Business Interruption Insurance
Coverage reimbursing a business for lost income and continuing operating expenses while a covered property loss forces it to suspend or reduce operations, usually paired with extra expense coverage that pays for speeding up the return to operation.
Why it matters
The payout is calculated from the business's actual prior financial records, not a flat estimate, and is limited to a defined "period of restoration," the time repairs should reasonably take, not however long they actually end up taking.
On a real project
A restaurant closed for six weeks after fire damage has its lost net income and continuing rent calculated against its prior twelve months of financial statements, rather than the owner's own estimate of what the restaurant "would have made."
Who this matters most to
A Construction Claims Consultant often gets brought in specifically to calculate a complex business interruption loss, since it requires real financial and forensic accounting work most adjusters don't specialize in.
Where this goes wrong
A restaurant owner assumes business interruption coverage pays for however long repairs actually take, without realizing most policies define the period of restoration as the time repairs should reasonably take with due diligence, and the insurer disputes several extra weeks that were actually caused by the owner's own slow contractor selection, not the loss itself.