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When most people hear the word artisan , they think about artists. The first artisans that come to most people’s minds are painters, sculptors, custom cabinet markers, or even artisan chefs and bakers . Although many of these fields qualify as artisan businesses, there is actually a very wide range of different businesses that qualify as artisans (which we’ll discuss below).
As an artisan, you may need a business insurance policy that reflects the specialized nature of the services you provide. Since artisan services tend to be more specialized, they often incur slightly higher risks and may require a higher degree of coverage.
In this article, we’re going to take an in-depth look at artisans’ insurance. First, we’ll define what type of businesses can be categorized as artisans, explain what an artisan insurance policy is and how it works. Then, we’ll show you a few of the most common categories of artisan insurance and give you some numbers on what you can expect to pay for artisan insurance, depending on the services that you and your small business provide.
Also read:
The legal definition of an artisan is actually quite broad. That being said, let’s take a second to define it.
By definition, an artisan is an individual or business that provides a service designed to improve the performance of a certain aspect. This means that artisan services are designed to go above and beyond what is provided by a normal technician or similar service.
For example, a maintenance technician who performs small repairs around residential houses would be fine with a standard handyman insurance policy . However, if you provide custom cabinetry, build fancy bathrooms, kitchens, or provide another specialty service, then you would likely need to purchase an artisan insurance policy.
In this example, the expert finish carpenter would be applying many of the same skills and using similar tools as the handyman. However, the artisan likely charges a lot more for their services and would be using more expensive, higher-quality materials. As such, the financial risk is greater for the carpenter than it is for the basic handyman making quick fixes.
Almost all artisan insurance policies are centered around a general liability or professional liability insurance policy. However, liability insurance products aren’t limited to these two. There are liability policies that artisans can add for more protection. Examples are employer’s liability insurance, cyber liability insurance, employment practices liability insurance, and more.
If you’re a licensed artisan who is providing a service to other individuals or businesses, then you should have an artisan insurance policy. These days, there’s no telling who will sue you and what they’ll try to sue you for. If and when that day comes, your insurance policy can stand to save you tens of thousands of dollars (and even more) in potential legal fees and reparations.
Now, you may be asking, “ What if I just make candles or other handmade crafts? Do I still need artisan insurance? ” The answer is yes - even as a candle maker or crafter , you’ll still need to purchase handmade artisan insurance designed for your candle-making or soap-making business .
To keep it short and simple - if you’re selling artisan products or providing artisan services, then you need artisan insurance. Even if you don’t purchase coverage for yourself (which you should), having an insurance policy will give clients a greater degree of confidence in your services, which will allow you to charge more and acquire more clients.
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Now, let’s take a few minutes to go over some of the more common categories of artisan insurance that you may come across while shopping.
Marine artisan insurance is a type of liability policy designed to cover marine artisans who repair or improve boats and other watercraft. For the most part, artisan insurance is affordable. However, you may find that marine artisan insurance is slightly more expensive. This is due to the fact that boats can be expensive, which means there’s a higher degree of financial risk associated with working on them.
So what are the policies included in marine artisan insurance? The types of protection you can get varies from carrier to carrier. However, in general, the following are what you’ll always find:
General liability
Professional liability
Pollution liability
Equipment and tools coverage
Marine artisan general liability insurance covers the cost of personal injuries or property damage the marine artisan directly caused. An optional product and completed operations can be added, which covers personal injuries and property damage caused by the delivery of a product or service.
Marine artisan professional liability insurance covers legal fees and compensatory payments should a marine artisan face claims alleging negligence, violation of good faith, inaccurate advice, and other covered causes. Note that professional liability only covers financial or economic loss. Marine artisans can purchase this as a claims-made policy or occurrence policy.
Marine artisans that fix engines or plumbings can commit mistakes and cause the spillage of hazardous materials. Professional liability doesn’t cover this. Instead, the policy that provides protection is pollution liability insurance. Through this insurance policy, a marine artisan can’t only pay for legal fees and settlements but also debris cleanup. This one kicks in if the spill happened during the job or the spill happened sometime after the marine artisan completed the project.
Equipment and tools coverage insures a marine artisan’s drills, harnesses, and other objects used for work. Some carriers offer this as an onsite or offsite policy. Onsite marine artisan equipment and tools coverage can be claimed when tools and equipment get damaged or lost while working. On the other hand, offsite equipment and tools coverage can be claimed if the tools and equipment got damaged while stored in the marine artisan’s garage or warehouse.
Learn more about commercial marine insurance
As an artisan contractor, you’re providing a service that goes above and beyond what a normal handyman , construction , electrician , lawn care , plumbing, or roofing company would normally take care of.
Artisan contractors insurance is coverage for any contracting businesses that provide a specialized artisan service. Examples could include (but aren’t limited to):
Custom cabinet builders.
Custom landscapers or hardscapers.
Mosaic artists or custom tile.
Custom deck builders.
Custom audio and speaker installation.
Specialty lighting technicians or installers.
So what kinds of protection does artisan contractor insurance provide? A typical artisan contractor insurance includes:
General liability
Professional liability
Employer’s liability (optional)
Employment practices liability (optional)
Cyber liability (can be endorsed or bought as a separate insurance policy)
Equipment coverage (optional)
Commercial auto insurance
While working, you might accidentally hurt someone. Even if it’s not your fault, the injured person can contest the matter in a court of law and sue you for their injuries or property damage.
General liability insurance is underwritten to provide protection against such a situation. It will cover legal fees so that you’ll have quality defense and don’t incur significant losses. And if you lose the lawsuit, general liability will pay the aggrieved party on your behalf.
Say what if your product or service caused the injuries? Does general liability cover this? The answer is a yes and a no. Basic general liability insurance only covers injuries or property damage you yourself caused or allegedly caused. Decide to add products and completed operations to general liability for more protection.
General liability with products and completed operations coverage covers cost if your product or service caused injuries or property damage. Here are some example situations where this optional coverage can be very useful:
You’re a woodworking artisan hired to make a fancy chair for a client’s porch. Weeks after the project was completed, the project demanded you pay for his injuries. Upon asking why, it turned out that the material used to make the chair isn’t sturdy enough. The finished chair can’t hold the client’s weight, which resulted in minor injuries.
You’re a custom audio and speaker installation artisan hired by an amateur producer to work on his studio. Sometimes after the service was completed, the studio was engulfed in flames. Investigation revealed that the defective wiring of the sound system caused the fire. The client then asked you to reimburse his loss.
Professional liability is the second protection included in artisan contractor insurance products. This one provides coverage if a client accuses you of causing economic or financial loss by committing negligence, false advice, and violation of good faith.
If you find the above explanation hard to understand, just remember that professional liability got your back if a client experiences losses because you committed or allegedly committed errors and omissions.
Note that professional liability is underwritten as a claims-made policy or occurrence policy. A claims-made professional liability can only provide coverage to incidents that happened while it’s in effect. On the other hand, an occurrence professional liability insurance provides coverage regardless if the covered peril happened while the policy duration is valid or has expired.
Artisan contractors working with assistants should get employer’s liability insurance. The function of this policy is to take care of lawsuits employees file because of the following:
Workplace injury
Employer’s negligence
Delayed or missing employee benefits
Unlike professional liability and general liability insurance, employer’s liability insurance is an optional inclusion. This means that you can decide to add or remove it. We strongly recommend that you do the former to have the best protection. You don’t need to get covered so much. An employer’s liability insurance offering $500,000 coverage will do.
Aside from workplace injuries, negligence, and missed employee benefits, other reasons why an artisan’s employees file a lawsuit is because of sexual harassment, wrongful termination, or discrimination. Employer’s liability insurance doesn’t cover these things. And what provides protection instead is employment practices liability insurance.
Employment practices liability insurance covers legal fees and compensatory payments if you find yourself facing sexual harassment claims wrongful termination claims, and discrimination claims. Just like employer’s liability, employment practices liability insurance is an optional policy - meaning that you can choose not to have it. Nonetheless, it’s better to include this in artisan contractor insurance for the best protection.
Some artisan contractors run a personal website to market their services, schedule projects, and collect payments from clients. A personal website can be hacked and sensitive data leaked. Some sensitive data stolen might be from customers. And if they incur losses after the breach, the artisan contractor in question is liable to compensate for losses.
Cyber liability insurance covers legal fees and settlements to concerned parties. This kicks in if sensitive data got leaked due to phishing, malware, and other types of cyberattacks. Note that this policy will also reimburse what you spent on customer notification and data breach containment.
Cyber liability is offered as a stand-alone policy. In other words, you’ll need to get this as separate insurance or ask your carrier to endorse it on your artisan contractor insurance. For the best protection, decide to get $1 million cyber liability coverage.
The completion of each project doesn’t only depend on the expertise of an artisan contractor. The condition of work tools is also a determinant. Work tools in good condition make the work fast. On the other hand, defective work tools make the work slow or even delayed.
That’s why if you’re not thinking of self-insuring your work equipment, then get equipment coverage. Equipment coverage gives money so that you can get defective work tools repaired without incurring any cost. By the way, if work tools are less than three years old, then this policy will provide replacements too.
Equipment coverage doesn’t automatically insure all the work equipment in your possession. Understand that this insurance only applies to the work equipment you listed as covered. Another thing, equipment coverage is an optional policy, which you can decide to add or remove.
Also read: Contractor insurance
If you hold a commercial auto insurance policy for a company vehicle, you may have realized that your policy charges slightly extra for ‘ artisan use .’ Although the extra coverage is typically only incrementally more expensive, this extra coverage is designed to cover the fact that you’re transporting specialty tools and materials for work (which often cost the insurer more to replace in the event of an accident).
That’s why, as an artisan using a cargo van or any other vehicle for work, decide to get commercial auto insurance as it’s cheaper but more comprehensive. Commercial auto insurance includes the following policies:
Auto liability insurance
Physical damage coverage
Emergency roadside assistance
Auto liability insurance covers cost if you caused a vehicular accident and injured third parties or damaged property. This policy gives money so that you can pay lawyer fees, other legal costs, and settlements.
Physical damage coverage, on the other hand, protects your vehicle from damage. This is available as a collision physical damage coverage or comprehensive physical damage coverage. Collision physical damage coverage covers repair costs if your car got damaged after hitting a vehicle or an object. Comprehensive physical damage coverage, in contrast, covers damage resulting from theft, vandalism, arson, lightning, and extreme weather. Note that both types of physical damage coverage don’t cover normal wear and tear.
With so many different types of artisans, you may be wondering how much artisan insurance costs. The amount you’ll pay for insurance coverage depends almost entirely on the type of artisan service that you provide. Greater levels of financial or physical risk correspond to more expensive premiums.
To help you figure out how much you’ll need to set aside for your artisan business insurance, we’ve put together a table with some ballpark figures that you can expect to pay on $1 million general liability insurance for different types of artisan businesses. Let’s take a look!
Artisan Service Type | Average Monthly Premium | Average Annual Premium |
---|---|---|
Custom Lighting or Sound | $56 | $672 |
Custom Cabinetry | $53 | $636 |
Custom Auto Bodywork | $78 | $936 |
Marine Artisan | $96 | $1,152 |
Tile or Stone Installation | $43 | $516 |
Custom Painting and Murals | $37 | $444 |
Small Artisan Contractor | $39 | $468 |
Here’s another table that shows the pricing of the recommended artisan insurance companies:
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for |
---|---|---|---|
CoverWallet | $37.16 | $445.92 | Artisan insurance quotes comparison online |
Thimble | $43.27 | $519.24 | Short-term artisan insurance |
NEXT | $53.43 | $641.16 | Artisan insurance with intuitive certificate of cover |
Always decide to get a high deductible. Having a high deductible will significantly cut your rates even if you’re a high-risk customer. The second thing to do is to think about which policies you need and don’t need. Artisan insurance has a lot of policies included. However, not all apply to your line of work. Therefore, you can save money if you only invest in insurance policies that are practically useful. For example, pollution liability is only useful for artisans who deal with hazardous substances. Artisans, such as crafters, don’t have a use for it.
One final thing, If you want to get an affordable artisan and service contractor policy, the best thing you can do is to shop around and compare artisan insurance quotes from competing insurance companies. Rates can vary heavily from one state to another, and you never know when a certain insurance provider is offering special entry rates or deals to new clients.
To compare your artisan insurance quotes today and get cheap, reliable coverage, click the ‘ Get Quotes ’ button below! All you need to do is follow the process, enter some preliminary information on your business and you’ll be presented with offers from some of the best artisan insurance companies and coverage options in the market and be able to find a policy that fit your commercial needs and your budget!
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Artisan insurance quotes comparison online
Online policy management
Online proof of insurance
Get covered online without lengthy talks with an agent
File a claim online
Only covers crafters
Not a company but a broker selling the artisan insurance products of its partners
CoverWallet’s artisan insurance is only available for crafters. Policies included are general liability, commercial property, and business owner’s policy with commercial auto. Customers can also get a customized insurance plan that can be added with workers compensation, business interruption insurance, cyber liability insurance, and more. If you want to do your own research before getting covered, CoverWallet can help because it runs an insurance quotes comparison platform. This allows you to get the offers of different carriers and compare pricing.
Best for: Artisan insurance quotes comparison online
Average cost: $37.16 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Offers short-term artisan insurance
Covers all kinds of artisan
Instant online proof of insurance
General liability coverage is the only inclusion in Thimble’s artisan insurance
Thimble covers all types of artisans. However, the hitch is this company’s artisan insurance only offers general liability coverage. But still, this isn’t a big drawback, since Thimble sells stand-alone insurance products such as workers compensation, commercial auto, equipment insurance, and professional liability insurance. Work with Thimble because it allows you to get instant proof of insurance. Also, you can decide to be covered for only hours, days, weeks, or months.
Best for: Short-term artisan insurance
Average cost: $43.27 per month
Our rating: 9/10
Send proof of insurance in different channels
Get covered online
General liability can be endorsed with products and completed operations coverage
File and track a claim online
NEXT’s artisan general liability insurance doesn’t offer products and completed operations coverage as an additional option
NEXT offers artisan insurance for painters. Policies included are general liability insurance, workers compensation, and commercial property insurance. Note that NEXT’s general liability insurance for artisans can be added with tools and equipment coverage. You might like to work with NEXT because it gives a 5% discount if you buy more than one policy. Furthermore, you can send your proof of insurance as a text message, email, or social media post.
Best for: Artisan insurance with intuitive certificate of cover
Average cost: $53.43 per month
Our rating: 8/10
This company does not care about the people they insure or the people that work for the company. They do stupid meets all day long about quality on calls while injured workers sit in pain waiting for answers but can never get to anyone to help them. This company hires uneducated people to run the company so that nothing important get done. I have heard so many stories about injury workers having bad service. They can’t never get their claims adjuster on the phone and the doctors that this company tells people to go to do not care about their patients causing their injuries to become worse. This company neglect on taking care of people’s injured employees have caused people to end up with disabilities for the rest of their life. if you get insurance under this company you will end up having to hire a lawyer to fight them in court. Do not get a policy with this company. Your employees will pay the price and so will the owners of the company. Honestly they need to get shut down. Avoid at all cost do not get this insurance and do not work for this company.
Terrible customer service. I got this insurance for my Amazon store when I ran one, took a break and cancelled all my subscriptions. I called these guys and they recommended sending an email. They never responded and have been charging me since then. Definitely going to dispute via the bank. Hate when businesses take advantage of other small businesses for their own gain.
I purchased a year long policy for my small business I paid for the year up front. First they sent me the incorrect paperwork and acted as if I had something to do with the mistake. About three weeks later I received a bill for the policy. I then sent countless email as the payment did clear my account. About a week later I'm told they have no record of my payment. Now I have to send any documents proving I said then. It went on for weeks. More requests of proof from this person then another. Every conversation had an under lying tone of me being dishonest. Finally I just gave up with them and filed a despite with my bank which took all of three days.. So now I'm continuing to receive emails that my policy is past due and will be cancelled. Funny, I was told I didn't have a policy because they couldn't locate it.
Purchased the General Liability policy I needed to fulfill a contract for my hiring party. Simply Business made it very easy to complete an application and review multiple quote options. Ended up purchasing a policy for 1/2 of what I originally was told by my agent.
I insured my small business with them from early 2016 to January 2022. I had a workman's compensation policy with them the entire time for my staff of approximately 10 people which fluctuated up and down minimally over the years. We ran a very safe operation and never had so much as one claim. I sold my business in early 2022 and cancelled my policy which triggered a final audit of $2871.00 which was owed back to me. Of course I dissolved my LLC immediately after selling the business and thus closed my bank checking account at the advise of my accountant. Though my name was on the business policy, Employers Preferred Insurance Company refused to issue a check to me directly as the policy holder due to...you guessed it, policy. Long story short, if you sell your business keep a small amount deposited in the checking account because it's almost a guarantee that companies such as Employers will use their policy to weasel their way out of money owed after the dissolution of a business. I should have known that I would be treated a just another number shortly after I signed with them as the sales agent just disappeared after I was set up for an online account to manage my policy. My next business venture will entail me working with an actual insurance agent who has an office in an actual brick and mortar building!