Don’t Feel The Pressure: How Insurance Policies Can Help Pressure Washing Businesses

There are a significant number of inherent risks associated with working in the pressure washing business. So much so that it is extremely common for these business owners’ interests to protect their financial assets with a plethora of insurance policies. This appears to follow suit with the general trend of broad economic investment in business insurance, following a decline before COVID-19. 

This editorial seeks to elucidate the policy types that businesses in the pressure washing industry commonly seek out, such as general liability and other extended coverage, amongst others.

General Liability

General liability insurance policies are held by almost all businesses, indiscriminately of industry. This is because the protection they provide extends to risks experienced by almost every business, including: property damage, legal defense and personal injury.

It is not mandated by law for businesses to hold a general liability policy, though it is universally extremely common as it is unwise and imprudent not to have this protection. Furthermore, the risks of not carrying it far outside its costs, as a defenseless lawsuit could potentially set a business back millions of pounds. General liability mitigates this, ensuring such unforeseeable events are not fatal.

For US businesses in the pressure washing market, the maximum average spent on general liability insurance does not exceed $1,500 per annum. That being said, it is worth noting that your insurance’s cost will be influenced by a number of facets, such as: firm size, location and the policy’s aggregate and individual limits.

One way to reduce the cost of this policy type is to opt to buy it contained with a BOP (business owner’s policy) rather than as an individual form of coverage. Furthermore, this allows a number of coverage types to be aggregated into one, thorough solution to shield a business from a variety of different types of risk spanning multiple policies.

Extended Coverage

Commercial Property

Since pressure washing businesses depend on the use of sophisticated machinery that is hyperfocused on a singular purpose, commercial property insurance is frequently opted for in this industry.

The purpose of this type of insurance plan is to protect this vital technology that pressure washing businesses depend on from a number of liabilities, including storms, vandalism and explosions (to name a few). This is particularly important because the number of different machines these companies offer will have a number of specific accessories and components that could be expensive to replace on an individual basis (i.e. without this insurance plan).

Commercial Auto

Commercial auto provides coverage against a variety of risks against different types of vehicles, including trucks, cars and sometimes trailers. This is a must-have for businesses in the pressure washing industry, as the state requires any business using these modes of transport on public roads to have this type of insurance.

Since pressure washing companies rely on the transport of their products via this medium, and cannot function without it, this type of coverage is unquestionable.

 

Image Credit: TRUiC

Workers’ Compensation

Just as with a business in any other industry, regardless of the size a pressure washing business starts out as, it may grow significantly – both in terms of its eminence and employee count. Once its growth exceeds a certain point, it will become increasingly important to consider investing in a workers’ compensation policy.

Additionally, a number of states actually require companies with a number of part or full-time employees to take out this form of insurance. The purpose of this insurance is to make sure the business is not left exposed to the liabilities associated with on-the-job errors by employees. For example, mishaps that induce injury, disability or death.

Crime Insurance

The final piece of extended coverage that is frequently opted for is crime insurance. The primary purpose of this is to provide some protection against the risk of the company’s equipment being stolen. Given that the equipment these companies rely upon is extremely expensive, this is a natural worry when employees are often granted easy access to the storage facilities of these and other valuable items.

On top of providing a way to recoup the money lost on stolen machines, it also provides protection against the stealing of money itself by employees of the company.

Closing Thoughts

For more information on pressure washing insurance, please refer to The Really Useful Information Company’s (TRUiC) article on the topic for an extremely detailed and comprehensive overview.