Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance plays a significant role in the recovery of business after a major peril. When applying for the policy, it is advisable to include everything that needs to be insured including expected income and assets. Note that an insurance policy that adequately covers your business property helps you to replace the entire building and the contents in it using the current prices. As you rebuild the premises and replace the contents, depending on the policy, you may be given business interruption compensation that caters for your livelihood.
Type of commercial properties to be insured
Commercial property insurance is designed to cover all business premises and the assets present. Here are some of the typical business premises that need to be insured using this insurance cover:
- Warehouses
- Theatres and cinema halls
- Hospitals and medical centres
- Shopping malls, Strip malls and Markets
- Resorts, pubs, take-aways, restaurants and hotels
- Child care centres
- Banks and airport buildings
- Camping grounds
- Retail stores
- Worship centres
- Manufacturing
- Wholesalers
Benefits of commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance comes with a number of benefits to the building owners and occupants. Some of the benefits include:
Flexibility
Insurance policies for the business premises insurance are flexible hence allowing you to choose the plan that suits your commercial property. For example, you can choose to have the replacement cost coverage plan that rebuilds the property on the current construction cost. On the other hand, you can opt for actual cash value coverage that replaces your property but deducts the depreciation value.
Provides cover for leased or borrowed property
This type of insurance provides cover for leased or borrowed buildings for commercial purposes. In this case, insurance protects your income if disaster strikes, as you do not have to use your money to rebuild the building that does not belong to you.
Covers employees property present in the premises
You can request for a customised policy that protects employees’ properties present in the commercial premises. For example, some employees may be driving their personal cars to work and in possession of expensive electronic gadgets while on duty.
Provides coverage for business interruption
When peril strikes such as storm, floods and fire, the building and the contents in it are destroyed. You incur more income losses during the rebuilding and replacement process. This insurance policy provides cover for the business interruption that keeps you afloat before you get back to business.
Provides extra expenses coverage
Once your business has been destroyed, the reality is, you will have to start from scratch. This may entail some extra expenses to help get your business on its feet once again.
Major types of commercial insurance policies
When running a business in your personal, leased or borrowed commercial property, you need to consider applying for any of the following policies:
Special form policies:
Protects the premises from all risks except those excluded by the policy such as earth movement, terrorism and insects attack.
Basic form policies:
Protects your business premises from common disasters like fire, floods and storms.
Broad form policies:
This commercial property insurance policy covers a number of risks including water damage, damage caused by snow and structural collapse of the building