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Insurance Buying Guide for Real Estate and Construction Businesses
Explore Real Estate and Construction Verticals
- Construction
Compare California contractor licensing, project bonds, jobsite work, and property questions with the actual policy documents for your construction business.
- Housing and Real Estate
Separate landlord, third-party property manager, and housing platform roles before requesting terms for buildings, services, and tenant data.
Which Insurance Should You Consider?
Consider technology errors and omissions (E&O), cyber liability, general liability, commercial property, builders risk, and tools, equipment and inland marine. Start with the coverages tied to your day-to-day operations, then use the situations and buying questions below to compare your options.
Technology errors and omissions (E&O)
Your product provides property, project, or transaction software, or you implement systems customers rely on to run those activities.
Describe software, data, implementation, support, and advice separately. NAIC’s general E&O explanation concerns errors in professional services; it does not establish terms for a technology E&O policy.[2]
Ask Before Buying
Which specific services, outputs, integrations, customer promises, and alleged errors appear in the quote? How does the proposed technology E&O wording differ from professional E&O?
Cyber liability
Your platform stores or handles customer, property, tenant, payment, or project information, or depends on online systems to deliver its service.
FTC guidance treats cybersecurity insurance as a business-specific risk-management decision. Ask how the actual quote addresses the data and systems your business uses; a line name alone does not establish a policy response.[3][2]
Ask Before Buying
Which systems and data are in scope, and what response costs, interruption, dependent-service, fraud, and privacy terms or sublimits appear in the offered form?
General liability
Staff meet customers at a property or job site, manage premises, or perform installation, inspection, or other field work.
CDI describes commercial general liability in the context of premises and operations, products, and completed work. Match the activities and locations in the application to the actual exclusions and terms.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Which premises, site visits, installation and completed operations are described, and what exclusions or limits apply to each activity?
Commercial property
The company leases or owns an office, warehouse, equipment, or other physical property used in the business, or has an interest in a building it manages.
CDI distinguishes buildings, business personal property, and property of others in a business’s care, custody, or control. Identify who owns each item and how location, valuation, covered causes, and exclusions are treated.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Which entity and locations are insured, and are installed property, movable equipment, improvements, and property held for others scheduled with the intended values and terms?
Builders risk
The business or its client begins a new build, addition, alteration, or repair and needs to allocate responsibility before the work is complete.
CDI describes builder’s risk for new construction and certain work on existing structures. The form and project arrangements determine whose interests, work stages, and values are addressed.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Who is insured for the existing structure, work in progress, and materials? What project milestones, valuation/reporting terms, exclusions, and end date appear in the actual policy?
Tools, equipment and inland marine
Tools, equipment, samples, or project materials move between offices, storage, customer properties, and active sites.
CDI lists contractors-equipment floaters and trip-transit forms as inland-marine examples. Ask about the actual property and movement instead of assuming a fixed-location property schedule follows an item.[1]
Ask Before Buying
Which items, values, routes, temporary storage, loading, and installation stages are included in the proposed schedule and form?
Map Your Services and Contracts
List what each entity sells and does: software or data, professional advice, transaction coordination, property management, construction, installation, or site services. If customers rely on software or advice, describe the deliverables and contract promises; NAIC distinguishes professional E&O from general liability, while technology-specific terms still need their own review.[2]
If a contract calls for a bond, identify its type, obligee, amount, and obligation. Bid, payment, and performance bonds serve different contract duties; review the bond and insurance clauses separately.[4]
Schedule Assets and Site Work
If you lease, own, manage, or work on a property, map the owner, operator, location, occupancy, and property in your care before requesting terms. CDI separates building coverage from business property and property belonging to others; the declarations and policy wording determine the actual scope.[1]
For a build or renovation, ask who covers the existing structure and work in progress. For equipment that travels, ask which items and stages are scheduled. CDI’s builder’s-risk and inland-marine descriptions are general examples, not confirmation that a project, item, or trip is insured.[1]
Providers to Compare by Coverage
Technology errors and omissions (E&O)
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Amelia Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
2.0/ 10
Cyber liability
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Amelia Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
2.0/ 10General liability
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Amelia Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
2.0/ 10
Commercial property
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
CFC
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Builders risk
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Tools, equipment and inland marine
Alliance Risk
Spot Score
Review Score
Not enough ratings
Common Questions
Is technology E&O the same as professional E&O?
NAIC describes professional liability or E&O around errors in advice or delivery of professional services. That general description does not establish how a technology E&O form treats software, data, implementation, or service commitments.[2]
Read the Full AnswerWhat should I do when a project contract asks for insurance or a bond?
Separate the insurance clause from the bond clause and identify the entity, project, requested limit, bond type, obligee, and obligation in each. SBA describes bid, payment, and performance bonds as distinct contract surety categories; its guarantee program applies only to qualifying small businesses and bonds.[4]
Read the Full AnswerSources and Further Reading
- Commercial Insurance Guide — California Department of Insurance. Form 700, revised June 14, 2024; commercial property, building ordinance or law, time element, inland marine, commercial general liability, and workers compensation sections.
California DOI overview of property interests, valuation, general liability, builder’s risk, inland marine, and other commercial lines; descriptions are general, not project terms.
- Small Business — National Association of Insurance Commissioners. What’s general liability? and What does general liability not cover?, lines 29–54; Other types of business liability insurance, lines 55–63; What is workers’ compensation?, lines 158–163.
NAIC explanations of professional E&O, general liability, property, cyber, and workers’ compensation for small-business buyers.
- Cybersecurity for Small Business — Federal Trade Commission. NIST Cybersecurity Framework section on managing cybersecurity risks and deciding whether cybersecurity insurance is appropriate.
FTC risk-management guidance on tracking requirements and deciding whether cybersecurity insurance is appropriate.
- Surety bonds — U.S. Small Business Administration. Contract or commercial bonds; bid, payment, performance, and ancillary bond categories; eligibility.
SBA descriptions of contract surety bond types and eligibility for its limited small-business guarantee program.
Spot, a product of Tools for Enlightenment, publishes this guide and works in the commercial insurance market. This is general buyer education; policy terms, the actual contract, and applicable law determine coverage and requirements.
Updated 2026-09-28. Editorial Policy
Get Help With Insurance Buying and Renewals.
Get help buying coverage and managing renewals, with less paperwork for your team. Start with a free consultation.