[hackerspaces] Insurance Recommendations for a US-based space?

[john arclight]

For sure.  The hardest part seemed to be explaining why we have about 100
different activities going on and no apparent profit motive. :)  At the same
time, we do some work for hire and didn't want to rule out running some of
the members' small business ideas out of there.

Here is a good insurance broker out of SoCal (I believe she does out of
state carriers as well):

Worldwide Business Insurance
Sherry Kia, Agent
(714)774-0891

Arclight



On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 9:25 AM, Mitch Altman <maltman23 at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Noisebridge is in San Francisco, which is a place where insurance is
> higher than most.  We also have 1000 sq. ft.  But we do allow anyone to come
> in, including groups of kids (any age).  $1,300 seems about right for
> liability.
>
>
> We were very upfront about who we are (a hacker space) and what we do.  It
> is best not to call what you do "light industrial" since that has a meaning
> (though I can't remember what) that is not descriptive of what goes on in
> hacker spaces.  It's great that you have a space where you can do welding.
> :)
>
>
> Our broker is MIF Insurance Agency, in San Francisco.
>
>
> Mitch.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 09:12:35 -0700
> From: arclight at gmail.com
> To: discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> Subject: Re: [hackerspaces] Insurance Recommendations for a US-based space?
>
>
> Hi Mitch,
>
> I started by calling my car insurance guy, and got a referral to an agent
> he trusts for commercial work.  What it came down to, was that we had to
> come up with a way of explaining what it is that we do and then sell it to
> an insurance carrier.  In our case, we put pictures of the robot kits we
> build up, built a web site around it and then also described all of the
> activities we do there (light industrial work, computer programming, some
> welding, etc).  We're a small group and not usually bringing in big youth
> groups or whatever, so our needs might be slightly different than some
> others.
>
> Our insurance was around $1300/year for the space and some limited
> completed products liability coverage.  The space is a bit over 1,000ft^2.
>
> I'm not sure what state you're in, but I can give you a contact if you'd
> like.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:39 AM, Jason Bailey <jason at hive13.org> wrote:
>
> We've recently signed a lease on a space and are searching for an
> appropriate insurance provider.  Several of the usual suspects have said we
> need a specialty policy written, and it's taking some time to get together.
> Others have simply responded that they cannot offer the type of coverage we
> need.
>
> Can anyone speak to the type of insurance they've purchased for their space
> and why that particular type of coverage was chosen?  Also, we're trying to
> work the costs into the budget, but as of yet have only guesses as to what
> our monthly premium may be.  Is anyone comfortable sharing what their
> monthly costs are?
>
> Jason
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