In this YouTube video, Hunter Nelson of Nelson Insurance explains what a Business Owner's Policy (BOP) is and what it covers. He defines a BOP as a bundled insurance product that combines general liability and property coverage. The video walks through the eight typical coverages under general liability—such as completed operations, advertising injury, products liability, bodily injury, and property damage—while emphasizing that general liability excludes risks already covered by other policies (workers’ compensation, auto, pollution, etc.). Nelson discusses why upstream and downstream parties often require general liability, especially when 1099 contractors are involved. He then details the property side of a BOP, distinguishing between building coverage, business personal property (on‑premises), and inland marine insurance (property in transit or located more than 1,000 feet from the premises). A brief history of inland marine insurance is provided, noting its origins in 17th‑century marine cargo coverage. Nelson compares buying separate general liability and property policies versus a bundled BOP, noting cost and convenience advantages. He outlines which industries most commonly need BOPs—contractors, transportation firms, and businesses with physical shops—and clarifies that the policy can be tailored to any business size. The video concludes with a call to action, highlighting that Nelson Insurance is licensed in 42 states and inviting viewers to contact the agency for personalized quotes.
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Hey guys, I'm Hunter with Nelson Insurance. I'm gonna go over just business owner's insurance, what that consists of. You guys might hear it referred to as a BOP. Uh, general liability is very popular coverage needed for businesses, but a business owner policy is gonna be a little more complete. It's going to include general liability, it's gonna include property. So I'm Hunter with Nelson Insurance. We're based outta Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We are licensed in 42 states. Let's get into what a business owner's policy is. All right. So a business owner's policy is going to consist of 2 things. It's going to consist of property and general liability. So first, let's start with general liability. You guys are going to see general liability be required in contracts. People are going to say you guys should get business insurance. They're typically referring to general liability when they don't know the name of it. General liability is general business coverage. It covers your operations. There's 8 different coverages involved with it. Completed operations, advertising, and personal injury. You've got products, you've got bodily injury, property damage, etc., etc. All of it's insurance jargon. It's going to cover people getting hurt, you damaging their property, getting sued for your products or your guys' projects, anything along those lines. But that could really be a broad scope of things. If you guys are in the transportation space, a lot of that stuff's going to involve The autos. A lot of it's going to involve employees, buildings, personal property, the stuff you sell, whatever the case is. So how can you guys buy a policy that covers your business and what your guys' business does for $700 a year, a month, $7,000 a month, a year, depending on how big your business is? But how can they do that? And how do they differentiate that between pollution, auto, work comp, uh, every other form of insurance out there? Basically what general liability does is it covers your business as a broad scope of you guys, what you guys do, but it's going to exclude a ton of things. The simplest way to think about it, general liability, as I always say, is going to cover everything it's not— or it's going to cover, um, it's not going to cover anything it's not supposed to. So what is it not supposed to cover? If there's another insurance policy out there that exists It's probably not going to cover it. Now, you can get endorsements and certain things be added on, but 9 times out of 10, if another insurance policy exists, it will not cover it. Your employees getting hurt, work comp exists. You driving an auto, auto insurance exists. Your building burning down, property insurance exists. If you guys are a cleaner and spill bleach into the yard or whatever the case is, pollution exists, right? So there's all sorts of other insurance policies that it will not cover almost ever, any of those types of things. So a lot of the very common things you're going to cover is slip and falls, uh, slander, anything on those lines. If you guys are a contractor, it'll be damage from your work, not from the work you actually do. So it has a lot of variations with it. And, um, yeah, it's kind of the, the basics of it. It might cover some of the basics of you guys' business, Unless there's another policy that's going to come into play. So if you guys would like to learn more about general liability, please do not hesitate to reach out. Happy to go more in depth on that. A lot of you guys are getting it because it's required by typically like an upstream party, like a general contractor, but you guys are going to work for. And the reason that comes into play is because when 1099s are involved, you guys are held liable or they're held liable for your guys' actions. Same thing goes for you guys. You guys hire somebody out. a 1099 or whatever the case is, you guys are liable for their actions. So there's upstream and downstream parties. That's why you see that stuff coming into play. Sometimes general liability can cover that stuff, but they also want to make sure that you guys have your own insurance so their rate does not get jacked up as well. Now, the second piece of a business owner's policy, what makes it a business owner's policy versus a general liability policy, is the property aspect. So general or business owner's insurance is general liability plus property. Now, property does not have to be a building, but it could be— it could be a building, it could be business personal property, it could be inland marine. And yeah, a couple other things. So what, what is— what are those coverages? Right. Building's pretty self-explanatory. Building is the building you guys are in. It can cover that, no problem. And, uh, you get building insurance and liability, that's going to make it a business owner's policy. Business personal property versus in the marine— what is the difference there? In the marine might be the first time you guys ever heard this term. In the marine comes from— well, fun fact, here's a history lesson on it. In the marine comes from marine insurance, which is one of the very first types of insurance ever created when, uh, Lloyd's back in the 1600s had marine insurance for, for the cargo on ships being transported. And so they created marine insurance. So it's property that's on the move. So they called it in the marine for property on the move that's on land instead of, you know, marine or over water. So it's basically personal property that's being moved. So if you guys are a contractor, if you guys are a trucker, your cargo insurance is a form of in the marine insurance. Really, anything on the move is going to be a form of inland marine insurance, and business personal property is going to be personal property that's staying on the premise or within 1,000 feet of the premise. So if you guys have a ton of personal property and you're moving around, would not recommend putting it on business personal property because once it's within 1,000— or once it's outside of 1,000 feet of the premise, it will probably no longer be covered. Inland marine is going to be the correct way to do that. And yeah, so you're going to see a lot of in-the-marine and general liability policies creating a business owner's policy. And you can certainly get those 2 policies on their own. You get an in-the-marine policy or property policy or business personal property policy and then a separate general liability policy. But typically it's a little bit cheaper and a little bit more convenient to have them both on a business owner's policy. So if you guys have any questions on that, business owner's policies can really be for absolutely anybody. They're not going to be as common in the transportation space because your cargo is typically tied in with the auto. And if you guys have a shop, well then there you go. You're going to have a business owner's policy then. But most people don't have shops until they get a good couple trucks. So again, we are Hunter with Nelson Insurance Agency. We are licensed in 42 states, or I'm Hunter with Nelson Insurance Agency, licensed in 42 states. I have a team behind me. We can insure anything from transportation to any pretty much business owner. Across the nation. So if you guys have any questions, please reach out. Otherwise, I appreciate you watching, and please like, subscribe if you would. Thanks.
