Equipment Insurance
for Septic Contractors.
Your vacuum pumps, jetters, hoses and inspection cameras are the business. Here is why the property policy you already pay for stops covering them 100 feet from your yard.
We shop your septic business with carriers like
What a septic contractor actually schedules
Two separate floaters doing two different jobs, plus the rented-equipment piece most policies leave switched off.
The equipment that generates revenue
Vacuum pumps, suction hoses and reels, hydro jetters, portable trash pumps, pipe inspection cameras, trailers, mini excavators and compactors. If losing it stops you working tomorrow, it belongs on the schedule.
Equipment you do not own
Rented, leased and borrowed machines, which need their own declared limit under the standard form and which your rental contract has already made your responsibility.
Materials in transit and staged on site
Through an installation floater, covering tanks, risers, pipe and pumps from the yard to the point the work is accepted.
A valuation basis you have actually chosen
Rather than discovering at claim time that a ten-year-old pump was insured at depreciated value.
The Septic Cleaning Insurance Group Policy Review
We read the whole policy
Before we quote anything we read what you already have, cover to cover, and tell you plainly what it does and does not do.
We map your actual operation
Pumping, installation, hauling, grease trap, portable units: each one underwrites differently. We classify what you really do, not a generic contractor code.
We shop carriers who understand septic risk
Standard markets when they fit, specialty and E&S markets when they do not. If a carrier does not understand pollution exposure, we do not use them.
We explain the quote in plain language
You get the number, the limits, the exclusions that matter, and the reasoning. No pass-through, no blind binding.
What we check that usually has not been checked
Whether non-owned equipment is actually on the form
Because rental contracts specifically require your policy to cover equipment in your care, custody and control, and the coverage is optional rather than automatic.
Whether your schedule still matches your yard
Equipment schedules go stale fast in this trade. The jetter bought last spring is frequently not on the policy.
Where your installation floater terminates
The cut-off is the earliest of several events and it varies by form. For installers it decides whether a staged tank is covered the night before connection.
Whether actual cash value is quietly costing you
ACV is the default. On older high-value equipment that gap is often larger than the premium difference to fix it.
Your property policy stops at the edge of your yard
Most septic contractors assume their business property policy follows their equipment. It does not, and the form says so in a single sentence.
What the standard property form actually says
ISO form CP 00 10 covers your business personal property “located in or on the building or structure described in the Declarations or in the open (or in a vehicle) within 100 feet of the building or structure or within 100 feet of the premises described in the Declarations, whichever distance is greater.” Past that line you are relying on a coverage extension, not base coverage.
The off-premises extension is capped, and it is small
The form’s Property Off-Premises extension states plainly: “The most we will pay for loss or damage under this Extension is $10,000.” One stolen hydro jetter can exceed that.
And it excludes anything in a vehicle
The same extension says it “does not apply to property: (a) In or on a vehicle.” For a trade that keeps every tool it owns on a truck, that sentence removes most of the point.
Commercial auto does not pick it up either
Auto physical damage insures the covered auto itself. The truck is the insured property; the pumps, hoses, reels and cameras riding in it are cargo, not the vehicle. Neither policy is wrong, they simply both stop short of the same equipment.
Inland marine exists to close exactly that gap
IRMI defines inland marine as property insurance for “property in transit over land, certain types of movable property that may not remain at a fixed location,” with floater policies providing “coverage that moves with the insured property, offering protection regardless of the property’s location.”
Sources: ISO CP 00 10 10 12 (Building and Personal Property Coverage Form), IRMI, Inland Marine Coverage
The rental contract already made this your problem
If you rent a mini excavator for a tank set, the dealer’s contract has almost certainly transferred the entire risk to you before the machine leaves the yard.
What a real dealer rental agreement says
Thompson Tractor’s published rental terms state that on delivery the customer “shall bear the entire risk of loss, damage, theft, or destruction of the Equipment or any part thereof, from any and every cause whatsoever.” That is one dealer’s contract rather than a universal rule, but the structure is typical.
And it tells you exactly what your policy must say
The same agreement requires the customer to maintain property insurance adequate to cover loss of the equipment, and adds: “Customer’s policy must expressly cover non-owned equipment while in Customer’s care, custody, or control.” If your floater does not, you have signed up for an exposure you cannot transfer.
Coverage for rented equipment is usually optional, not automatic
Under the ISO Contractors Equipment Coverage Form, equipment leased or rented from others is an optional coverage that needs its own declared limit. It is not something you can assume is already on the policy because you rent occasionally.
The dealer’s own waiver is not insurance
Rental counters commonly offer a damage waiver product. Thompson Tractor’s version is labelled in its own terms as not insurance. It is a contractual waiver with a deductible, and it does nothing for your liability or for equipment you own.
Equipment floater versus installation floater
One covers the tools you arrive with. The other covers the materials you leave behind. Installers usually need both and often carry only the first.
- Contractors equipment floater: your machinery, tools and equipment, whether owned, borrowed, leased or rented and in your care, custody or control
- Valuation is normally actual cash value by default, with replacement cost available when selected, and agreed value by endorsement for scheduled items
- Installation floater: the tank, risers, pipe, pumps and materials you are installing, including while in transit and while stored at the job site
- Many installation floaters also reach labour and supply costs for the property being installed
- An installation floater does not cover the building or the rest of the structure
- An equipment floater does not cover the materials you are installing once they leave your control
- Replacement cost is typically paid only after the property is actually repaired or replaced
- Rented-from-others coverage is usually optional, so it is absent unless someone elected it
Read when your installation floater actually ends
There is no universal cut-off. Coverage typically terminates at the earliest of several events: the materials are installed and the project is complete, the work is accepted by the purchaser, the property is put to its intended use, your insurable interest ends, the project is abandoned, or the policy expires. For a septic installer staging tanks on site, that trigger decides whether a tank damaged the night before connection is covered. It is written into your form, and it is worth reading before you need it.
Worth saying plainly because it is often described wrongly: an installation floater is not a different species from builders risk. IRMI calls it “a specialized type of builders risk coverage that is often written on the same form.” The practical difference is scope and buyer. A subcontractor buys an installation floater for the thing being installed; an owner or general contractor buys builders risk for the structure.
Sources: IRMI, Installation Floater, IRMI, Equipment Floater
Underwriters who’ve actually walked a septic job site
Septic Cleaning Insurance Group
We built this agency around one gap we kept seeing: big-box commercial insurers write septic contractor policies the same way they write policies for any other trade, missing the environmental and pollution exposure that actually matters in this business. Our team goes deep on septic-specific risk before recommending coverage, maintains relationships with carriers who understand pumping, installation, and disposal operations specifically, and keeps specialty and E&S markets in reserve for the accounts standard carriers will not touch.
Straight answers, no insurance-speak
Only within 100 feet of your described premises. The standard ISO property form covers business personal property in or on the building, or in the open or in a vehicle within 100 feet of it. Beyond that you are on a coverage extension capped at $10,000, and that extension specifically does not apply to property in or on a vehicle.
No. Auto physical damage insures the vehicle itself. Your pumps, hoses, reels and inspection cameras are contents riding in it, not the covered auto. That gap between the property policy and the auto policy is exactly what an equipment floater is for.
Only if someone elected that coverage. Under the standard contractors equipment form, equipment rented or leased from others is an optional coverage with its own declared limit. Meanwhile the rental contract has already transferred the entire risk of loss to you, and typically requires your policy to expressly cover non-owned equipment in your care, custody or control.
No. Those waivers state in their own terms that they are not insurance. They are a contractual limitation on what the dealer will come after you for, usually with a deductible, and they do nothing for equipment you own or for your liability.
It covers the materials you are installing, tanks, risers, pipe and pumps, while in transit and while staged at the job site before the work is accepted. If you install systems rather than only pumping them, you have this exposure every time a tank sits overnight on a site.
They are closely related. IRMI describes an installation floater as a specialized type of builders risk, often written on the same form. The difference is scope and who buys it: an installation floater covers the thing being installed and is normally bought by the subcontractor, while builders risk covers the structure and is normally bought by the owner or general contractor.
Actual cash value is the default on the standard form and it pays depreciated value, which on a ten-year-old vacuum pump can be a long way below what a replacement costs. Replacement cost is available when selected, though it is typically paid only after you have actually repaired or replaced the item. For critical revenue equipment the difference is worth the premium.
Not that we have been able to verify, and we would rather say that than invent a mandate. In practice the requirement comes from your contracts: rental agreements, equipment lenders and lessors, and general contractor terms. Those are the documents that actually force the issue.
Get Your Equipment & Inland Marine Septic Insurance Quote
A few quick questions about your operation. Takes about 2 minutes. Prefer to talk first? Call (855) 461-2010.
When did you last check what is actually on your equipment schedule?
Send us the schedule and the rental agreements you have signed. We will tell you what is missing before you find out the hard way.
No pressure. If we’re not the right fit for your business, we’ll tell you straight.
Septic contractor insurance in your state
Licensing and insurance requirements change at every state line. Pick yours.