At ContractorNerd, we’ve made inland marine insurance much simpler. Our digital platform and team of specialist brokers help you get multiple quotes, secure coverage, and access proof of insurance in just a few days. You won’t have to deal with extra paperwork, endless calls, or waiting for documents in the mail. Our brokers are always available by chat or phone to make sure your coverage fits your business needs, giving you both speed and expert advice.

This comprehensive guide explains everything contractors need to know about securing the right inland marine coverage, including what’s covered, costs, ways to save, and how to navigate today’s challenging insurance market.

ContractorNerd makes it easier to get comprehensive quotes and secure coverage in days, not weeks.

What Does Inland Marine Insurance Cover?

Despite its maritime-sounding name, inland marine insurance has nothing to do with boats or water. It’s essential coverage that protects contractors’ movable property and equipment, which traditional property insurance typically excludes. Here are the most important coverages that inland marine insurance can cover:

Contractors Equipment

  • Covers tools and equipment you own, lease, or rent while at job sites, in transit, or in temporary storage
  • Protects everything from hand tools to heavy machinery like excavators, loaders, and cranes
  • Includes coverage for equipment breakdown and mysterious disappearance in most policies

Tools Coverage

  • Specifically protects hand tools and small power tools owned by you or your employees
  • Covers theft from vehicles, job sites, or storage locations
  • Often includes coverage with lower or no deductibles for employee-owned tools

Materials and Supplies

  • Covers building materials, supplies, and inventory while in transit or temporary storage
  • Protects against theft, damage, or loss of materials awaiting installation
  • Includes coverage for materials on job sites before they become part of the structure

Installation Floater

Installation floater is one of the most critical inland marine coverages for contractors, providing continuous protection for materials, supplies, and labor from the moment items leave your shop until project completion and acceptance by the owner.

Unlike standard property insurance that only covers fixed locations, an installation floater “floats” with your materials through every project phase:

  • Transit from suppliers to job site
  • Temporary storage at staging areas
  • During the installation process
  • Testing and commissioning periods
  • Until final owner acceptance

What’s Covered: Installation floaters provide “all-risk” coverage, protecting against any direct physical loss unless specifically excluded. This includes:

  • Materials stolen from job sites
  • Weather damage to stored materials
  • Transit accidents and damage
  • Installation errors and accidents
  • Fire or water damage at construction sites
  • Labor costs already invested in partial installations
  • Soft costs like expedited shipping and overtime after a loss
  • Testing failures during system commissioning

Critical Gap Protection: The installation floater fills gaps that other policies miss. General liability won’t cover materials you’re installing, builders risk typically requires permanent attachment, property insurance stops at your premises, and auto policies exclude transported materials. For example, if $75,000 of HVAC equipment is stolen from a job site before installation, or an electrical system fails during testing and damages other components, installation floater covers these losses.

Setting Appropriate Limits: Coverage should equal your largest single project or the combined value of simultaneous projects, including materials, labor, overhead, and profit. Add 10-20% for potential soft costs and expediting expenses. Annual policies typically offer better value than project-specific coverage for contractors with steady workflow.

Riggers Liability

  • Covers property in your care, custody, or control during rigging operations
  • Protects against damage while loading, unloading, or moving heavy equipment
  • Essential for contractors who handle expensive third-party property

Valuable Papers and Records

  • Covers blueprints, plans, specifications, and project documents
  • Includes costs to recreate or restore damaged records
  • Protects both physical and electronic files in many policies

Bailee’s Coverage

  • Protects customers’ property while temporarily in your care, custody, or control
  • Essential if you store, service, or transport property belonging to others
  • Covers your liability if customer property is damaged while you’re responsible for it

Motor Truck Cargo Coverage

  • Specifically covers goods belonging to others while you transport them
  • Required for contractors who haul materials owned by customers or general contractors
  • Protects against liability claims if transported property is damaged or lost

What Does Inland Marine Cost?

Costs are largely tied to what’s insured, specifically the value of materials and policy limits. For smaller dollar tools and equipment — those valued at less than $20,000 — this can generally be endorsed on the General Liability insurance policy.

Here are suggested coverage considerations for stand-alone inland marine:

  • $50,000 to $500,000+ for contractors’ equipment (based on your actual equipment values)
  • $20,000 to $50,000 for miscellaneous tools
  • Replacement cost coverage rather than actual cash value for the installation floater
  • Broad form perils or “all-risk” coverage when available

With appropriate limits, general contractors and artisan contractors can expect to pay approximately 1-3% of the total insured equipment value annually. Specialty contractors with high-value equipment may see rates of 3-5% depending on the specific risks involved.

What Influences Inland Marine Premiums?

Several variables determine the amount contractors pay for inland marine insurance. Major factors include:

Equipment Values – Higher total values result in higher premiums; however, rates often decrease per dollar of coverage as values increase.

Equipment Types – Specialized or high-tech equipment costs more to insure than basic tools. Heavy machinery faces different risks than surveying equipment.

Loss History – Your track record matters. Frequent equipment theft or damage claims will substantially increase rates.

Security Measures – How you store and secure equipment impacts pricing. Locked storage, GPS tracking, and jobsite security reduce premiums.

Geographic Territory – Operating in high-crime areas or regions prone to natural disasters increases costs.

Deductibles – Higher deductibles lower premiums but increase your out-of-pocket costs when filing claims.

Equipment Age – Newer equipment may cost more to insure due to its higher replacement value, but it may also qualify for better coverage terms.

Project Types – High-risk projects, such as bridge work or marine construction, face higher rates than residential remodeling.

Business Operations Type – Certain businesses face higher risks and premiums:

  • Contractors working multiple simultaneous sites
  • Trade show exhibitors (frequent setup/breakdown cycles)
  • Specialty transporters (like those moving fine art or sensitive equipment)

Common Misconceptions About Inland Marine Insurance

Misconception #1: “My Property Insurance Already Covers Everything”

Many contractors believe their commercial property insurance eliminates the need for inland marine coverage. This is a costly misunderstanding. While property insurance covers goods stored at your warehouse or designated locations, coverage typically stops the moment those items leave your premises.

If you get into an accident while transporting equipment between job sites, or materials are stolen from your truck overnight, standard property insurance won’t respond. Inland marine fills this critical gap, protecting your property anywhere in your coverage territory—on the road, at job sites, or in temporary storage.

Misconception #2: “Inland Marine and Builders Risk Are Separate Things”

Actually, builders risk is often written as a type of inland marine policy. Many inland marine policies include builders’ risk coverage, providing comprehensive protection that covers your materials and equipment both during transit (inland marine portion) and during the construction process at the job site (builders’ risk portion). This overlap provides seamless coverage throughout every stage of your project.

Misconception #3: “It Only Covers My Own Equipment”

Inland marine can protect property belonging to others that’s temporarily in your care. If you’re transporting a customer’s materials or storing another contractor’s equipment, bailee’s coverage under inland marine protects you from liability if that property is damaged.

Important Coverage Exclusions

Understanding what inland marine insurance doesn’t cover is just as important as knowing what it does. Common exclusions that contractors should be aware of include:

Property on Your Premises – Once equipment is permanently stationed on your premises, it falls under commercial property insurance, not inland marine.

Water Transportation – Property shipped over water requires ocean marine insurance, not inland marine coverage.

Vehicles Themselves – While inland marine coverage protects property being transported, the vehicles themselves require commercial auto insurance.

Defective Materials and Faulty Design – If materials were poorly manufactured or incorrectly designed, damage resulting from these defects isn’t covered.

Wear and Tear – Normal deterioration, rust, or gradual breakdown isn’t covered.

Employee Dishonesty – Internal theft requires separate crime or employee dishonesty coverage.

Contractual Penalties – Late completion penalties or liquidated damages aren’t covered, even if delays result from covered losses.

Current Market Update: The Hard Market Reality

The inland marine insurance market has tightened for contractors, with several factors driving increased premiums and stricter underwriting:

  • Supply chain disruptions making equipment replacement costly and time-consuming
  • Increased equipment theft, particularly catalytic converters and copper materials
  • Rising equipment values due to inflation and technology integration
  • Natural disaster frequency affecting equipment at job sites
  • Shortage of skilled equipment operators leading to more damage claims

Critical for Contractors: Due to these challenging market conditions, most insurers now require contractors to bundle inland marine coverage with other lines of business insurance to qualify for competitive rates. This typically means bundling with:

  • General Liability – Your fundamental protection against third-party claims
  • Commercial Property – Coverage for your buildings and permanent fixtures
  • Commercial Auto – Protection for your vehicle fleet

The Builders Risk Connection

For contractors, it’s important to understand how builders risk and inland marine work together. Builders risk—often written on inland marine forms—provides project-specific coverage for structures under construction. When combined with traditional inland marine floaters, you get comprehensive protection that includes:

  • Materials at your yard awaiting transport
  • Property in transit to the job site
  • Materials stored at the job site
  • Property during installation
  • The structure itself during construction
  • Soft costs if the project is delayed due to covered losses

Soft Costs Coverage can be added to help with additional expenses following a covered delay:

  • Additional financing costs and interest payments
  • Advertising and promotional expenses to re-market delayed projects
  • Extended rental equipment costs
  • Additional architectural, engineering, and consultant fees
  • Costs to renew expired permits and licenses
  • Extended insurance premiums
  • Lost rental income during delays

This comprehensive approach ensures no gaps exist in your coverage from material procurement through project completion.

This bundling requirement reflects insurers’ preference for comprehensive account relationships rather than standalone policies. Many carriers view isolated inland marine coverage as an incomplete risk management strategy, especially given the interconnected nature of construction operations.

The advantage? Bundling typically results in 15-30% savings across all policies compared to purchasing them separately, provides single-source claims handling, and simplifies renewal negotiations.

How ContractorNerd Streamlines Your Insurance Process

Finding and securing the right inland marine coverage shouldn’t consume hours of your valuable time. At ContractorNerd, we’ve revolutionized the traditional insurance buying process with our modern, digital-first approach:

Step 1: Simplified Application and Equipment Documentation. Add your equipment list once, and our platform automatically formats it for multiple carriers. No more manually completing different forms for each insurer.

Step 2: Quotes from Leading Markets. Our team presents your risk to specialized inland marine insurers who understand contractor risks. We provide access to multiple markets and help you secure quotes tailored to your business needs.

Step 3: Binding and Certificates. Review quotes, select your coverage, complete a secure digital payment, and finalize your details. Once complete, you’ll receive your confirmation of coverage that day and receive policy documents in 1-2 business days.

With this streamlined approach, you can move from your initial quote request to having coverage and certificates in hand much faster than with traditional methods. You’ll also have the comprehensive protection your contracting business needs.

Get Inland Marine Coverage Today

Having the right inland marine insurance is essential for contractors to protect their equipment and keep their business running smoothly. Your tools and equipment are the backbone of your business. Without them, you can’t earn revenue.

In today’s challenging market, getting full coverage at a good price takes a smart approach. This usually means bundling inland marine insurance with other important coverages like General Liability or Commercial Property.

The good news is that ContractorNerd offers both digital efficiency and expert guidance. Our modern platform gets you quotes in minutes, and our licensed brokers are available by chat and phone to make sure your coverage fits your trade, project types, and risk profile. We’ve removed the usual hassles, from equipment scheduling to quote comparison and instant certificate delivery, while giving you the professional advice you need to make confident decisions.

Don’t leave your valuable equipment exposed or waste time with outdated processes. Utilize the insights in this guide and ContractorNerd’s modern platform to efficiently and affordably secure the inland marine protection your contracting business needs.