Installation Floater Insurance
As a subcontractor, you often face many risks when completing a project. You must purchase, store, transport, stage, process, and install materials, machinery, equipment, and supplies.
Throughout these stages, your property may be at risk. Given that most commercial property insurance policies offer limited, if any, coverage for property once it leaves your premises, what can you do to protect your assets? The answer is installation floater insurance.
The Basics
So, what is installation floater insurance? Installation floater insurance coverage insures a subcontractor’s materials, machinery, equipment, power tools, building materials, and supplies from the moment they leave your premises until job completion. This means that your property will be insured while it is:
- Being stored at a temporary location
- In transit to a job site
- Being staged or awaiting installation
- Being installed
- Pending acceptance by a project owner or general contractor
Essentially, installation floaters protect your property before it becomes a permanent feature of a project or structure.
Installation Floater Insurance vs. Builder’s Risk Insurance
While installation floaters offer similar coverage to builder’s risk policies (another form of inland marine insurance), there are important distinctions between the two.
Installation floater insurance policies are typically purchased by subcontractors that have a limited scope of work on a job because they provide coverage only for the insured subcontractor’s portion of a project.
For example, subcontractors installing high-value equipment or materials not covered under the builder’s risk policy may need to purchase an installation floater to be adequately insured. Depending on the terms of the builder’s risk policy, it can be more cost-effective for a subcontractor to rely on an installation floater.
What is Covered?
Installation floaters are “all risks” policies, meaning they cover all exposures other than those expressly excluded by the policy. Policies generally cover losses caused by fire, theft, explosions, traffic accidents, vandalism, property damage, and several other perils.
Tool Insurance in Canada: An Essential Consideration for Subcontractors
As a subcontractor, your tools are your livelihood. That’s where tool insurance comes in. Contractor tool insurance covers the costs of your valuable tools in case of theft or damage. It’s crucial, especially if you’re storing or transporting tools to and from a job site.
An installation floater often includes coverage for tools, but be sure to check with your commercial insurance broker to confirm this.
Securing the Right Insurance
To discuss whether an installation floater is the right form of coverage to address your business’s property exposures, please get in touch with CMB Insurance Brokers today. Installation floaters can provide the peace of mind to focus on what you do best: delivering high-quality work on every project.
What types of Business Insurance do I need?
There are many types of insurance policies that our experts can advise you on and package to meet your specific needs, such as:
- Commercial General Liability
- Commercial Property Insurance
- Business Interruption Insurance
- Pollution Liability Insurance
- Professional Liability Insurance
- Product Liability Insurance
- Equipment Breakdown Insurance
- Commercial Auto Insurance
- Cyber Insurance