Homeowners and landlords make sure you add on or have underground utility coverage also called service line coverage. For $20-$60 a year added onto your policy, it covers $10,000 of repairs for a $500 deductible - even if your main deductible is $1,000 or $2,500! With our aging water and sewer systems, it is well worth this small added cost to have this coverage.

For landlords, it is only available for 1-4 family rentals, as those type of properties are still considered a personal lines policy and not commercial property. Anything with 5+ units is considered commercial and underground utility is not available.

​Get underground utility coverage TODAY!

One often overlooked, very important item for commercial building owners is the additional insured use on their tenants policies. When you have your tenant add your entity on to their policy as an additional insured, that gives you 1st defense for liability when they are negligent.

Any good attorney will be suing the tenant but also the building owner too, let the liability be determined by the court. However, if you are an additional insured on that Subway shops insurance on the slip & fall on their wet floor, your 1st defense is their insurance policy.

Additional insured gives you liability protection on your tenants policy when they are negligent. So a co-defendant lawsuit, their (the tenants) policy would respond 1st before it ever got to your own insurance policy.

Get that additional insured status on your tenants policies!

But not it's contents! You have 10% of your home's insurance for "other structures", garage, shed. pool house, so $300,000 home = $30,000 on the garage. But the contents of the garage probably should be insured separately! Things like dirt bikes, Quads, boats, skidoo's, snomobiles, pop-up trailer's, that classic car you've been working on, they all need it's own insurance policy.

We once had a homeowner client, who stored an camper in his garage and the weight of ice/snow collapsed the garage roof and damaged the camper. Insured called with a claim and guess what? Found out he wasn't covered on his camper - he had assumed what was in the garage was covered, when it is not. Just because it is in the garage, doesn't mean that coverage on your homeowner policy extends to the contents, it does not.

​Make sure the things in your garage have insurance coverage.