Inland marine for flooring contractors is the family of coverages for property that moves. A tool floater covers the saws, sanders, stretchers and meters you own, and an installation floater covers the materials bound for a job, such as tile, plank and carpet, while they travel and wait to go down. Neither pays for injuries or for damage your work causes to a customer, which is liability’s job. Inland marine for contractors is the policy for your own property away from your shop.
Why a floater and not property insurance
A property policy is tied to a place: your shop, your warehouse. A flooring contractor’s property spends the day somewhere else, in a van, on a porch or in a customer’s garage. A floater follows the property, which is the reason it exists. Our page on tools and equipment coverage explains how it differs from the property coverage at your shop.
The tool floater
A tool floater covers equipment you own: saws, grinders, sanders, power stretchers, mixers, meters and hand tools. The questions to settle are how the equipment is listed, whether large machines are scheduled and smaller tools blanketed, how theft from a vehicle is treated and whether rented equipment is included.
Theft conditions deserve the most attention. A policy may expect tools locked inside a vehicle or building, and a claim can turn on that. Look at the equipment list for a new flooring crew if you are not sure what your kit contains.
The installation floater
An installation floater covers materials that are about to become part of a building. Flooring, tile, underlayment and carpet bought for a job are your property until the work is accepted, and stolen, damaged or waterlogged material is your loss. The floater can cover it in transit, in storage and at the site, up to the point of installation or acceptance, depending on the form.
Ask where coverage starts and ends. Material in a customer’s garage on Monday may be your loss, and the question is whether your policy follows it.
What a floater leaves alone
A floater does not cover liability, and it does not insure the vehicle. It does not usually cover mistakes in workmanship, a cut that wastes a roll or wear and tear. It may exclude certain causes of loss, such as mysterious disappearance, and usually carries a deductible. The wording matters more than the title.
Values, limits and the deductible
A floater pays up to a stated amount, so the figures you give matter. If you list tools at less than they are worth, you may be underinsured when a claim arrives. If you overstate them, you pay for coverage you cannot collect. Replace the list when you buy a major machine, and keep receipts or photos of serial numbers.
The deductible is yours to decide within the options offered. A higher deductible lowers the premium and leaves you carrying small losses. Our post on deductibles explains the tradeoff for the other policies, and the same logic applies here.
Setting it up
Make a list of your equipment and the most material you hold at any time. The quote page takes your tools, your jobs and your storage arrangements, and an agent can show you how each floater would be structured around them.
For the policies that sit beside a floater, see general liability, commercial auto for the van and the cost pillar for what moves the premium.