Ohio Mutual Insurance Group
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
Ohio Mutual’s public site currently positions the carrier around small business, home, farm, and personal lines distributed through independent agents. Commercial marketing says it can insure many small businesses and some new ventures, with commercial availability shown for Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont; a 2025 company release also references Wisconsin in distribution/service materials, so producers should confirm state/product availability with underwriting before submission. The only verified public underwriting guide located is an Ohio Businessowners Program manual dated 2015-12, so operational use should treat it as legacy unless the underwriter confirms it remains current. That BOP guide targets eligible classified small businesses, generally up to 35,000 sq. ft. and $6M annual sales per location, with exceptions for offices, restaurants, self-storage, motels, and apartments/condo associations. General fit includes financially sound risks, central heating, no more than one loss in three years, and property insured to 100% of value for replacement cost. Agency BOP binding authority shown in the manual allows property up to $400k in protection classes 1-7 or $200k in classes 8-9, no binding in protection class 10, up to $2M through e-Quip’d, inland marine up to $50k per item / $150k total schedule, and liability up to $1M. Preferred/specific classes called out include qualifying motels, smaller restaurants, self-storage, and apartments/condos meeting habitability and update standards. Restaurant parameters include max 7,500 sq. ft., max 150 seats, no bar/cocktail service, catering capped at 10% of sales, nonseasonal operation except ice cream shops, and automatic extinguishing systems; full-cooking restaurants are ineligible in protection class 9 or 10 and if the insured has owned the operation less than three years. Apartment/condo guidance favors office/residential-only risks with smoke detectors, PVC waste lines, circuit breakers/GFI, no aluminum wiring, at least two means of egress, strong maintenance, local owner management, no student housing/boarding homes, no nursing/adult care or medical services, no subsidized housing, and no converted dwellings or motels; prior carrier/premium and five-year loss history plus front/rear photos are required before binding. Preferred apartments are less than 25 years old with roof/furnace/water heater updated within 15 years; standard apartments require company approval before binding. Contractor appetite is narrow: generally 15 or fewer full-time employees, limited subcontracting, no general contractors, no work above three stories, no equipment rental to others, and no commercial/industrial roofing except incidental. Declined or restricted BOP classes/operations in the verified guide include legal services, temporary help/employee leasing firms, clubs/golf/country clubs, municipalities/government entities, schools/educational services, auto dealers, manufacturing, used-goods dealers except incidental sales, tanning/exercise exposures available to the public, tobacco stores except incidental sales, and contractor operations involving cranes, demolition/blasting/wrecking, high-pressure boiler or LPG work, asbestos/lead abatement, radon work, fire alarm/extinguisher installation, elevator work, sandblasting, and bridge/road work. Water backup is tightly controlled: only limited coverage is automatically included via premier property endorsements, and higher limits require underwriting review tied to a water-backup risk report. A separate commercial auto guideline PDF was also verified; it prohibits emergency vehicles, hazardous-material hauling, racing, long-haul trucking beyond a regular 100-mile radius, taxi/limo/bus/livery exposures, most rental/leasing operations, logging/lumber/mineral hauling, large-city mail/newspaper delivery, financial responsibility bond cases, drive-away/haul-away contractors, waste haulers, and modified trucks with changed GVW. For submissions and broker/producer workflow, Ohio Mutual requires independent-agent distribution. The verified BOP guide requires a completed ACORD application or change form within 10 days of binding; if submitted through e-Quip’d, the agent must retain the signed application and provide it on request. Service-center material for agents directs underwriting questions, product appetite/risk acceptance, rating inquiries, property inspections, guidelines, and loss runs to the underwriter; service centers handle existing policy questions, endorsement inquiries, online interface help, and Agent Access/e-Quip’d training. Commercial service center email shown is commercial-lines@omig.com. For new agency appointments, Ohio Mutual instructs interested independent agents to contact the regional field sales manager for their territory.