I'm self employed (gardening business) and have 4 employees and I have lots of customers. I'm getting a homeowners policy but I'm wondering if I should get 300K or 500K personal liability coverage. Will this coverage also cover me if someone or my customers tries to sue me? For example, I heard if my kid was at the park and if something did happen and he injured someone personal liability should cover it. So would it also cover my business if anyone sues me? Someone recommended a umbrella policy but what is that exactly and what does it cover? How much would it cost?Because I won't have a lot of income left after my two mortgage payments and miscellaneous expenses (including business expenses). thank you in advance.

Homeowners liability excludes business operations - so no, it won't cover if a customer sues you.

An umbrella is an EXTRA layer of coverage. There are two kinds - personal umbrellas, and business umbrellas. You have to have the underlying coverage in order of it to do you any good.

A business umbrella costs about $1,000 per million of coverage - but you FIRST need the underlying coverage.

You've got two big issues here - commercial general liability coverage, in case a customer sues you, and MORE likely, Workers Compensation, in case an employee gets hurt. And frankly, your injured employee is more likely to end up owning your house, than a customer.

And you can't have them "sign off" to avoid it, and you can't get out of it by calling them "indepenent contractors", either.

Your HO insurer will cover personal liability issues and lawsuits resulting from your ownership of a home. Business related activities are specifically excluded (some policies have an endorsement for incidental business use IE a customer drops off a check at your house). Your kid at the park should be covered (varies by state and policy..civil law stuff)

If you have a business with four employees, you should have a business GL(general liability) policy that covers a gardening business. This will defend you if your customers sue you for something you or your employees did related to gardening.

Umbrella policies vary by company; some are extensions of existing underlying coverage, others offer coverage beyond your HO and auto insurance; either way they will not cover your business.

My recommendation: get a business GL policy to cover your business and take the 500K limit on your HO policy. Later when money is not so tight, get a personnal umbrella.