- Markets
- Mini Grocery Stores
- Service Providers
- Finance Institutes
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