Here's something most painting contractors learn the hard way: the moment you load your sprayers, ladders, and scaffolding into your truck and drive to a job site, your commercial property insurance stops covering them. That $3,000 airless sprayer you just bought? If it gets stolen from the client's driveway overnight, you're out of luck unless you have the right coverage.
That's where inland marine insurance—also called contractor's equipment coverage or tools and equipment insurance—comes in. Despite the confusing name (no, it has nothing to do with boats), this coverage protects your gear wherever it goes: in transit, at job sites, or even stored in your vehicle between projects. For painting contractors who constantly move equipment from job to job, it's not optional—it's essential.
What Inland Marine Insurance Actually Covers
Think of inland marine insurance as the traveling companion to your commercial property policy. While property insurance protects equipment at your main business location, inland marine takes over the moment that equipment leaves your shop. For painting contractors, this typically includes:
Sprayers and painting equipment—airless sprayers, HVLP systems, and paint guns. Ladders and scaffolding—from basic extension ladders to specialized staging equipment. Power tools—sanders, grinders, heat guns, and power washers. Hand tools—brushes, rollers, scrapers, and specialty application tools. Safety equipment—harnesses, respirators, and protective gear.
The coverage kicks in for theft, vandalism, accidental damage, and loss. If someone breaks into your truck and steals your tools, you're covered. If you accidentally back over your own sprayer in a client's driveway, you're covered. If equipment gets damaged during transport, you're covered. This is why painting contractors who move between multiple job sites daily can't afford to skip this coverage.
Scheduled vs. Blanket Coverage: Which Do You Need?
When you're setting up your inland marine policy, you'll encounter two options: scheduled coverage and blanket coverage. Here's the practical difference.
Scheduled coverage means you list specific high-value items individually on your policy. Think of it like creating an itemized receipt. If you have a $2,500 Graco airless sprayer or a $1,200 scaffolding system, you'd schedule those items by name, model, and value. Insurance companies typically want items worth more than $500 individually listed. The benefit? Each scheduled item is covered for its full stated value, so if your $2,500 sprayer gets stolen, you get $2,500 back (minus your deductible).
Blanket coverage works differently. Instead of listing every drill, brush set, and ladder, you cover all your smaller tools as a group under one aggregate limit. You might say, "I have $15,000 worth of unscheduled tools and equipment," and the policy covers that total amount. The catch? There are usually per-item sublimits—maybe $500 or $1,000 per tool. So if an individual item is worth more than that sublimit, you won't be fully covered unless you schedule it separately.
Most painting contractors end up using both. Schedule your expensive sprayers, compressors, and scaffolding. Use blanket coverage for everything else—the dozens of brushes, roller frames, drop cloths, and hand tools that would be tedious to list individually. This combination approach ensures nothing falls through the cracks while keeping your policy manageable.
The Real Cost (And Why It's Worth It)
The good news: inland marine insurance is remarkably affordable. Painting contractors typically pay between $50-$300 annually for tools and equipment coverage, with the average landing around $17 per month or $169 yearly. For broader inland marine coverage protecting $100,000 worth of equipment, the industry average is about $800 annually with a $1,000 deductible—that's just $0.80 per $100 of coverage.
Your actual premium depends on what you're insuring. A painting contractor with basic equipment—ladders, brushes, and a few hand tools—will pay less than someone running a large operation with multiple sprayers, scaffolding systems, and power equipment. The insurance company looks at your total equipment value, what types of tools you use, how you store them, and your claims history.
Here's the thing: one theft can wipe out years of premiums. If someone breaks into your truck and steals $5,000 worth of equipment—which happens more often than you'd think—you're out of business until you can replace everything. Paying $150 a year to protect against that risk isn't just smart; it's survival insurance for your business.
Why Job Site Theft Is Your Biggest Risk
Painting equipment faces a unique vulnerability: it's portable, valuable, and constantly moving. You can't bolt a $2,000 airless sprayer to the floor. You need to transport it, set it up at the job site, maybe leave it there overnight between days, then move it to the next project. Every transition is an opportunity for theft.
Contractors report that tool theft is one of the most common insurance claims in the industry. Thieves know that construction sites and contractor vehicles are goldmines. A work van full of painting equipment can be emptied in minutes, and professional sprayers resell easily. Even seemingly secure locations aren't safe—equipment gets stolen from client driveways, parking lots, even supposedly secure job sites with other contractors around.
The beauty of inland marine coverage is that it follows your equipment wherever it goes. Stolen from your truck at home? Covered. Taken from a job site? Covered. Lost during transport? Covered. You don't need to prove the theft happened at your business location or argue about whether you were "negligent" for leaving equipment in your locked vehicle overnight. As long as you took reasonable precautions, the policy responds.
How Inland Marine Differs from Property Insurance
This trips up a lot of contractors, so let's clear it up. Commercial property insurance covers equipment and inventory at your fixed business location—your shop, warehouse, or office. The moment that property leaves your premises, coverage ends. It's designed for stationary assets.
Inland marine insurance is specifically designed for property in transit or temporarily at other locations. The name comes from marine insurance—coverage for cargo ships—but it evolved to cover any property that moves. For painting contractors, this is perfect because your business model requires constant movement. You're not running a retail store with inventory that sits on shelves. You're taking expensive equipment to client properties, job sites, and new construction locations day after day.
If you only have commercial property insurance, you have a massive coverage gap. Everything you actually use to make money—your sprayers, ladders, tools—is unprotected the moment you drive away from your business location. Inland marine closes that gap.
Getting Started: What You Need to Do
Setting up inland marine coverage isn't complicated, but you need to be thorough. Start by inventorying all your equipment. Walk through your truck, storage area, and active job sites. List everything: sprayers, ladders, scaffolding, power tools, hand tools, safety equipment. Note the make, model, and approximate value of each item.
Next, separate your inventory into two categories. High-value items worth more than $500 should be scheduled individually—you'll need serial numbers, purchase dates, and current values for these. Everything else can go into your blanket coverage. Add up the total value of all your unscheduled items so you know what aggregate limit to request.
When you talk to insurance agents, ask specifically about inland marine or contractor's equipment coverage. Explain that you're a painting contractor who works at multiple job sites. Make sure the policy covers theft, damage, and loss both in transit and at temporary locations. Confirm there are no weird exclusions—some policies won't cover equipment left in unlocked vehicles or unattended sites, which could be problematic.
Finally, keep your inventory updated. When you buy new equipment, add it to your policy. When you sell or retire old tools, remove them. Your coverage should match what you actually own. Paying for coverage on equipment you no longer have wastes money, and failing to insure new purchases leaves you exposed.
At less than $20 a month for most painting contractors, inland marine insurance is one of the cheapest forms of business protection you can buy. But cheap doesn't mean optional. Your equipment is how you make a living. Protecting it isn't just smart—it's essential to staying in business when something goes wrong.
