When a disaster strikes and damages your property, it leaves debris in your home. You need to partner with a junk removal company to remove the junk, which costs money. On the flip side, if you own a debris removal company, there are risks involved in every removal project. It's essential to ensure you have the right debris removal insurance to protect your business against any unexpected occurrences.
This article provides valuable insights into debris removal insurance, including the cost and the best insurance providers.
As the name suggests, debris or junk removal insurance covers the costs of removing rubble from an insured property after damages caused by a covered risk, such as charred wood or twisted metal frames. Insurance carriers often provide this policy as an extension of a property insurance policy .
If you live in an insured residential property and a fire breaks out, you'll need junk removal coverage to remove the resulting debris. Besides, a tree might fall on your roof, sending shingles flying inside your home. In that case, your trees debris removal insurance will pay for the clean-up costs.
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Insurers provide debris removal insurance with coverage limits, which determine the maximum amount of reimbursement a policyholder receives for debris removal costs. The policy may also cover the clean-up of hazardous material (such as asbestos, lead, wood treatments, VOCs, etc.). Typically, insurance carriers include debris removal in your property coverage, but it's also possible to buy it as a stand-alone policy.
When calculating the repair or replacement costs after property damage, the debris removal expenses are calculated separately. They are additional costs that aren't part of the damaged property's value. As such, insurance providers frequently ignore the impact of the total losses and coverage limitations on junk removal costs when underwriting standard debris removal insurance.
So how much does demolition and debris removal insurance cover?. The policy is typically 25% of the insurance provider's liability for property loss caused by a covered event, including a deductible (depending on the terms of the policy declaration).
It's worth noting that an insurer will only honor a claim for debris removal if the policyholder reports the incident within 180 days from the date of loss. Additionally, the claimant must report the expenses within the same timeframe. It's especially critical for contractors to adhere to this requirement, and they must have the amount in writing.
When estimating how much debris removal insurance coverage you require, you need to consider several factors. Some of these factors include:
The property's age
Proximity to other building structures (i.e., equipment maneuverability)
Type of structure; is it a wooden or steel frame? Steel structures are more expensive to remove
Existence of hazardous material; what material is it?
While there's no benchmark for estimating the pre-damage costs of junk removal, you can contact your debris removal contractor and request a quote estimate based on the assumption of a total loss. Depending on the estimate, your insurance provider might request an increase in the debris removal insurance limits .
If you're a debris removal contractor, you'll need junk removal commercial insurance to cover your business against different kinds of business hazards. Various types of insurance can benefit your business. However, we advise you only get the ones most useful for your specific needs. The most appropriate insurance policies for debris removal business are :
Debris is usually scattered all over after property damage. It's challenging to predict what will happen. General liability coverage protects you when an employee damages property or injures the third parties during the removal project. This insurance helps by shouldering the cost of settlements and legal defense.
General liability insurance is a comprehensive policy. It’s because it can be endorsed or added with optional policies such as:
Products and completed operations coverage
Rented premises liability coverage
Advertising injury coverage
Third parties might file a personal injury claim or property damage claim after the debris removal service has been completed. Note that basic general liability insurance only takes care of claims filed at the time a covered incident happened. Products and completed operations coverage solves this drawback. General liability insurance having this can take care of the following instances:
Do you rent a commercial space for your debris removal company? If that’s the case, we’re sure that the rental contract states you’re responsible for shouldering costs if the rented commercial property is damaged.
Rented premises liability coverage is an optional policy in general liability insurance that provides money if your rented commercial space becomes damaged by fire, theft, vandalism, and other named perils. You can use the insurance money to pay for the repair of the rented commercial space or reimburse the losses of your landlord.
Your debris removal business might face libel, slander, and copyright infringement claims from third parties. This is why you can add advertising injury coverage to general liability insurance. Advertising injury coverage will shoulder costs on your behalf if someone accuses your business of committing slander, libel, copyright infringement, and other forms of reputational harm.
General liability insurance with no optional coverages has a $1 million or $2 million aggregate limit. It offers $1 million per occurrence limit for bodily injuries. The same limit also applies for property damage.
Sub-limits apply if you decide to add products and completed operations coverage, advertising injury coverage, and rented premises liability coverage.
Products and completed operations have a $2 million aggregate limit and $1 million per occurrence limit. Advertising injury coverage offers the same. And then, rented premises liability coverage offers $100,000 per occurrence limit with an aggregate limit of $1 million.
As a debris removal company, you certainly own a commercial vehicle for transportation to job sites. If you or your employee gets involved in a car crash, your personal car insurance can't cover you. It would help if you had commercial auto insurance to pay for the damages or compensate third parties who were injured or had their property damaged.
Commercial auto insurance doesn’t only shoulder your liability for car accidents. Just like general liability insurance, it can be added with other policies for better coverage. These are:
Medical payments coverage
Physical damage coverage
Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage
Medical payments coverage will be very helpful if you get involved in a car accident with passengers. Basic commercial auto insurance only covers the injuries of third parties. That’s why it’s smart to add medical payments coverage because it will cover the emergency treatment of injured passengers. Note that coverage applies even if the accident is your fault or the other driver’s fault.
Commercial auto insurance takes care of your car as well but only if you decide to add physical damage coverage to it. There are two types of physical damage coverage - collision and comprehensive.
Suppose your car caused an accident or got involved in an accident and its bumper, windshield, windows, door, or headlights got broken. Of course, without insurance, repairing or replacing such parts will cost a lot of money. But if your commercial auto insurance has collision physical damage coverage, repairing or replacing such parts will not cost you at all or be very cheap.
Comprehensive physical damage coverage includes what collision physical damage coverage doesn’t take care of. Particularly, damage because of fire, extreme weather, theft, vandalism, and other named perils. Comprehensive and collision physical damage coverage only differ in their scope. But in terms of function, both are the same. Just like collision insurance, comprehensive insurance takes care of vehicle parts repair or replacement.
If another driver caused an accident, you can file a claim against his insurance and get some money. However, things become very problematic if he doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. To ensure that you’re still covered in such a situation, get underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage.
It’s easy to understand how underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage works. This optional policy in commercial auto insurance answers your medical bills if the other driver can't cover you with his insurance policy. Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage will take care of your property damage too.
Debris removal businesses like yours typically own two or more commercial vehicles. If this applies to you, we suggest you don’t insure your commercial vehicles with separate commercial auto insurance policies. The first reason is that it’s not effective. The second reason is that it’s difficult to manage multiple policies.
Insurance companies underwrite a special type of commercial auto insurance called commercial fleet insurance. Through commercial fleet insurance, you can insure multiple vehicles at once. In other words, your commercial vehicles are covered under one roof. Just like commercial auto insurance, commercial fleet insurance covers your business’s liability for accidents, vehicle parts and replacement costs, emergency medical treatment of injured passengers, and underinsured/uninsured motorists.
You own a commercial space to operate a debris removal business. It’s where you store equipment and commercial vehicles. Commercial property insurance takes care of your commercial space. In practice, commercial property insurance takes care of repair or reconstruction costs if fire, vandalism, extreme weather, theft, and other covered perils rendered the commercial space unusable or damaged.
Additionally, you rely on equipment to remove junk. We’re sure that most of the equipment you own is very expensive. You’ll incur losses if equipment gets damaged or lost. This is why debris removal commercial property insurance comes with business equipment coverage. Business equipment coverage provides money or reimburses the money you spent to repair or replace equipment that extreme weather, thieves, vandals, or fire destroyed or damaged. By the way, some carriers immediately provide a replacement unit if the equipment that got lost or damaged is less than three years old.
How many employees does your debris removal business have? One, two, or a team of 10 members maybe? Regardless, decide to get workers compensation insurance if you're employing people. Why? First, workplace injuries can happen and you need to take care of employees. Second, failure to get workers compensation insurance comes with penalties.
Workers compensation insurance covers costs if an employee gets injured or sick because of work. This policy covers their emergency medical treatment and hospitalization. Workers compensation also covers expenses for buying medicines. If the employee can’t go to work for a while because he or she needs more time to heal, workers compensation also replaces a portion of income lost. Say, if the employee dies, workers compensation insurance will take care of death benefits for the spouse and children.
Earlier we said that failure to get workers compensation can be penalized. So how much will you pay? The amount of penalty depends on the state where your debris removal business is located. For example, if your business is in Illinois, you’ll be fined $500 multiplied by the days your business wasn’t covered by workers comp insurance. ( This means that if your business didn’t have workers comp for 30 days, the penalty will be $15,000).
Employees might file a claim against your business after experiencing alleged discrimination, wrongful termination, or sexual harassment. These perils are covered by employment practices liability insurance, which covers defense costs and settlements. Before moving on, we want you to know that employment practices liability insurance is available as a stand-alone policy or as an optional coverage in workers compensation insurance.
As with other insurance policies, several factors influence the cost of insurance for junk removal business. They include:
Your company's location
The number of employees
Annual gross income
The cost of junk removal equipment
Your property's market value
The rates of debris removal business insurance vary from one provider to another, but the average cost of general liability insurance is about $58 per month or $696 per year. Cost varies from one carrier to the next. That's why we recommend you visit many insurance educational websites to really know how much you'll pay. For further reference, here’s a table showing the best debris removal business insurance companies and their pricing:
| | Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoverWallet | $56 | $672 | Debris removal business insurance quotes comparison online |
| Thimble | $61.94 | $743.28 | Short-term debris removal contractor insurance by the hour, days, weeks, or months |
| State Farm | $69.81 | $837.72 | Property and business owners in disaster-prone areas |
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Finding the best insurance carrier often means searching for a reduced-cost policy. Still, it's critical also to consider a provider's quality of services. After reviewing other providers, we established that CoverWallet, Thimble, and State Farm are the best carriers for your debris removal business insurance.
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Compare the quotes of different debris removal insurance carriers
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Cancel a policy anytime
Policy cancellation takes effect after 30 days
CoverWallet doesn’t underwrite its own debris removal insurance. Instead, the company helps you find carriers offering debris removal business insurance with a simple click of a button through its online quotes comparison platform. CoverWallet’s advantage doesn’t end here. If you want to get insured fast, this company also allows you to buy the debris removal quotes from its partners. In fact, you can manage your debris removal insurance with the CoverWallet website or MyCoverWallet app.
Best for: Debris removal business insurance quotes comparison online
Average cost: $56 per month
Our rating:10/10
Short-term debris removal contractor insurance
Get insured online
Doesn't cover high-risk debris removal contractors
Thimble is your best bet for debris removal insurance that’s quick to purchase. This insurance company can get you covered within minutes - no lengthy forms nor talks with an online insurance agent. There’s a drawback though; Thimble only offers general liability coverage. Nonetheless, this isn’t a big problem as additional protection is available through endorsements. Policies you can endorse to Thimble's debris removal insurance are builder’s risk insurance, tools and equipment insurance, workers compensation insurance, commercial auto insurance, and commercial property insurance.
Best for: Short-term debris removal contractor insurance by the hour, days, weeks, or months
Average cost: $61.94 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Provides numerous discounts
A++ AM Best financial strength rating
Provides insurance through insurance agents for personalized policies
Mixed insurance reviews
Unavailable in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
State Farm was founded in 1922 in Bloomington, IL. Therefore, debris removal insurance buyers can be confident that their policies are written by a seasoned insurance carrier with an A++ financial strength rating by AM Best.
The company offers junk removal coverage for a wide range of risks, including:
Hurricanes
Storms (that down trees)
Winds
Floods
Fire
For example, a fallen tree might damage your covered property; your State Farm debris removal insurance coverage caters to the costs of removing the tree from the house, carport, garage, or fence. The company also reimburses up to $500 to remove or service the tree from your residential property.
Additionally, insurance buyers can choose their deductibles, which vary from one policy to another. If your coverage policy has a deductible, you can check the amount in the insurance documents. Alternatively, you can contact your State Farm Agent for inquiries on your deductible.
State Farm also provides a hassle-free claims process. The company has professional claims specialists who work together with claimants to assess the extent of damage and review the policy coverages. Besides, you can contact the claims specialists 24/7 if you have any questions during the claims process.
Best for: Property and business owners in disaster-prone areas
Average cost: $69.81 per month
Our rating: 8/10
Compare debris removal insurance quotes by clicking the "Get Quotes " button at the top of the page to get the cheapest rates from the best insurance carriers.
1 / 5
Use anyone except Employers. Period. They are non-transparent and shameful. After I complained long enough to warrant a call from a supervisor, the supervisor called back from a PRIVATE NUMBER (no caller ID), left a message that they are not reversing their decision (without any communication with me), and failed to leave a phone number for me to call back. She was hiding! They also fact find via email and phone calls, which is terrific for speed and communication. However, after setting a precedence of email or phone calls, they send time sensitive information via email, without any heads up... they are hoping you miss it and forfeit via expiration. Evil policies. Go elsewhere.
1 / 5
This place is an absolute joke of a company and should be ashamed of the way they conduct business. I was hurt on the job at the end of July and it took them just shy of 7 weeks to issue out a paycheck to me. Yes the amount was back dated but still. Not many have the luxury of not receiving a paycheck for almost 2 months. To top it all off, the original adjuster marked me down for the wrong state which caused a problem from the get go, I've had 3 different adjusters now since each one can't seem to figure out the simplicity of my claim. All my paperwork which includes, my job, house, and drs visits all are from the same state and city but yet some how I have been filed under a completely different state 1500 miles away. They do not answer your phone calls or emails no matter how many you leave. I've had to escalate my frustrations to the supervisors of each of these individuals in order to even get some kind of response. I've had more communication and information given to me about my claim from the customer service representatives then the actual adjusters.......... please tell me how that works?! A serious overhaul needs to happen here in order to serve your clients the way they deserve to be taken care of. 10/10 do not recommend this company to a single soul on earth
1 / 5
I have never had the displeasure of working with a more incompetent and disrespectful person in my life. I’m an injured worker and the adjuster that was assigned to my case was named Carrie Furgeson. In the past 6 weeks that I’ve been injured and out of work I have only been able to get ahold of her twice, not for lack of trying. I have left countless voicemails, countless emails, and she ignores them all. When I am finally able to get ahold of her I’m greeted with terrible customer service. She is rude, she talks over me and I’m hardly able to get a word in edgewise. She spelled my name wrong on my documents even after I spelled it for her properly countless times, this caused a whole new issue with my bank. I have bill collectors from the hospital calling me demanding payment and Carrie Furgeson won’t do a single thing to help, or to get them paid. All of my documentation is in Colorado, my job is in Colorado, my address is in Colorado, all my Dr offices and appointments have been in Colorado and Carrie still managed to hold my claim because she wasn’t sure what state she needed to file it under. It’s been 6 weeks since my Injury and my company still hasn’t received the wage paperwork to fill out so they can get me my correct wages. When she’s not ignoring me she’s answering my questions with “I don’t know” well I don’t know how she got this job, because apparently she doesn’t know anything about it. She is a disgusting morose individual inside and out and I genuinely wish her the worst in all of her future endeavors. I highly recommend you don’t use this company. Please if you are a business owner and your looking into this company please don’t use them. I’m sure they have the cheapest payment and that’s why companies use them in the first place, but you will be doing your employees a grave disservice by forcing them to venture into this absolute dumpster fire of a company. I would rate 0/5 if possible but 1 was the lowest I was allowed.
5 / 5
Their general liability insurance purchase process is simply the best online experience I've ever had in my life!
5 / 5
As long as they cover your line of business, you're literally covered! best rates, best coverage, best online experience, best professionals, can't be happier that I chose them!
Not all those who wander are lost.
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