As a florist, you work hard to bring beauty to the world. Your work is involved in some of life’s most important moments. Learn how to protect what you’ve built with florist business insurance.
Best Florist Business Insurance
To find the best florist business insurance, get quotes from multiple providers. You can get started from our website by just entering your ZIP code. Here are Benzinga’s picks for the top business insurance providers.
How Florist Business Insurance Works
Florist business insurance isn’t a specific type of policy. Instead, it’s a combination of policies that meet the needs of your business. As a florist, you may have customers coming and going from your premises, and you may frequently travel to deliver and set up floral arrangements. If a customer slips and falls, you or an employee accidentally damages property or you deliver the wrong arrangement, you could be sued. To protect your business, you should consider several types of coverage, including general liability, commercial property, commercial auto and professional liability insurance.
Types of Florist Business Insurance
Here are several types of florist business insurance to consider.
General Liability Insurance
A lot can happen on a typical day. A customer could slip and fall inside your store. One of your employees could drop a flower arrangement on a client’s pricey sofa. General liability insurance helps protect you in these situations and more.
General liability insurance provides 3 types of coverage:
- Bodily injury: If a 3rd party is injured in an incident related to your business, general liability insurance helps pay their medical expenses. It also covers legal defense costs and any settlements or damages awarded by a court.
- Property damage: If a 3rd party’s property is damaged, this policy would help cover the costs.
- Personal and advertising injury: This provides coverage if you’re sued for libel, slander, copyright infringement and false advertising.
Commercial Property Insurance
This coverage helps protect your business property in the event of a disaster. It covers losses due to fire, theft, vandalism, building collapse, some types of water damage, and more. It covers physical structures associated with your business, like a retail storefront, as well as storage. It also covers your inventory and any personal property you have at your business.
Floods and earthquakes may not be covered by commercial property insurance. If you’re concerned about these perils, talk to your insurance provider to determine whether they’re covered or if you need to purchase separate policies.
Business Interruption Insurance
One of the most devastating aspects of a disaster isn’t the physical damage to your business. It’s the fact that you may have to close your business for a time to complete repairs. That impacts your clients, employees and bottom line.
Business interruption insurance helps keep your business afloat while you’re completing repairs. It covers lost net (after-tax) income, mortgage, lease and rent payments, loan payments, taxes and payroll. Policies usually have a 2-3 day waiting period before benefits start, and benefits last for 30 days. If that doesn’t sound like enough coverage, talk to prospective insurers about a longer benefit period.
Business Owners Policy
A business owners policy combines 3 types of coverage: general liability, commercial property and business interruption insurance. This is a popular option with small business owners as it’s usually cheaper to bundled coverage than to purchase the policies separately. It’s important to look at the coverage carefully to ensure it meets your needs. If you have unique or unusual risks, you might want to purchase the policies separately and tailor the coverage to what you need.
Professional Liability Insurance
Let’s say your employee had a rough day and delivered the wrong flowers to a wedding. The couple could say it ruined their special (and expensive) day and file a lawsuit. Professional liability insurance covers liability claims related to your professional skills. General liability insurance covers nonprofessional claims. Claims related to breach of contract, misrepresentation and similar claims would fall under professional liability coverage. The insurance covers your legal defense along with any awards or settlements.
Commercial Auto Insurance
As a florist, you likely use vehicles for your business. Commercial auto insurance covers the business use of your vehicle. It’s similar to personal auto insurance but it often has higher limits to cover the higher potential claims.
Like personal auto coverage, you can customize your insurance. At a minimum, you’ll typically need:
- Liability coverage: This covers injuries and property damage to the other parties if you or an employee is found at fault in an accident.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage: This covers you if there’s a hit-and-run incident or if the other party doesn’t have insurance.
- Medical payments: This covers injuries to the driver and any passengers in your vehicle.
You may also opt for:
- Collision coverage: This covers damage to your vehicle if you’re in an at-fault accident, you hit an object or your vehicle overturns.
- Comprehensive coverage: This covers vehicle damage that’s not from an accident, including theft, vandalism, fire, falling objects and more.
Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Lawsuits and medical bills can add up, and insurance policies have their limits. If a claim exceeds your policy limits, you’re responsible unless you have an umbrella policy. These policies start when other coverage is exhausted and pay up to their policy limits. They may also offer additional coverage like deductible reimbursement.
Cybersecurity Insurance
Cybersecurity is another risk facing small businesses like florists. Criminals target small businesses because they have valuable information, like customer data and payment information, without the defenses of larger firms.
Cybersecurity insurance can be part of a comprehensive security plan. It helps your business recover in the event of a cyberattack, which could bring your computer system down for days or more. It may also provide identity theft protection to clients with compromised information.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Even in the safest of workplaces, accidents can happen. Workers’ compensation protects your employees by covering their medical expenses in the event of a work-related injury or illness. It also helps pay their lost wages if they need time off to recover or if they’re unable to return to work.
It also protects you as an employer. Employees are, in most cases, unable to sue over an injury if you have workers’ compensation insurance in place.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance
Employees may sue over employment issues, including wrongful termination, breach of contract, failure to promote and infliction of emotional distress. Employment practices liability insurance covers legal costs related to these types of lawsuits.
Cost of Florist Business Insurance
The cost of florist business insurance is influenced by several factors, including:
- Where you’re located
- The levels of risk you face
- How many employees you have
- The size of your business
- The size of your payroll
- How long you’ve been in business
- Your claims history
Here are the average costs for several types of business insurance.
| Policy | Annual Premium | Coverage Limit |
| General Liability Insurance | $350 | $2 million |
| Commercial Property Insurance | $755 | $60,000 |
| Business Interruption Insurance | $500-$1,500 | Based on business income |
| Business Owners Policy | $800-$2,000 | $1 million per occurrence/$2 million per policy term |
| Workers’ Compensation | $560 | n/a |
| Commercial Auto Insurance | $1,700 | $1 million |
| Commercial Umbrella | $500-$1,500 | $1 million |
| Cybersecurity | $1,500 | $1 million |
| Employment Practices Liability Insurance | $800-$2,000 | $500,000 per occurrence/$1 million per policy term |
Which Florist Business Insurance Is Right for You?
Choosing the right insurance for your business is a big decision. Start by talking to multiple carriers. We make it easy to get a quick quote by entering your ZIP code. As you review quotes, you’ll get a sense of what coverage they recommend.
You may want to choose a couple of carriers to have a more in-depth conversation with. You can give them more information about your business and see if there are any specific coverage types of limits they recommend. Review potential policies carefully so you know what’s covered and what isn’t.
Once you’re ready to get started, choose a carrier that offers excellent service and competitive rates. Review your coverage at least annually to ensure it’s keeping up with your business.
Try Simply Business
Simply Business offers a comprehensive suite of business insurance that specializes in making it easy to insure your business. Whether you’re looking for construction workers' insurance or insurance for your startup, Simply Business helps you find the right business coverage at the right price. This includes florists, floral arrangement businesses, nurseries, growers, etc.
Tell Simply Business a little bit about your business and you'll get almost-instantaneous affordable quotes from top insurance providers to protect your business and safeguard employees if they’re hurt on the job. You can also look into business owner’s plans, liability insurance, commercial auto and more that will cover everyone on your team, and you can get covered in accordance with state law without overspending.
Building your business is hard enough. Let Simply Business make it easier. Get a quote from Simply Business today.
