House Painting Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, house painting insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unforeseen happens.

Like any business owner, for your house painting enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

Business Insurance for house painting

If your house painting business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a giant chance not just of losing some money but of a final wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the upshots of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for growing businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where possible, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your house painting business?

What this means, for any house painting business owner, is that if some company claims that your work caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your house painting business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where laws can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Montana, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the duty of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a plaintiff more than they have sued for.

When you are running your house painting operations, you can’t escape responsibility for the outcomes of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent up-front the money necessary to have your business running as an LLC, all of that liability belongs to you as an individual.

What does house painting insurance protect you from?

For your house painting business, the most important kinds of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

Also there are some official kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will outline the most important points any house painting business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main headings of insurance for your house painting businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any house painting business is dealing directly with other people, and that means you generally have the danger that some accident can happen to them personally or else something of theirs can be spoiled.

In such a case, they can demand compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your house painting business insures you against claims coming from injury to clients or damage to their property.

It protects your house painting business from the claims themselves and in addition to any follow-on court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it will even help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts insist on proper liability insurance.

The normal level of general liability insurance for your house painting business would be with a upper limit of $1 million for a single claim and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your house painting insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your house painting business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your house painting business for them, you can quickly face a law suit.

Even if the case against you is ruled in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Most small house painting business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover an individual claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of house painting insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your house painting operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that what they received didn’t meet your description of function, or that your advice was basically incorrect.

You need to know the particular laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for damages caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any likely lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for house painting

Only you can estimate exactly how much insurance you need.

Best advice is to talk to experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for guidance.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your house painting business

Be careful! – almost all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any event like theft or accidental damage when the car is being used for business purposes.

The proper way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a proper commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial car policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

As well, in case of any accident, the van itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is guaranteed if your car is involved in an accident.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, require this type of insurance.

The required value of the insurance is worked-out for the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your requested level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your house painting business needs specific and expensive equipment, you will realize how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The tools may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

Also, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can eliminate your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specific gear quickly out of your own pocket, you should have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your house painting business running.

It is difficult to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your house painting business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any house painting business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the building, you may already have a substantial capital investment, in addition to a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Every physical building location should carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against accidental occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your house painting business deals in areas of high risk, like Texas or North Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Illinois, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of house painting business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Because the level of cover depends entirely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of house painting insurance section below to give some estimate of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your house painting business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your house painting business

Is your house painting business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes excellent sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for house painting – are special policies where you can cover a nominated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having less premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The important feature of short-term insurance is that you buy the cover for a defined period – a nominated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of higher business activity, get the existing cover improved.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your house painting business

You have the option to combine several of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by packaging these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will protect you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is often the right choice for small and medium-sized house painting businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will dictate whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs cannot cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle risks.

Also, the size of your business will rule whether you are eligible to take out BOP cover.

The normal business that is eligible for a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and under five million dollars in annual turnover.

As well, you must separately take out the required worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your house painting business employees

In most states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your house painting business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the business against any costs that arise if an employee experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits cover medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only allow coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you may not obtain your workers compensation obligations from private insurance companies.

Workers compensation rates are worked out based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must refer to the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every house painting insurance requirement is unique, there are enough examples of usual quotes from insurance companies for us to give appropriate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an insurance representative what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have gathered for the main types of insurance your house painting businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Equipment insurance $360 – $1445
Product liability insurance $260 – $720
Public liability insurance $305 – $670
Commercial vehicle insurance $1625 – $2920
Commercial insurance $1110 – $2125
General liability insurance $695 – $1015

Cost of insurance for your house painting operations depends on many different factors.

We have calculated these figures for small self-employed house painting businesses.

In larger states like Texas, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, while in smaller states like New Mexico, they can be about 20%-30% less.

The location and size and type of your house painting business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

Also you can let the internet do the work for you by searching for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another good source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your city.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for house painting operations?

This is a wide term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect house painting business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my house painting business have to have insurance?

Some of the kinds of insurance are not mandatory for you to open your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Certain other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small house painting business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides protection against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The specific cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the best policies for house painting insurance.

How much will house painting business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, certain other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for house painting , in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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