Bamboo Insurance
Carrier website links, underwriting access points, mapped product lines, and appetite notes in one place.
This appetite summary is only a guide. Confirm eligibility, submission requirements, restrictions, and binding authority directly with the carrier or underwriter before relying on it.
Carrier appetite summary
Bamboo writes mainly California HO-3 homeowners through Catlin Insurance Company, positioned as a relatively broad appetite personal lines home market. Preferred/target risks: - Owner-occupied 1–4 family homes with Coverage A limits from $70,000 up to $2,000,000; risks with Coverage A ≥$1.3M are submit-for-review before binding. - Dwellings built 1900 or later; no mandatory update requirements for plumbing, heating, or electrical systems. - Roofs: standard pitched roofs, flat roofs acceptable; tar-and-gravel roofs acceptable but roof may be limited to fire and lightning only. - Trusts and LLCs acceptable when the trustee/beneficiary (trust) or managing member (LLC) is listed as an additional insured. - Townhomes/rowhouses, properties in gated communities (including with unfenced pools under HOA/local restrictions) and Protection Class 1–8 are within appetite. - FireLine scores 3 or less fully acceptable; scores 4+ may still be written with a Difference in Conditions (DIC) endorsement. - Prior losses: generally acceptable with up to one theft loss or up to two non-theft property/liability claims in the prior 36 months. Restricted or notable classes/conditions: - Tar-and-gravel roofs: subject to restricted coverage on the roof (fire and lightning only), not a full exclusion for the dwelling. - Higher-value homes (Coverage A ≥$1.3M) require underwriting review rather than straight-through binding. - All dog breeds technically acceptable, but limited animal liability coverage is available and is subject to certain breed-based limitations. - Properties in higher wildfire exposure areas (FireLine 4+) require use of DIC; high brush or cat-prone areas may be subject to catastrophe/binding restrictions per carrier direction. Declined/typically ineligible (inferred from guidelines and positioning): - Homes falling outside the HO-3 structure (e.g., some very high-value or highly distressed properties, extreme wildfire exposure without acceptable mitigation or DIC solution) are generally not targeted, though specific hard declines are not itemized on the public flyer. Geographic notes: - Material is specifically labeled “California Homeowners (HO-3)”, indicating a primary focus on California. Assumes standard ISO Protection Class requirements; PC 1–8 explicitly listed as acceptable. - Wildfire management: FireLine scoring actively used; 3 or below standard, 4+ possible only with DIC form, which may limit or re-structure catastrophe perils. Submission & binding expectations (from agent manual excerpts and flyer): - Producers may bind only acceptable risks when all application questions are answered, explanations provided where required, application signed by applicant and producer, and down payment collected. Effective date cannot precede the completion/signature/payment time. - Applications billed directly to a mortgagee may be submitted without initial payment when permitted. - Book transfers from another carrier may allow some guideline flex, subject to company approval. - Catastrophe management: carrier may suspend binding authority for approaching or active catastrophes (e.g., wildfire, flood, mudslide, designated tropical storm/hurricane, or other natural/man-made disasters). During a binding suspension, no new business or exposure-increasing endorsements are allowed; only renewals with normal limit adjustments proceed. Broker/producer notes: - Marketing emphasizes a "say yes more often" appetite; agents can place many non-standard but still reasonable California home risks (older homes, flat roofs, no update requirements, some prior losses, higher FireLine with DIC). - Producers are instructed not to bind during potential catastrophe events without first confirming that no binding restrictions are in place. - For trusts and LLCs, be sure to schedule the appropriate individuals (trustee/beneficiary or managing member) as additional insureds to avoid coverage gaps. - Flyer highlights multiple discounts (auto with same producer, other Bamboo policy, gated community, newly acquired home, age of home, alarm credit), which producers should consider when positioning pricing, but these do not materially change risk-acceptance rules. Operationally, treat Bamboo as a flexible California HO-3 market with moderately broad eligibility on age, construction, roofs, animals, and prior loss history, but with tighter controls on high-limit homes and wildfire-exposed properties and with strict adherence to binding restrictions during CAT events.