How to Fill Out ACORD 140 (Property Section), Field by Field

By the end of this, you'll be able to fill out an ACORD 140 correctly — every box, in order — without bouncing the submission back from the underwriter.

The ACORD 140 is the property section of a commercial submission, and it's where most rekeying pain lives: the same building, valued and described five slightly different ways across five accounts. This guide goes field by field. If you'd rather not key it at all, you can auto-fill the ACORD 140 from notes or a prior application and skip to the review.

What ACORD 140 actually is

ACORD 140 is the Property Section of a commercial lines application. It describes the buildings and business personal property (BPP) you want covered so an underwriter can rate property coverage. It does not stand alone — it attaches to an ACORD 125 (the Commercial Insurance Application), which carries the named insured, policy dates, and account-level data.

Think of the 140 as a structured COPE form: Construction, Occupancy, Protection, Exposure. Get those four right and the rest is data entry.

Before you start: what you need on hand

Pull these once and the form fills itself:

• Named insured and mailing address (must match the ACORD 125 exactly).
• Each location and building number — the same numbering you used on the 125 premises section.
• Building values — replacement cost or ACV, and BPP value.
• Construction type (frame, joisted masonry, non-combustible, masonry non-combustible, modified fire resistive, fire resistive) and year built.
• Protection details — sprinklered or not, alarm type, distance to hydrant, distance to responding fire station, protection class.
• Coverage you're requesting — limit, coinsurance %, valuation (RC/ACV), causes of loss form, deductible.

Section-by-section: how to fill out ACORD 140

Header — agency, carrier, named insured, effective date

Top of the form. The named insured and effective date must match the ACORD 125 character-for-character. Mismatches here are the number-one reason a submission bounces. Put the producer/agency in the agency block, not the insured.

Premises / building identification

Each building gets a Premises # and Building # that ties back to the locations on the 125. If your 125 lists "Loc 1 / Bldg 1 — 400 Main St," the 140 must use the same Loc 1 / Bldg 1. Underwriters reconcile these by number; don't renumber between forms.

Subject of insurance, amount, coinsurance, valuation

This is the coverage grid. For each line:

Field	What goes in it	Gotcha
Subject of Insurance	Building, BPP, Business Income, etc.	Use one row per subject per building.
Amount	The limit requested	Replacement cost, not market value.
Coins %	80 / 90 / 100	Mismatched coinsurance and valuation triggers underwriter questions.
Valuation	RC / ACV	Match what the insured actually wants — RC costs more, ACV pays less.
Causes of Loss	Basic / Broad / Special	"Special" is the common ask; spell it out.
Deductible	Per-occurrence amount	Note wind/hail or named-storm deductibles separately if they differ.

Construction

Pick the ISO construction class — frame, joisted masonry, non-combustible, masonry non-combustible, modified fire resistive, fire resistive. Add year built, number of stories, total area (sq ft), and roof type/updates. If the building's been updated, the wiring/plumbing/roofing/HVAC update years belong here — underwriters reward recent updates with better terms, so don't leave them blank.

Protection

The "P" in COPE, and the part people fudge. Capture:

• Sprinklered? Yes/No and % sprinklered.
• Alarm type (central station, local) and grade.
• Distance to hydrant (feet) and distance to responding fire station (miles).
• Protection class (1–10).

Guessing here is how an account gets mis-rated and re-quoted later. If you don't know the protection class, look it up rather than leaving it implied.

Exposures and additional interests

Surrounding exposures (what's next door — a restaurant, a vacant lot, a gas station changes the risk), plus any additional interest (mortgagee, loss payee) with their name, address, and interest type. The mortgagee clause has to be exact — lenders reject certificates with a misspelled name or wrong loan number.

Remarks

Use it. One line explaining anything unusual — a recent roof, a protective safeguard, a value that looks high — heads off an underwriter email and speeds the quote.

The mistakes that bounce a submission

1. Named insured doesn't match the ACORD 125. Reconcile before you send.
2. Building numbers renumbered between forms. Keep Loc/Bldg numbers identical.
3. Market value instead of replacement cost. Property is insured to rebuild, not to sell.
4. Coinsurance and valuation that don't agree with the coverage intent.
5. Blank protection details. "Unknown" reads as "uninsurable" to a busy underwriter.
6. Missing update years on an older building — you leave better terms on the table.
7. Mortgagee/loss payee typos. They cause certificate kickbacks for the life of the policy.

Fill it automatically instead

If the named insured, location, and building details already exist somewhere — a prior ACORD, an email from the client, a dec page — you don't need to retype any of it. Salience's form-filler reads what you have, fills the ACORD 140's COPE and coverage grid, flags the fields it couldn't find, and exports the PDF ready to submit.

It's the same flow for the rest of the packet: the named insured you confirm once carries across to the ACORD 125 and the ACORD 126 without rekeying.

Fill an ACORD 140 now — free

FAQ

What is the ACORD 140 used for? It's the property section of a commercial submission — buildings, business personal property, values, COPE, and the property coverage you're requesting.

Do I need an ACORD 125 too? Yes, almost always. The 140 is supplemental; the named insured and account data live on the 125.

ACORD 140 vs ACORD 137? The 140 describes the property; the 137 captures the commercial property coverage terms. Many submissions use both.

What is COPE? Construction, Occupancy, Protection, Exposure — the four rating factors the 140 is built around.