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Home inspectors like you help buyers and ensure that their future house doesn’t have costly problems. In your line of work, lawsuits, workplace injuries, business property damage, and other unfortunate events can happen.
Because of this, consider getting home inspector insurance. This grants the protection you need against the devastating risks you face when and after becoming a home and building inspector.
This article features the various policies, the cost of premiums, and the best companies offering the insurance coverage.
General Liability Insurance for Home Inspectors
Home inspector liability insurance grants protection against bodily injuries or property damage that clients, independent contractors, and other third parties file against you. The table above compares the quotes of the recommended insurance companies.
General liability for home inspectors is very comprehensive. Aside from bodily injuries or property damage, this home inspection business insurance will also protect you from these exposures:
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox | |
| Per occurrence limit | $1,000,000 | $500,000/$1,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $500,000/$2,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Products and completed operations aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Advertising injury coverage aggregate limit | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Tenant’s legal liability coverage limit | $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 |
| Waiver of subrogation included? | Yes | No | Excluded | Excluded |
| Hired/non-owned auto liability coverage included? | Yes | No | $2,500-$5,000 | Excluded |
| Equipment breakdown floater included? | No | No | Excluded | Excluded |
| Can you get a certificate of insurance online? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Name additional insureds? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deductible | $0 | $0 | $0-$2,500 | $0 |
You need professional liability insurance for home inspectors, which is also called errors and omissions insurance. The table above compares the quotes of the recommended insurance companies. E&O insurance for home inspectors grants a shield if clients file a claim because you didn’t accomplish your work properly.
E and O insurance for home inspectors is underwritten as an occurrence policy or as a claims-made policy. The best E&O insurance for home inspectors is occurrence-based because it can provide coverage even if its policy period has expired.
Insurance companies allow you to get home inspector professional liability insurance as a stand-alone policy or as an add-on to general liability insurance.
| CoverWallet (Best) | NEXT | Hiscox | |
| Per occurrence limit | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Name additional insureds? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Waiver of subrogation included? | Yes | No | No |
| Deductible | $0 | $0 | $500 |
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox | |
| Building coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $430,000 | $25,000/$500,000 | $10,000/$100,000 |
| Contents coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $35,000 | $25,000-$500,000 | $10,000/100,000 |
| Outdoor signs | Excluded | $2,500 | Excluded | Excluded |
| Accounts receivable | Excluded | Excluded | $5,000/$10,000 | Included |
| Money and securities | Excluded | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included |
| Lock and keys | Excluded | $1,000 | Excluded | Excluded |
| Business interruption floater | Excluded | Included | Included | Included |
| Equipment breakdown floater | Excluded | Included | Excluded | Excluded |
| Inland marine insurance floater | Excluded | Excluded | $10,000 | Excluded |
| Employee dishonesty floater | Excluded | $5,000 | $2,500 | Included |
| Deductible | $500-$1,000 | $500 | $500-$2,500 | $500-$10,000 |
Commercial property insurance reimburses your losses if something happens to the office and its furniture, computer, HVAC, and other contents.
This property inspector insurance policy applies if damage or loss happens because of:
Commercial property insurance doesn’t grant protection against earthquakes, floods, and mudslides. You need to purchase endorsements from your real estate inspection insurance to cover these perils.
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Residential inspection insurance programs of most carriers allow you to get a business owner’s policy.
A business owner’s policy is a type of insurance that combines general liability and commercial property insurance. You can also get cyber liability, business interruption, equipment breakdown, and other business insurance from this.
As a home inspector, it’s smart to get a business owner’s policy instead of buying general liability and commercial property insurance individually.
This is because you’ll get cheaper rates and enjoy easier policy management.
Workers’ compensation insurance is useful if you’re running a home inspection agency. Get this as soon as you have one or more employees.
Workers’ compensation insurance provides the money you can use to cover these costs when an employee sustains a work-related injury or disease:
Home inspector’s worker’s compensation insurance might come with an employer’s liability insurance. Employer’s liability insurance grants protection if an employee files a claim for negligence against you after sustaining a work-related injury or disease.
This provides $100,000-$5 million worth of coverage that you can use to cover the following expenses:
Residential building inspector insurance programs offer commercial auto insurance if you use an owned vehicle for work.
Commercial auto insurance grants protection if something happens while you or an employee is on the way to inspect a house, meet a client, or get supplies and pieces of equipment.
The functions of commercial auto insurance are as follows:
The average cost of a $1 million general liability insurance for home inspectors is $47 per month or $564 per year. This home inspector liability insurance cost estimate assumes that you have 5 employees and make $500,000-$750,000 per year.
There are many factors that affect the overall home inspector insurance cost. For one, each kind of coverage has its own rates. The table below outlines the cost of each policy you need to purchase as a home inspector:
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Percentage Of Customers That Get This | |
| General liability insurance | $47 | $564 | 95% |
| Errors and omissions insurance | $51 | $612 | 70% |
| Workers compensation insurance | $72 | $864 | 92% |
| Commercial property insurance | $53 | $636 | 70% |
| Business owner’s policy | $49 | $588 | 75% |
A great option for cheap home inspector insurance rates is NEXT. With this company, you can save up to 10% by bundling general liability insurance with commercial property insurance and other business insurance policies.
NEXT offers home inspector errors and omissions insurance as part of its general liability insurance.
Average cost: $25 per month
CoverWallet can help you get insured fast. Use CoverWallet’s online quote comparison tool, indicate your location, profession, and policy needed, and receive the offers of different carriers within minutes.
You can also get insured immediately. Proceed to buy a quote and enjoy perks – online certificate of insurance which is very useful for home inspection licensing and filing.
Average cost: $30.58 per month
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Consider Tivly® if NEXT or CoverWallet can’t provide coverage. Policies you can get from this company are general liability insurance, workers compensation insurance, professional liability insurance, and more.
A representative will help you choose coverage options and discuss the details of your policy.
Average cost: $33 per month
Thimble’s home inspector insurance offers a business owner’s policy and workers’ compensation insurance.
You can get short-term general liability insurance from Thimble. This grants coverage for hours, days, weeks, or months and has $1 million-$2 million per occurrence and aggregate limit.
Average cost: $35 per month
Hiscox provides coverage through its building inspector insurance program, which consists of general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policy, and cyber liability insurance. Similar to Thimble, Hiscox allows you to choose between policy limits and deductibles.
Average cost: $37 per month
10 / 10
For me this company has proven to be the best to do business with and worth my hard earned money. Contractors this is your company look no further.
7.7 / 10
Decent experience with Hiscox business insurance
10 / 10
Good company. Good and knowledgable customer service. If they don't know something they will pass you on to a more experienced rep that is more knowledgable. So far so good.
10 / 10
Best insurance ever
10 / 10
Coolest concept, I wish this was applied to other insurance products too.
9.4 / 10
Fastest ever online insurance quote and purchase! Also, great rates and professional customer reps that helps with whatever you need, if you need. Nice company!
2.8 / 10
Embroker sells a product that it doesn't honor. We purchased a combination D&O and EPLI policy. However, when it came to renewal, it told us that we only had D&O coverage even through our ACCORD certificate clearly mentions we have both. Basically they refused to honor the EPLI coverage and will leave you hanging with the bag. At time of renewal, they more than doubled our quote to get similar coverage. Basically BAIT & SWITCH. Unacceptable tactics. Easy to buy and pay but you may not be... Read More
2.8 / 10
Great platform. Terrible policy. There is no teeth behind it. No coverage. It's a fake policy that they sell. Sold us an EPLI policy that later we came to find out had no EPLI coverage. Amazing that they can get away with outright fraud. Check the positive reviews. They are all 'Anonymous' posted by Emroker staff. Stay away and find a real policy that will actually provide you coverage. We've been bitten by them and hope to find restitution via a lawsuit.
Paul Burns Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
It has been 70 days since I made a claim on the roof of my building. No one from the company will return calls. We are in hurricane season and located in Louisiana. My building is tarped to secure it.
Felicia Broadus Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
They are the worst, my truck was hit in January 23 and the claim adjuster has not been out to this very day! They have every excuse in the book as to why. They have not been to the collision shop. PLEASE AVOID THESE SCAM ARTIST!
Felicia Broadus Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
Avoid these SCAM ARTISTS! They don’t pay claims!!! Save yourself the trouble and money!
Kasey Arey Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
This company gives you a price that was in place for a year and when you have to use it there is fine print were they can go back and charge you more. Would not recommend them to any one. Crooks
John Murphy Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
Worst insurance comapny I have ever dealt with. A commercial vehicle represented by GUARD t boned my wife and daughters family vehicle in the middle of the day. Driver was cited and insurance claim insued. Fast forward 4 months and refusal of full amount of claim is still happening. Driver was found guilty, repairs started on my vehicle and when it comes to the final bill and diminished value we cannot get any help. I am out a family car, have an injured and traumatized wife and children,... Read More
Harshadray Patel Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
Extremely bad service, when you call , will make you wait on the phone for ever (over an Hour) and still no one to answer , so you end up hanging up. To cancel the policy, bounce you from one department to the other. They are supposed to refund from the date other insurance started and after sending the proof of other insurance policy, still they did not refund based on that actual date instead they use the date i managed to get hold of them. They charged me $7000.00 for a year's insurance on... Read More
Aaron Wensel Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
Guard Insurance is terrible. They were so bad I cancelled them because them couldn't figure out why I would never get a paper copy of the bill . Verified my address with them and still intermittent billing. I cancelled them in March through my local broker. Today 6/27 I get a letter in the mail from a collections company saying I owe 87.97. This was the first myself or my broker heard of owing this money. Here is some advice for this failure of a company send me a god damn bill and I will pay.... Read More
Michael Swink Insuranker
Policy Type: Business Insurance
Company name: Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
0 / 10
My employer had to have workers compensation by law. He obtained a policy through this Berkshire Hathaway GUARD and they failed me. I fell from a ladder and fractured my spine in 7 different places, my clavicle in 4 places, and the base of my skull. Going to my Dr visits I was prescribed medication for pain and the insurance company placed a pre-authorization hold on me picking up the medication from Walgreens. The hold lasted 5 days! My weekly benefits have never been on time, right now... Read More
10 / 10
Liberty Mutual is one of the more simple companies to deal with. I had to file a claim for my business owner policy after I caught one of my employees stealing a large amount of products from my business. Liberty mutual paid the claim fast and with no efforts. I wish the legal process was as easy…
10 / 10
For me this company has proven to be the best to do business with and worth my hard earned money. Contractors this is your company look no further.
7.7 / 10
Decent experience with Hiscox business insurance
9.4 / 10
Very pleased with Hiscox - their small business insurance rates are very good and they specialize in small business which gives me a peace of mind as a small business owner. So far so good!
10 / 10
Their customer service is absolutely fantastic. Very patient, knowledgable and provided excellent explanation of the purchased policy. I would highly recommend this insurance company to anyone that's looking to protect their business from unexpected expense. Thank you Hiscox for doing a great job for my business!
0.6 / 10
STAY AWAY! I wouldn't recommend hiscox small business liability insurance to anyone. Better not waste both your money and your time. Hiscox customer service is extremely unpleasant, not organized and not professional. It is the worst company we have dealt with in almost 25 years in business!
10 / 10
Good company. Good and knowledgable customer service. If they don't know something they will pass you on to a more experienced rep that is more knowledgable. So far so good.
10 / 10
Extremely fast and simple. Wasted a lot of time and money until I found these guys! I feel like my business is in good hands now.
10 / 10
Hiscox's the best! My business is insured with them for over 12 years and am not planning to switch!
10 / 10
Excellent experience with Hiscox BOP for my coffee shop. They provided all it needed.
10 / 10
My HI barbershop is well covered with their great BOP product for 5 years already! not planning to switch!
10 / 10
Best insurance ever
10 / 10
Coolest concept, I wish this was applied to other insurance products too.
10 / 10
Great experience
6 / 10
Didn't relate to the concept much, but it makes sense if you need insurance to go
0 / 10
It doesn't really feel sustainable to me and doesn't offer business interruption, product liability and commercial property insurance. They have no local agents and despite their technology first approach you cannot file claims online. Additionally, product manufacturers are not covered by Thimble and they don't provide enterprise solutions.
10 / 10
As a contractor that works 3 times a week for a few hours, Thimble gets really handy for me and saves me money. I have no use for these massive business insurance coverages offered by traditional insurance companies.
10 / 10
Excellent concept which is useful to many small businesses!
10 / 10
Been waiting for this type of solution for a long time!
10 / 10
Love their business insurance solutions for freelancers! Great app!
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Disclosure: Insuranks.com is an independent educational comparison service and an advertising-supported publisher. Some of the companies/offers that appear on the website are from our partners which we may receive compensation from. This may influence which companies/offers we write about and where and how it appears on the site. However, this does not impact our assessments. We solely highlight companies, products, and offers that can help you make smarter insurance decisions.
