Business Building Insurance

If you’re the landlord of a business premise, such as a shop, supermarket, or office, you will need to know about building insurance for a commercial property.

Below, we discuss everything you need to know about business building insurance, including what it is, how it works, and how we can help find the best commercial building insurance quote for you.

What is business building insurance?

Business or commercial building insurance is pretty much exactly the same as buildings insurance, but it offers specific protection for the premises that is being used for business purposes.

If you are the landlord or owner of a premise that is used for business purposes, then it will be your responsibility to ensure that the building has building insurance in place. However, if you rent a property for business purposes, but you don’t actually own the building itself, then it won’t be your job to ensure that it is properly insured; it will be the responsibility of your landlord.

Even if it’s not your duty to put business building insurance in place, you might still want to take out business contents insurance to ensure that your business’ belongings are protected in the event that something happens and they become damaged or stolen.

What does business insurance cover/include?

Business building insurance works in pretty much the same way as home insurance does in that you can have buildings insurance and contents insurance, but business building insurance is there to take care of you and your company in the event that you need to make a claim as a result of the actual building needing repairing or rebuilding for whatever reason.

This type of insurance covers myriad things, depending on the level of cover that you take out. For example, if there was a severe flood in the area that your business’ building is located in and your whole office suffered from flood damage, your business building insurance policy would cover the cost of the damage.

You also need to bear in mind that you need to take out the right level of commercial property insurance, especially if your place of business has regular visitors and other users of the premises.

You will also be covered for things like:

• Burst pipes that cause water damage to the property.
• Damage as a result of a fire.
• Storm damage.
• Theft and associated damage as a result of a burglary or attempted burglary on the premises.
• Building damage as a result of riots.
• Cover for subsidence (when the ground beneath a building starts to sink and pulls the building down with it).
• If your business income is interrupted and you lose earnings as a result of an event that you have stated clearly in your insurance policy.
• Cover for damage of stock or cash that has been left in the building after an unexpected occurrence.

On the other hand, business contents insurance covers the things that are damaged inside the building such as equipment and furnishings, similarly to a home insurance policy.

Do I need business buildings insurance?

Commercial property building insurance isn’t technically a legal requirement for business owners, but it can be very good to have a policy in place to offer you peace of mind that your company will be financially protected in the event of a fire, flood or other types of damage.

It might be a good idea to note that if you need to take out a mortgage in order to purchase your business premises, your business mortgage provider may insist that you take out cover for a commercial building before your mortgage application is accepted.

How much does business buildings insurance cost?

The cost of business building insurance differs depending on many factors such as the size and nature of your business, where your business is based and the type of property that the business is housed in.

The bigger your business, the more expensive commercial building insurance is likely to be as you’ll have much more that needs covering and you’ll also have more to lose in the event that you don’t have a proper insurance policy in place.

The type of property that you operate your business from will also be a determining factor in how much you pay for business building insurance as premises with higher rebuild costs will naturally cost more to insure as the insurer will be taking on a much bigger risk if you need to make a claim.

How to find the best/cheapest commercial building insurance

In order to find the most affordable insurance policy for a commercial building, you will need to spend some time comparing quotes from different providers to find a policy that’s best suited to you and your company.

The good news is that we can do all of this for you. All You need to do is fill your business details in and then we will be in touch with quotes from many different business building insurance providers and help you make an informed decision for your business.

When you’re applying for a quote for commercial property business insurance with us, you will need to provide the following details so that we can find the best and most accurate quote for your business building insurance needs.

• The type of business that you operate and what the property is being used for.
• How big your business is and how many people you employ.
• Whether you require any extra cover such as business interruption protection or business vehicle insurance.
• Whether you’ve made any previous claims in the past.
• Where your business property is based (address and postcode).
• Whether you operate as a sole trader, partnership or limited company.
• Relevant personal details such as your name, address and contact details.