Commercial forms reference
ACORD 140: the Property Section, field by field
ACORD 140 is where a commercial submission prices the building itself. It sits behind the ACORD 125 and carries COPE detail, values, valuation basis, and protection information per premises and building. Below is what each block captures, where the detail comes from, and what an underwriter sends back.
What each section captures
| Section | What it captures | Usual source | Commonly missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header / Applicant | Agency and producer detail, effective and expiration dates, named insured, and carrier or program — repeated from the ACORD 125 so the property section stands on its own in the underwriter's file. | Carried forward from the ACORD 125. | Named insured and dates that disagree with the 125 make the pair read as two separate submissions. |
| Premises / Building Identification | Premises number, building number, street address, and the description of the building being rated. Every subsequent block on the form hangs off this numbering. | The premises schedule on the ACORD 125. | Premises and building numbers must match the 125 exactly. Renumbering between forms is the fastest way to lose a location in the carrier's rating system. |
| Subject of Insurance / Limits | One line per subject — building, business personal property, business income, extra expense, tenant improvements, signs, stock — with the limit, valuation basis, coinsurance percentage, cause-of-loss form, inflation guard, and deductible. | Expiring declarations, a replacement-cost estimator, and the insured's financials. | A blank valuation basis or coinsurance percentage means the underwriter guesses or asks. Business income limits without a worksheet or period of indemnity get flagged on nearly every account. |
| Construction | ISO construction class (frame, joisted masonry, non-combustible, masonry non-combustible, modified fire resistive, fire resistive), year built, number of stories, total area, basement, roof type and material, and floor and wall construction. | Public property records, prior inspection reports, and the insured. | Construction class is the single highest-leverage field on the form. 'Masonry' entered where the wall is a masonry veneer on a frame structure changes the rate and gets corrected at inspection. |
| Updates / Improvements | Year of the last wiring, plumbing, heating, and roofing updates, plus a note on partial versus full replacement. | The insured, permit records, and prior inspections. | Buildings older than roughly 25 to 30 years usually need all four update years before a carrier will quote. Blank rows read as 'never updated'. |
| Protection | Public protection class, distance to the responding fire station and nearest hydrant, sprinkler coverage and percentage of area sprinklered, central-station or local alarm, alarm certificate, and any private protection. | The protection class lookup for the address, plus alarm and sprinkler certificates. | Sprinkler credit claimed without a percentage of area and an inspection date rarely survives underwriting. Unprotected or Class 9 and 10 locations need the distances stated, not left blank. |
| Exposures / Occupancy | Occupancy of this building and the percentage occupied by the insured, occupancies above, below, and adjacent, exposing structures within a defined distance, and any vacancy or unoccupied space. | The insured, plus a look at the surrounding block. | Vacant or partially vacant space must be disclosed here. Discovered vacancy is a coverage and rescission conversation, not a rating conversation. |
| Additional Interests | Mortgagees, loss payees, lenders' loss payables, and building owners, with the interest type, loan number, and mailing address. | Loan and lease documents. | A missing loan number delays the evidence of property insurance the lender is waiting on, even after the policy binds. |
| Additional Coverages / Remarks | Ordinance or law, equipment breakdown, spoilage, earthquake and flood elections, wind and hail deductible structure, plus free-text remarks explaining anything unusual about the risk. | The marketing instructions and the insured's exposure profile. | Percentage wind and hail deductibles in catastrophe-exposed states should be stated up front. Leaving them to the quote stage invites a surprise on the proposal. |
ACORD forms are copyrighted by ACORD and licensed to agencies and carriers. This page is a field reference — blank forms come from ACORD, your carrier, or your agency management system.
Where property submissions lose time
Values pulled from the tax assessment
Assessed and market values are not replacement cost. Send a current estimator output or the insured's own valuation support alongside the 140 so the limit is not treated as underinsurance.
Construction class taken from the listing
Real estate listings describe finishes, not ISO classes. Confirm the load-bearing structure and roof deck before you pick the class — an inspection correction re-rates the whole account.
Protection details left to the underwriter
Protection class, hydrant distance, and fire station distance are all resolvable from the address before you submit. Blank fields become underwriter questions and a week of delay.
Business income with no worksheet
A round business income limit with no period of indemnity and no supporting worksheet gets referred nearly every time. Attach the worksheet with the packet.
How the 140 fits the rest of the submission
The 125 identifies the account and its premises, the 126 prices the operations, and the 140 prices the property. Premises and building numbering has to stay consistent across all three.
ACORD 125 field reference
The shared commercial application: applicant, premises, general information, and loss history.
ACORD 126 field reference
The general liability section: class codes, exposure bases, limits, and subcontractor detail.
ACORD form automation
How PolicyFast AI assembles ACORD-structured packet data from a single property address.
ACORD 140 questions
What is the ACORD 140 form?
ACORD 140 is the Commercial Property Section. It travels behind the ACORD 125 and carries the per-location, per-building detail a property underwriter rates from: construction, occupancy, protection and exposure, plus the values and valuation basis for building, contents, and business income.
When do you need an ACORD 140?
Any time building, contents, or business income coverage is being marketed — standalone property, a package, or a BOP-style quote. One 140 covers the premises and building numbers assigned on the ACORD 125; multi-location accounts repeat the section per location.
What is COPE on an ACORD 140?
COPE stands for Construction, Occupancy, Protection, and Exposure. Construction is the ISO class and year built, occupancy is what happens inside the building, protection is the public protection class and sprinkler and alarm detail, and exposure is what sits next door and the catastrophe perils in play.
What is the difference between ACORD 140 and ACORD 126?
140 prices what the business owns; 126 prices what the business does. The 140 carries COPE detail and building and contents values per location, the 126 carries general liability class codes and exposure bases.
How do you value a building on the ACORD 140?
Pick the valuation basis the policy will be written on — replacement cost, actual cash value, or functional replacement cost — and state the limit that matches it, along with the coinsurance percentage and any agreed-value or inflation-guard endorsement. A replacement-cost limit set from a market or tax-assessed value is the most common source of a coinsurance dispute at claim time.
Can PolicyFast AI prefill the ACORD 140?
Most of the COPE block, yes. From a single commercial property address, PolicyFast resolves construction class, year built, square footage, stories, protection class, distance to responding fire service, and catastrophe exposure into ACORD 140 field structure. Values, valuation basis, coinsurance, and endorsement elections stay with you to confirm.