Thread: Insuring our shed and tools

I wonder why there is a difference between "for hobby" or for "commercial" purposes. If the primary risk factor is theft or fire, why would it matter?

Cheers, Dom

Good question Dom. Could it be that a hobby premises is not so visible to a would be thief? Having said that, decent size machinery is not exactly easily removed (unless you have a forklift) so back to your original question!

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Good question Dom. Could it be that a hobby premises is not so visible to a would be thief? Having said that, decent size machinery is not exactly easily removed (unless you have a forklift) so back to your original question!

Regards
Paul

And further to that, if you make a few things to sell from a home workshop and do so under a registered business name, would your standard contents cover not cover you in the event of a loss?

I do wonder why it would be any different with regard to risk profile and how much more they would slug you. I don't make anything to sell at the moment but might make a call out of curiosity.

Cheers, Dom

I don't follow their reasoning but they must have asked me 4 times if I was running a business or was it 100% hobby during the phone calls. I would imagine if you did have a claim and they find somebody who bought something from me, that I made, they would probably deny the claim. I know in the past I asked them about coverage and they pretty well told me a flat NO

A bit off topic but pertinent to the subject. If your shed got cleaned out could you remember every thing that was in it? make an inventory, it happened to a mate of mine and he did not claim for anywhere near what was pinched because he could not remember it all.

Excellent knowledge.

Ive posted this previously, but I also did exactly the same thing with QBE. I would describe them as absolutely fantastic.

They asked me to keep a good spreadsheet (which I had anyway). It has everything needed to accurately ID any item, including a few details as notes. I also took photos of everything and plenty of the studio in general to prove they are actually all here.

QBE were excellent to deal with and happy to add everything onto/under your contents insurance. I believe now (as of last year) that they don't even need you to specify to them yearly*, just ensure its all documented.

Id imagine these scenarios are growing into A Thing for them, as there are many who are spending considerable sums on their hobbies in retirement.


* when I first started I emailed them a yearly spreadsheet. I think it became All Too Hard, so they just simplified it and requested I keep "details".

Originally Posted by DomAU

I wonder why there is a difference between "for hobby" or for "commercial" purposes. If the primary risk factor is theft or fire, why would it matter?

Cheers, Dom

Because the view of an insurer is that anything commercial will have signage on it. That signage will tell a thief what's in there, and make it a greater target.

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

Because the view of an insurer is that anything commercial will have signage on it. That signage will tell a thief what's in there, and make it a greater target.

Yeah ok, that would make sense. The downside is those who don't have signage etc would still be wearing the cost of that assumption. I'm going to call my insurer tomorrow in any case.

I too keep a spreadsheet of all of my tools for insurance. It's actually very interesting (and depressing haha) to see where all the money goes between hand tools, power tools, machinery etc. Some surprising numbers that's for sure!

Cheers, Dom

you can probably rely on the ATO rules about hobby/business to qualify that your occasional sale does not move you out of the "hobby" category. https://www.ato.gov.au/business/star...-in-business-/

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

A bit off topic but pertinent to the subject. If your shed got cleaned out could you remember every thing that was in it? make an inventory, it happened to a mate of mine and he did not claim for anywhere near what was pinched because he could not remember it all.

My Brother got cleaned out one night, cost the insurance company $30K. He didn't have any records of what he had, so the insurance mob sent out an investigator, he could see where the tools were as my brother had labeled the shelves where the tools sat. They even took his wet suits and diving gear, 3 sets, as he'd take mates out with him.
After he'd replaced some of the gear, he still found stuff missing. So it's most important to take photo's of the tools and any ID marks.
I had someone enter my shed and take a recovery bag, that had a winch cable 2 cable pulley blocks and a heap of D and bow shackles. I found them at a local second hand dealer, when I reported my find, I was asked if I could identify them as mine, the only thing that identified them was a bit of coloured nylon rope. The police told me that as there was no identifying marks, it would almost be impossible to prove ownership.
Who would think to engrave their name on a winch cable and pulley blocks????
Kryn

When, as a society, are we going to deal with this scum properly?

So I just got off the phone to my insurer. I'm waiting on formal clarification but over the phone I was told that manufacturing items for sale on a small scale wouldn't affect my policy, provided I wasn't putting up signage or having lots of customers coming through / to the house etc. So that's good and answers that question I guess .

Cheers, Dom

Help I need someone to do a tools and machinery inventory of my sheds...
Yes I have the sort of monetary coverage that folk have indicated, listing woodworking tools & machinery with DSH Insurance but as to specific inventory "ikes" .

When you find that person could you let me know too, PLEASE.
How does someone go about putting a value on a handmade piece of tooling, when there's nothing to compare it with??
Kryn