Contractors Tools & Equipment Insurance Cost (2026)
Median small-business Inland Marine premium — the canonical product for contractors' tools, equipment, and materials in transit or on job sites — is $48/month ($576/year) for a typical $50K blanket Tools & Equipment Floater per Insureon's 2024 cost report. Cost scales roughly linearly with coverage limit: $10K limit ~$25/mo, $100K ~$95/mo, $250K ~$220/mo.
Why contractors need this: Commercial Property covers buildings + permanent improvements at a fixed location; General Liability covers third-party bodily-injury + property damage. Neither covers your own tools, equipment, and materials when they're on a job site, in your truck, in transit, or at a temporary location. That gap is exactly what Inland Marine / Tools & Equipment Floater fills. Loss of a $40K mini-excavator from a job site overnight = uncovered without this policy.
Settlement type matters. Actual Cash Value (ACV) is depreciated value — a 5-year-old $30K skid steer might pay out $12K. Replacement Cost (RC) pays the cost to buy new of like-kind quality, typically 5-15% premium uplift but materially better recovery. Specify RC at quote.
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Plug in a few business details and we'll show an industry-typical annual range for General Liability + Workers Compensation + Commercial Auto, with the source for every number. Real quotes vary by carrier, claims history, and underwriting — get an actual quote here.
Industry-typical market ranges
Sourced from III, NCCI, BLS, Insureon, NerdWallet — not from our quote form
Market ranges from published industry sources:
- Median Inland Marine (Tools & Equipment Floater): $48/month, $576/year for $50K blanket limit (Insureon 2024)
- Premium by limit: $10K ~$25/mo · $50K ~$48/mo · $100K ~$95/mo · $250K ~$220/mo · $500K ~$400/mo (scales roughly linearly)
- Replacement Cost vs ACV: RC adds 5-15% premium uplift but pays new-of-like-kind on a claim. ACV pays depreciated value. Always specify RC at quote for tools/equipment with 3+ year useful life
- Scheduled vs blanket: blanket covers any tool/item up to the per-item sublimit (typically $10K-$25K); scheduled lists specific high-value items (mini-excavator, laser scanner, drone) with item-specific limits. Most policies are blanket with a scheduled rider for items >$10K
- What Inland Marine covers: theft (most common claim — locked truck or job-site trailer), accidental damage on a job site, transit damage (your truck rolls, fire, collision), water/weather damage at temp locations, vandalism + storage. Some policies extend to rented/leased equipment + employee-owned tools used on the job
- What it does NOT cover: mechanical breakdown (Equipment Breakdown coverage — separate), wear-and-tear, mysterious disappearance without forced entry, intentional acts, war + nuclear, items left in unlocked vehicles (some carriers exclude)
- Per-item sublimits matter: a $30K skid steer on a $50K blanket might be sublimited to $15K. Check the per-item sublimit on quote — if you own anything >$15K, schedule it
- Common contractor classes priced: general contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, landscapers, roofers, painters, drywall, finish carpenters — premium varies by tool inventory + theft loss-rate by class
Recent rate-filing activity — 8 state filings across 1 commercial line
Commercial carriers can't charge whatever they want — each state's Department of Insurance must approve loss-cost filings before they take effect. These are primary-source, government-held records available on SERFF Filing Access. Cited below: the most-recent active filings affecting contractors tools & equipment (inland marine) operations, with the real SERFF tracking number for each.
| Line | State | Overall change | Effective | SERFF tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WC | NV | -32.8% voluntary loss cost decrease (legislatively-driven; SB 317) | Oct 1, 2026 | NCCI-134895530 |
| WC | RI | Overall -2.5% voluntary (industrial); -12.9% federal classes | Aug 1, 2026 | NCCI-134743616 |
| WC | TX | Overall -3.8% adjustment to voluntary loss cost level | Jul 1, 2026 | NCCI-134745334 |
| WC | AR | Overall -9.8% voluntary loss cost; -9.8% assigned risk market | Jul 1, 2026 | NCCI-134876672 |
| WC | OH | -1% private-employer rate cut (~$10M aggregate; -50% cumulative since 2019) | Jul 1, 2026 | OH-BWC-2026-PA-1PCT |
| WC | SC | -0.4% voluntary loss cost decrease | Apr 1, 2026 | NCCI-134702984 |
| WC | NC | Industrial -7.8% / Federal -12.8% overall loss cost level | Apr 1, 2026 | NCRB-NC-2026-LC |
| WC | PA | -1.22% overall collectible loss cost decrease | Apr 1, 2026 | PCRB-PA-2026-C-387 |
Source: SERFF Filing Access (filingaccess.serff.com) — the official public-records interface for state Department of Insurance filings. Loss-cost changes shown are the overall bureau-wide change in each state; the actual impact on your quote depends on your class code, payroll, experience modifier, and carrier-specific loss-cost multiplier (LCM). Get a quote for your exact numbers.
Contractors Tools & Equipment (Inland Marine) insurance cost by state — 40 states with filed-rate data
Filed-rate activity differs by state — each link below opens a contractors tools & equipment (inland marine)-specific page showing only that state's most-recent workers' comp and commercial-lines filings, with the real SERFF tracking numbers.
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