Protecting Your Home Modification Business Assets

The best way to protect your assets in your home modification business is insurance—but not just basic liability protection. You need something more. What are the right types of insurance to protect your assets in a home modification business?

A home modification business is a hybrid business combining a traditional occupational therapist with overseeing home modifications. As a result, you need more than the professional liability insurance you would carry as an occupational therapist (OT). Don't get us wrong—you do still need the regular OT liability insurance, but traditional OT liability insurance will stay within the regular scope of traditional therapy. You also need additional commercial general liability insurance from a company that understands the unique issues involved in home modifications.

We use VGM Insurance services because they customize policies based on your business model. They will cover you for products you are selling and any work you are doing yourself such as installations of ramps and lift systems.

Identify a business insurance provider who understands what you are doing. Otherwise, they will put you into one of their pre-packaged boxes that might not fit what you are doing and won't cover you properly. You are not an interior designer or a handyman; your business reflects a combination of medical and construction needs, your insurance needs to reflect that. Talk to potential insurance providers about your business model so they can adjust accordingly.

We have looked at a couple of others. VGM is not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. It might cost you a few thousand dollars a year, but without it, it could cost you millions.

If you are gathering medical information from your clients, make sure you have cyber liability insurance to cover you in case of cyberattacks. You are holding that information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This kind of insurance covers your business in cases of security or systems failures. Our advice would be to look for a company that can customize a policy to your business needs.

Depending on who you work with (like Medicaid), they'll want you to have business automobile insurance. This counts whether you're driving your personal vehicle or if you have a work truck to carry materials.

The policies are hired auto coverage and non-owned auto coverage. Hired autos refer to personal vehicles you're using for your business but that the business does not own. These policies cover liability if there is an accident in one of those vehicles. Non-owned autos refer to vehicles that you may be renting, like a truck needed for a particular job. Your personal policies may not cover you if you are using the vehicle for a business purpose.

Any employees of your business need to be covered by worker's comp insurance. Accidents can happen to anyone at any time; it's important to be financially covered for accidents that happen on the job.

If you have a partnership, you need to have a policy in place in case something happens to one of you. If one of you dies, a life insurance policy would cover any necessary expenses required to fill in for their role, as well as provide the means to buy out that person's stake in the business for their beneficiaries.

Protecting your personal and business assets is essential when running a business, and it's especially important when you are offering services and expertise that impact the health, wellness, and safety of others.

We mentor occupational therapists who want to grow or start a home modification consulting business. Find out more about how we can help you get started or sign up for our course today.