Blog Content
31
Dec
2025
A contractors equipment floater is a specialized insurance policy that protects your mobile tools and equipment wherever they go - from your shop to the job site and everywhere in between. This inland marine coverage fills critical gaps left by standard commercial property insurance, which only covers equipment at fixed locations.
Quick Answer for Contractors Equipment Floater:
As a contractor in Massachusetts, you face unique risks. Your expensive equipment travels from Newton to Wellesley, from Brookline to Needham. Standard commercial property insurance won't protect your tools once they leave your shop. That's where equipment floater insurance becomes essential.
Whether you're a general contractor in Belmont or a landscaper in Natick, your equipment is constantly exposed to theft, damage, and loss. A single stolen excavator or damaged toolset can shut down your operation and cost thousands.
At its core, Equipment Floater Insurance, or a contractors equipment floater, is specialized property insurance for your valuable tools and equipment that move between locations. It’s a form of inland marine insurance, which evolved from ocean marine coverage to protect property traveling over land.
The primary purpose of a contractors equipment floater is simple: to provide robust financial protection for your mobile assets wherever they are. Unlike traditional commercial property insurance, which typically only covers equipment while it's at a fixed, declared location (like your main office or shop), a floater policy "floats" with your equipment. This means your excavators, power tools, and even jobsite trailers are covered whether they're in transit, temporarily stored at a different site, or actively being used on a job in Greater Boston.
At Kovalev Insurance, we know your equipment is the lifeblood of your operation. Losing a critical piece of machinery to theft or damage can halt your project, causing costly delays and financial setbacks. A contractors equipment floater ensures business continuity by mitigating these financial losses, offering you peace of mind. Protecting your mobile assets is key to protecting your entire business. For more information, explore our guide on Top Inland Marine Insurance Coverage Mass.
What exactly does a contractors equipment floater cover? The scope is broad, encompassing nearly any portable item your business relies on. Think of it as a protective bubble around your most important assets.
Here's a comprehensive list of equipment and tools typically covered:
This extensive coverage ensures that whether you're moving a bulldozer across a construction site in Needham or a set of power tools between residential jobs in Wellesley, your investment is protected.
The beauty of a contractors equipment floater lies in its comprehensive protection. Most policies are written on an "all-risk" basis, meaning they cover any direct physical loss or damage to your equipment unless specifically excluded. This provides a much broader safety net compared to "named perils" policies, which only cover losses caused by hazards explicitly listed in the policy.
Common perils (causes of loss) that our clients in Massachusetts are protected against include:
While "all-risk" sounds all-encompassing, policies will always have specific exclusions. We always walk our clients through these details to ensure they understand the full scope of their coverage.
Understanding the true value of a contractors equipment floater becomes crystal clear when you see how it works alongside your other insurance policies. Think of your insurance portfolio like a safety net - and standard policies often leave gaping holes when it comes to mobile equipment.
Here's how different types of coverage stack up:
This comparison reveals the critical gaps a contractors equipment floater fills. Standard policies protect stationary assets but fall short once your equipment hits the road. Whether moving from your Newton shop to a Wellesley job site or storing equipment in Brookline, floater insurance provides the on-site coverage, in-transit protection, and temporary storage coverage other policies lack.
For your fixed business assets like your office building and permanent equipment, our Commercial Property Insurance Mass options provide excellent protection. But for everything that moves, you need specialized coverage.
The biggest difference between a contractors equipment floater and standard Commercial Property Insurance comes down to one word: mobility. Commercial Property Insurance is fantastic for protecting your building, office furniture, and equipment that stays put at your declared business address. It's designed for the fixed location world.
This gets tricky for contractors. When your crew takes an excavator to a job site in Needham, your standard policy's fixed location limitation leaves your mobile assets exposed to risk anywhere outside your main business location.
Even a Business Owner's Policy (BOP), which combines general liability and commercial property coverage, usually has these same gaps when it comes to mobile assets. Your $50,000 excavator might be fully covered while parked in your Newton yard, but once it's working on a project in Belmont, that protection often disappears.
A contractors equipment floater eliminates this problem entirely. It provides coverage off-premises for your equipment regardless of where it travels in Massachusetts. Whether your tools are loaded on a truck traveling down Route 9, temporarily stored at a secure job site, or actively being used by your crew, they're protected. This protection of equipment anywhere in Massachusetts is what makes floater insurance so essential for contractors whose livelihood depends on mobile equipment.
While both fall under the inland marine insurance umbrella, a contractors equipment floater and an installation floater protect completely different things. Understanding this distinction helps you make sure you have the right coverage for your specific needs.
Your contractors equipment floater covers the tools and machinery you own and use to perform your work. Think of it as protecting your means of production - your excavators, power tools, scaffolding, and generators. These are the assets you bring to every job and take with you when the work is done.
An installation floater covers the materials for installation that become part of a project, such as lumber, fixtures, and shingles. Coverage typically lasts until the installation is complete and the materials are part of the finished building.
Here's a simple way to think about it: protecting the project vs. protecting the tools. If you're renovating a home in Natick, your concrete mixer and power tools are covered by your equipment floater, while the hardwood flooring and kitchen cabinets you're installing would be covered by an installation floater.
For larger construction projects, you might also need What Is Builders Risk Insurance Mass to protect the entire structure during construction. Each type of coverage serves a specific purpose in keeping your business protected from different angles.
If your business depends on tools and equipment that regularly leave your shop, you're a perfect candidate for a contractors equipment floater. This is especially true in Massachusetts, where equipment mobility is part of doing business in the booming construction and trades industries.
General contractors are obvious candidates, as they oversee large projects with diverse equipment needs that move from site to site. But the need extends far beyond general contracting. Subcontractors of all types - including masons, concrete contractors, drywall installers, tile and stone specialists, and excavation contractors - bring their specialized tools to various job sites across the Greater Boston area and need protection for these valuable assets.
Landscaping businesses are particularly vulnerable to equipment loss. Picture a crew maintaining properties in Newton's affluent neighborhoods - their mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, and specialized machinery are constantly exposed to theft and damage as they move from one property to another.
The skilled trades have unique equipment protection needs too. Plumbers rely on expensive pipe cutters, threading machines, and specialized inspection cameras that travel from emergency call to scheduled installation. Electrical contractors need coverage for their testing equipment, specialized wiring tools, and safety gear. For comprehensive protection custom to electrical contractors, explore our Electrical Contractor Insurance Mass options.
HVAC technicians face similar risks with their diagnostic tools, soldering equipment, and specialized lifting devices. Carpenters need protection for their saws, drills, nail guns, and scaffolding systems. Painters require coverage for sprayers, ladders, and surface preparation equipment, while roofers need protection for their nail guns, shingle removers, and critical safety equipment.
Even photographers and filmmakers operating in Massachusetts need this coverage. Their expensive cameras, lenses, lighting equipment, and audio gear travel to shoots throughout the state and face unique risks that standard business insurance doesn't address.
Here's something many contractors don't realize: even if you're a subcontractor listed as an additional insured on a general contractor's policy, you still need your own contractors equipment floater. Their policy may not fully cover your owned tools and equipment, especially if the loss stems from your own negligence or exceeds their policy limits.
For customized solutions across many of these trades, check out our Artisan Contractors Insurance Mass coverage options.
While a contractors equipment floater offers broad "all-risk" coverage, it's important to understand what it typically doesn't cover. These exclusions aren't designed to trip you up - they're there to prevent overlap with other insurance types and to exclude risks that simply aren't insurable.
Wear and tear is probably the most common exclusion. Your equipment naturally ages and deteriorates from regular use, and insurance covers sudden, accidental losses - not maintenance or the natural aging process. Similarly, mechanical breakdown from internal failures isn't covered unless it results from an external covered peril. For protection against equipment breakdowns, you'd need separate Mass Equipment Breakdown Insurance.
Electrical surge damage is typically excluded unless it causes a subsequent fire. Intentional damage by you, your employees, or anyone acting on your behalf is also excluded - this makes sense from an insurance perspective.
Your vehicles - work trucks, vans, or any equipment primarily designed for highway use - need separate Commercial Auto coverage. Watercraft and aircraft require specialized marine or aviation policies. Even plans, blueprints, specifications, and records are generally excluded since they're considered intellectual property rather than physical equipment.
Mysterious disappearance is another important exclusion. If your equipment simply vanishes without evidence of theft or another covered cause of loss, you likely won't have coverage. This is why maintaining good security practices and documentation is so important.
Damage during repair is often excluded, as is damage from improper use of equipment. If you use a piece of equipment in a way that goes against its design or intended purpose, resulting damage typically isn't covered.
Understanding these exclusions helps ensure you don't have gaps in your overall business insurance strategy. At Kovalev Insurance, we help our Massachusetts clients steer these complexities to build comprehensive coverage that truly protects their operations.
Securing a contractors equipment floater is only half the jobknowing how the policy works is what keeps you truly protected.
Your coverage limits are the maximum the insurer will pay for a covered loss. Set them to match todays replacement valuesanything lower leaves you underinsured, anything higher wastes premium dollars. We help Massachusetts contractors find that sweet spot.
A deductible is what you pay before insurance responds. Higher deductibles cut premiums, but make sure the amount is realistic for your cash flow. Most local contractors choose $500$2,500.
Scheduled vs. unscheduled property
Keep schedules currentadd new gear within the grace period (often 4560 days) and remove anything you sell.
Many contractors insure newer equipment on RC and older tools on ACV for a balanced premium.
Small Massachusetts contractors typically spend $500$3,000 per year.
These add-ons let us tailor coverage to your exact needsfrom a landscaper in Newton to a remodeler in Natick.
Your tools and equipment aren't just metal and plastic – they're the heartbeat of your contracting business. Every drill, excavator, and generator represents hours of hard work and careful investment. When that equipment travels from your shop in Newton to a job site in Wellesley, or from a project in Brookline to storage in Needham, it faces real risks that standard insurance simply won't cover.
A contractors equipment floater changes everything. It's your business's safety net, following your valuable assets wherever they go across Massachusetts. Whether you're a plumber working on a emergency repair in Belmont or a landscaper maintaining properties throughout Natick, this specialized coverage ensures that one stolen tool or damaged machine won't derail your entire operation.
The peace of mind that comes with proper equipment protection is invaluable. You can focus on what you do best – delivering quality work to your clients – knowing that your financial foundation is secure. No more worrying about whether your tools are covered when they leave your shop. No more sleepless nights wondering what would happen if your most expensive equipment disappeared from a job site.
At Kovalev Insurance, we've spent over a decade helping Massachusetts contractors just like you protect their livelihoods. We understand that every business is unique, and we take pride in crafting custom coverage solutions that fit your specific needs and budget. Our team knows the ins and outs of equipment floater policies, and we're here to guide you through every detail.
Don't wait until it's too late. Your equipment is working hard for you every day – make sure it's properly protected. Get a quote for your Artisan Contractors Insurance in Mass today, and let us help you build the comprehensive insurance foundation your business deserves.
Because when your equipment is protected, your business can thrive – no matter where the next job takes you.
X