How Working From Home Affects Your Home Insurance

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work and home-based businesses have become far more common across many industries. But while working from home may have distinct advantages and conveniences, it can also require you to reassess your homeowners insurance and make adjustments according to different coverage needs. At Morgan Marrow Company, our knowledgeable team can help you tackle this process.

Why Does Working From Home Impact Coverage?

If you’ve started your own home-based business, these arrangements may require you to adjust your homeowners insurance policy or retain other types of coverage. This is because standard home insurance policies typically don’t offer sufficient coverage for business-related property and activities. Many incidents related to commercial activities won’t be covered at all, meaning you could face extensive out-of-pocket losses.

How Can I Address These Needs?

If you’re working from home, you should consider the following aspects of your coverage and how you might need to adjust your insurance:

• Business property—Standard home insurance policies typically have insufficient personal property coverage limits for particularly valuable items. They might also have exclusions when it comes to business property. If you have extensive electronics, expensive equipment or artisan tools as part of your job, you may need to purchase a separate commercial property insurance policy or a business property endorsement.

• Commercial liability risks—Your home insurance likely includes personal liability coverage, but this feature does not typically apply to business-related incidents. As such, if a client is visiting your home and slips on a wet floor or if you accidentally cause damage to a customer’s property, you’ll need other coverage, such as a general liability insurance policy.

What About If My Company Is Based Elsewhere?

If you don’t own your own home-based business but instead operate as a remote worker for a larger entity, your home insurance policy may be far less impacted. Your employer may be responsible for augmenting their commercial property insurance or otherwise retaining alternative coverage for equipment issued to you. Additionally, a business’s general liability and professional liability insurance policies can address situations in which a remote worker is at fault for other parties’ losses, as long as incidents were due to work-related tasks.

Learn More

Contact Morgan Marrow Company today to discuss how remote work may impact your home insurance needs.

This blog is intended for informational and educational use only. It is not exhaustive and should not be construed as legal advice. Please contact your insurance professional for further information.