Insurance?

[JimmyD]

I am starting up a part time business from my home shop (separate building) and am getting a lot of hassle from insurance company that provides my homeowners insurance. I want to have coverage on the machines, I want to work from home, I want the building covered.

This is way difficult for them and apparently expensive for me. Are any of you doing the same thing and if so, what is your experience with your homeowners insurance vs. business insurance to cover the equipment, building and liability? Any insurance company that you recommend? Do any of them speak ShopBot?

Thanks

[dlcw]

You need to find an insurance agent that does business insurance. It will be separate from your homeowners insurance. It has different types of coverage then a homeowner policy has.

I have a homeowners policy for my home and a business policy for my business (buildings, equipment, liability, lost wage, etc.). You won't find these types of coverages in a homeowners policy.

[nailzscott]

I have state farm and they insured the business separate from the house. In fact, because I make things to sell in the shop, it had to be under the business insurance - which then covered my equipment. My personal - non business things in the shop would be covered under my homeowners. One thing about state farm - they will not insure the building if it has a wood burner in it.

[ntraub01]

I second and third the info from Scott and Don. We have business insurance to cover all business equipment and though we lease our shop space we still have all of the liability coverage and building coverage if we unfortunately burn down our building. We have had great experience with our State Farm agent though I'm guessing not all agents are created equal and may take some shopping to find one that understands your needs. Overall, State Farm has been incredible to deal with which is why we don't shop the "sales" and simply stay with what we know and with what works. They were even quite helpful when we transitioned from a sole proprietorship to a corporation and made all of the changes etc. etc.

Good luck. Keep us posted...