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Of the estimated 29.6 million small businesses in the U.S., roughly half, or about 15 million, are home-based businesses. One survey of home-based business owners found that 6 out of every 10 don’t have business insurance. Most figured they either didn’t need it or were already covered by a homeowners policy.

If you work out of your house, you need to think about insurance for your home-based business. A homeowners policy probably doesn’t offer much protection against loss of business equipment, not to mention liability if a client gets hurt or compensation if your business is disrupted by a fire, flood, or other disaster.

Losing your home to a natural or man-made disaster would be a tragedy. But at least you’d still have your livelihood. Or would you? If you depend on a home-based business for income, perhaps not.

Many people think homeowners insurance will cover a home-based business in a catastrophe. Policies vary, but in reality most typically top out at a few hundred dollars for business property lost to a fire, burglary, or natural disaster.

And while you’ll get some liability protection for injured “incidental” workers like babysitters, you don’t have protection covering accidents and medical costs for bona fide employees. Ditto for customers if, say, you’re a hair dresser whose client trips and falls. Nor would an accountant operating from a home office be reimbursed for lost income if a hurricane levels the house.

The most economical way to insure your home-based business is to add a business endorsement to an existing homeowners policy. If your annual receipts total just a few thousand dollars, for as little as $20 extra per year in premiums, you might be able to purchase an endorsement that raises your policy limit for business equipment to $5,000.

A more expensive, but by no means cost-prohibitive, option is to take out a stand-alone in-home business policy. Spend a day researching choices. A standard policy, which might run between $250 and $500 a year depending on the size and nature of a home-based business, typically covers:

In general, it’s straightforward to insure four types of home-based businesses: offices (such as accountants or financial advisers); services (like appliance repair or photography); sales (anything from flowers to stationery); and craft makers. Day care centers are harder to insure, and you’ll face hurdles like inspections if you manufacture food.

If you gross over $250,000 or employ more than three workers, you may have problems. And you can’t usually bundle coverage with a homeowners policy if you have a co-owner who isn’t a relative, or who doesn’t live in the home. In such cases, consider a more comprehensive businessowners policy, known as a “BOP.”

Coverage exceptions can be many. Medical malpractice—or charges that you’ve failed in your professional duties, say as a surveyor or engineer—is probably excluded. So too are product recalls. Computer hackers and viruses aren’t usually covered. Neither is environmental pollution, if your auto repair business discharges oil.

Worker’s compensation, for employees injured on the job, isn’t part of home-based business policies. Just about every employer must carry this, with the usual exceptions being sole proprietors and farmers. Check with your state’s insurance commissioner.

Between $250 and $500 is a ballpark range for a home-based business policy, according to the Insurance Information Institute. However, annual premiums will vary based on what type of business you have and how much coverage you need. Here’s how to keep costs down:

Jill Hamburg Coplan has been a reporter on the business beat for 17 years. Her stories have appeared in BusinessWeek SmallBiz, Barron’s, Newsday, Forbes.com, Bloomberg News, and many other outlets. She writes from an attic office in her 1930s Craftsman colonial in Montclair, N.J.

Most policies will provide a few hundred dollars for a business property damaged in a fire, burglary, or natural disaster. Image: Michael Blann /Photodisc/Getty Images