Commercial property insurance helps businesses, including farms and ranches, pay to repair or replace buildings, structures, and contents that are damaged, destroyed, or lost because of fires, storms, thefts, or other events outlined in the policy.

Business owners can buy commercial property insurance whether they own, rent, or lease a building. If you rent or lease a building, the building owner’s policy probably won’t cover the contents of the building that belong to you. You will need to buy your own policy to insure your on-premises property, including machinery, furniture, and merchandise. The cost of tenant coverage is usually significantly less than building coverage because the policy will only cover contents, not the building itself.

Commercial property policies provide either “replacement cost” coverage, “actual cash value” coverage, or a combination of both. Replacement cost coverage will pay to replace your property with new property of like kind and quality, up to the policy’s dollar limit. An actual cash value policy will pay the replacement cost of the property minus depreciation due to age and normal wear and tear. Although replacement cost coverage is more expensive than actual cash value coverage, it might better ensure that your business fully recovers after a significant loss.

Note: Typically, business owners can buy a single policy to cover businesses operating at multiple locations. However, you might need separate policies if some locations serve different functions and have different risk profiles. This could be the case, for example, if your business has an administrative office and a separate factory.

Provided by Texas Department of Insurance