Business interruption and contents planning

One reviewed calculator plus a record-based contents worksheet for a small-business insurance review.

Business Interruption Calculator

Determine how much business interruption insurance you need to survive a closure.

Business continuity worksheet

Use records, not a generic premium estimate

A business-insurance planning file should separate two questions. First, how much cash could the operation need while a covered location is being restored? Second, which business property would need to be repaired or replaced? This collection provides one reviewed business-interruption calculator and a document checklist for business contents. It does not quote a premium or decide whether a loss is covered.

Interruption inputs

Bring recent profit-and-loss statements, continuing payroll and lease costs, expected lost contribution margin, temporary-location expenses, the policy waiting period, and the restoration-period wording.

Contents inputs

Build an item-level inventory with quantity, make or model, serial number, purchase date, current replacement quote, installation or freight cost, location, and photo or invoice evidence.

Business-interruption worked example

Assume a shop documents $18,000 per month of continuing expenses, $12,000 per month of lost contribution margin, a four-month restoration scenario, and $15,000 of temporary operating costs. The planning need is ($18,000 + $12,000) × 4 + $15,000 = $135,000. That figure is a scenario, not a claim prediction. The owner should test a longer restoration period, subtract expenses that truly stop, and compare the result with the policy limit, waiting period, coinsurance provision, and definition of covered business income.

Open the business-interruption calculator

Business contents: build a replacement-cost worksheet

Do not multiply annual revenue or floor area by a generic rate. List equipment, furniture, stock, tenant improvements, computers, tools, signs, and property temporarily off premises. For each line, record whether the policy uses replacement cost or actual cash value and whether a sublimit, valuation clause, or exclusion applies. Add freight, installation, debris removal, and taxes only when the policy and replacement quote support them.

For example, five workstations quoted at $1,600 each, a $6,500 production machine, $2,400 of shelving, and $1,100 of freight and installation produce a documented worksheet total of $18,000. The useful result is the reconciled inventory and supporting evidence—not a universal coverage recommendation.

Verification before comparing policies

Match the legal entity, insured locations, occupancy, and operations to the application.
Reconcile interruption inputs to financial records and contents inputs to invoices, photos, and current quotes.
Check covered causes of loss, waiting periods, restoration limits, valuation basis, coinsurance, sublimits, and deductibles.
Ask a licensed agent or insurer to explain material differences in writing and retain the answer with the worksheet.

Limitations

State rules, classifications, forms, underwriting, loss history, protective controls, catastrophe exposure, and carrier filings can change eligibility and price. CoverageFixPro does not estimate a premium on this page and cannot determine whether a particular claim would be paid.

Frequently asked questions

Is business interruption the same as property coverage? ▼

No. Property coverage addresses covered physical damage under its terms. Business-income or interruption coverage addresses defined income loss and continuing expenses during a covered suspension, subject to its own waiting period, restoration period, limits, and exclusions.

Can this page calculate a business-contents limit? ▼

It provides a reproducible inventory method, not an automatic limit recommendation. The total depends on the property list, valuation basis, current replacement evidence, locations, sublimits, and policy wording.

Why are generic liability and cyber premium calculators not public? ▼

A simple revenue or employee-count formula cannot reproduce classifications, controls, state rules, policy forms, audits, or underwriting. Those drafts remain outside the public approval surface until they can produce a bounded and verifiable decision result.

What should I save for an annual review? ▼

Keep the dated worksheets, financial statements used, inventory photos and invoices, replacement quotes, policy declarations and endorsements, and written answers to material coverage questions.

Focused collection

What this business collection does and does not cover

Decision question

The public business collection focuses on continuity funding during a covered closure rather than estimating a generic premium from revenue or employee count.

Verification workflow

Reconcile continuing expenses and contribution margin to recent financial statements, estimate a realistic restoration period, add temporary operating costs, and test the applicable waiting period. Preserve the worksheet used and compare it with the proposed business-income limit and restoration-period wording.

Why other drafts are not public

Generic liability, cyber, property, and workers-comp premium estimators remain held because classifications, state rules, controls, forms, audits, and underwriting make an unsourced price output unreliable.

Primary references

Reviewed by the CoverageFixPro Editorial Team · Updated August 11, 2026