Business Owners Policy (BOP) in Washington
A business owners policy bundles the three coverages almost every small business needs into one package: commercial property, general liability, and business income. Carriers price the bundle below what the pieces would cost separately, which is why it is the default policy for offices, shops, studios, and service firms.
The package is sound. The trouble is that owners treat it as complete coverage. A BOP is built for a typical business, and the distance between typical and yours is where claims get denied.
What it covers
- Your building if you own it, plus contents, equipment, inventory, and tenant improvements if you lease
- Bodily injury and property damage you cause to other people, including legal defense
- Personal and advertising injury, such as a defamation or copyright claim tied to your marketing
- Lost income and continuing expenses while you are closed after a covered loss
What it does not cover
- Mistakes in the professional advice or services you deliver (that is professional liability)
- Vehicles your business owns or that employees drive for work
- Data breaches, ransomware, and funds transfer fraud
- Claims from employees, including injuries (handled by L&I in Washington) and wrongful termination
Who needs it
Most businesses with a physical location, inventory, or equipment and fewer than about 100 employees. Carriers restrict eligibility by industry and size, so contractors, restaurants, and higher-risk operations may need the pieces written separately.
What drives the price
- Industry class and what you actually do day to day
- Property values and building construction
- Annual revenue and payroll
- Claims history over the last three to five years
- Location, including wildfire and earthquake exposure
Where owners get caught: a limit set once and never revisited
A contractor insures $200,000 of equipment, then buys three years of new tools without telling anyone. A restaurant renovates the kitchen and never raises the improvements limit. Many commercial property forms also carry a coinsurance clause: insure for meaningfully less than true value and the carrier reduces even a small partial claim in proportion. We rebuild your values from scratch at every renewal.
Business Owners Policy: common questions
Is a BOP the same as general liability insurance?
No. General liability is one of the three parts inside a BOP. A BOP adds commercial property and business income coverage to the liability piece, usually at a lower combined price than buying them separately.
Does a BOP cover earthquake damage in Washington?
Standard BOP forms exclude earthquake. Earthquake coverage for commercial property is added by endorsement or placed as a separate policy, and in the Puget Sound it is worth pricing rather than assuming.
Can a home-based business use a BOP?
Often, yes. A homeowners policy typically excludes most business property and business liability, so a home-based business with clients, inventory, or equipment usually needs either a BOP or a smaller in-home business policy.
Business Owners Policy in practice
Illustrative stories of businesses that needed it, and what else their review turned up.
A Kirkland Boutique, a December Inventory, and a Policy Written for March
A women's clothing boutique had a business owners policy that looked fine on paper. The review found an inventory limit set for the slowest month of the year and no protection for the card data running through its register.
BOPGLCyberCreative servicesA Wedding Photographer's Gear Was Insured at Home but Not at the Wedding
A photographer with a studio and $40,000 of cameras and lenses thought her business owners policy covered her equipment. It did, as long as the equipment never left the studio.
BOPPropertyE&OFood and beverageThe Coffee Shop That Needed a Cheaper BOP and Got a Complete One Instead
A two-location café came in to lower its premium. The review found an espresso machine with no breakdown coverage, a business income limit that would run out in weeks, and eleven employees with no protection against an employment claim.
BOPPropertyEPLIPersonal servicesWhy a Salon's Business Owners Policy Didn't Cover the Client Whose Color Went Wrong
A salon owner assumed her business owners policy covered everything that happened in the chair. It covered a client who slipped on the floor, but not one whose chemical treatment went wrong. Here is what closed that gap.
BOPE&OEPLIHealthcareA Physical Therapy Clinic's Growth Plan Needed an HR Plan, and an Insurance Plan to Match
A two-location physical therapy practice was opening a third clinic and hiring fifteen people. The review found employment exposure, an owner's malpractice policy that didn't cover the clinic's other therapists, and a lease that asked for more.
EPLIE&OBOPLegal servicesA Small Law Firm's Trust Account and the Email That Almost Emptied It
A four-attorney firm handling real estate closings assumed its malpractice policy covered a stolen wire. The review found that malpractice, cyber, and crime coverage each covered a different piece, and the firm had only one of them.
CyberE&OBOPUsually written alongside
General Liability
Injury and property damage claims from customers, clients, and the public. The policy most contracts require.
Learn moreCommercial Property
Buildings, equipment, inventory, and improvements, valued at what it would really cost to replace.
Learn moreProfessional Liability (E&O)
Claims that your advice, work, or service cost a client money. Excluded from every BOP and GL policy.
Learn morePart of the programs we build for restaurants & food, professional services, technology & startups and retail & shops.
Not sure your business owners policy coverage fits?
Send us what you have. We review it line by line against your leases and contracts, and tell you plainly what is missing. Free, and no obligation.