Inland Marine Insurance for contractors

The name is historical — it originated with ocean marine cargo insurance and expanded to cover goods moving over land (inland). Today inland marine covers all kinds of mobile, transit, and jobsite property, including contractor tools and equipment. The 'marine' label is a legacy classification, not a coverage limit.

Commercial property covers fixed locations — your shop, office, or yard. Inland marine covers property that moves — tools on trucks, equipment on jobsites, materials in transit. If your gear leaves a fixed location (and contractor gear always does), you need inland marine, not just property.

Yes — scheduled tools & equipment floaters are a type of inland marine coverage. Inland marine is the broader class that also includes installation floaters, mobile equipment, transit coverage, and other property-that-moves forms. We structure the right mix under the inland marine umbrella.

Inland marine covers property off-premises, in transit, and at temporary locations — exposures that fixed property policies exclude or sharply limit. For contractors, that means tools stolen from a truck, equipment damaged on a jobsite, and materials lost in transit. It's the coverage that follows the work.

Premium depends on the type and value of property covered, how and where it moves, the regions and theft class it operates in, and your loss history. Scheduled tools are rated on gear value; installation floaters on material flow; mobile equipment on agreed value. We document your operation accurately.

Yes. GL covers third-party injury and damage — not your own gear. Tools, equipment, and materials in transit are inland marine exposures that GL does not address. Most gear-heavy contractors need both: GL for liability, inland marine for the gear itself.

Yes. Inland marine can extend to gear at off-site storage, staging yards, and supplier locations — not just on the active jobsite. If you keep inventory or equipment at multiple locations, we structure coverage so every location where gear sits is protected.

Most contractors pay $500-$2,500 a year for a scheduled tools floater, typically 1-3% of the total scheduled gear value, modified by deductible and theft-loss history. We quote the full program in about 15 minutes and show every market's price.

Yes. Contractors Choice Agency is licensed in all 50 states and writes tools & equipment programs for contractors from the highest-theft markets to the storm-rebuild surge zones.

About 15 minutes for a standard scheduled-tools program. Once bound, we turn around certificates, schedules, and additional-insured endorsements usually within minutes.

No. GL covers third-party injury and damage, not your own gear. Tools are covered under a tools & equipment (inland marine) floater — which is what we build to close the gap GL leaves open.

We write tools & equipment at replacement cost so stolen or destroyed gear is replaced new, not depreciated. ACV policies can pay pennies on the dollar for a $600 nailer — replacement cost keeps you working.

Yes — a scheduled tools floater covers theft from your truck, trailer, and jobsite, subject to the policy terms and deductible. Some policies carry a higher theft-from-unattended-vehicle deductible, which we review carefully.

Schedule anything of meaningful value — nail guns, miter and circular saws, lasers, generators, compressors, mobile equipment, and specialty gear. We help you build the schedule with make, model, serial number, and replacement value, and update it as you add gear.

Yes. High-value mobile equipment should be scheduled separately at agreed value so a total loss pays what it's really worth. Generic policies undervalue this gear — we list each unit individually.

Often, yes. We have excess-and-surplus (E&S) inland marine markets for contractors with loss runs, prior thefts, or cancellations that standard markets decline. Bring your loss runs and gear schedule.

If you haul material packages that could be lost, damaged, or stolen in transit or before installation, yes. An installation floater covers materials from the supplier's truck until they're installed and accepted — closing a real gap.

You reach a person with context, not a queue. We respond within 2 hours, help you document the loss (police report for theft, photos, schedule), and manage the claim with the carrier so it's paid correctly and you can replace gear fast.

Tools and equipment coverage lives in the inland marine market — a specialty class most generic agents don't understand. A specialty broker knows which carriers write scheduled gear at replacement cost and how to manage a tools-theft claim so it pays.