Both describe how a limit is applied. The difference only shows up at a claim, and by then it is settled.

Scheduled

Each item or location gets its own stated limit. Building A is insured for $600,000, Building B for $400,000. A $10,000 ring is scheduled at $10,000.

The limit for that item is the most you can collect for it, regardless of what is available elsewhere on the policy. If Building A turns out to be worth $750,000 and burns to the ground, the $400,000 sitting on Building B is of no help.

Blanket

One limit applies across everything covered by it. A $1,000,000 blanket over both buildings means the full million is available to whichever one has the loss.

Blanket protects you from the thing that actually goes wrong: not underinsuring in total, but misallocating between locations. Values drift, one building gets renovated, another gets new equipment, and the split on the schedule stops matching reality. Blanket makes that harmless.

What blanket requires of you

Blanket coverage is normally written against a statement of values — a schedule of what each location or item is actually worth. You still report the values; you are simply not locked to them at a claim.

Watch for a margin clause, which caps recovery at a stated percentage of the value you reported for that location — commonly 110% or 120%. A margin clause quietly reintroduces the per-location cap that blanket was bought to remove, so it is worth knowing whether one is on the form.

Where blanket helps most

  • Multiple locations where values shift between them.
  • Coinsurance — a blanket limit is tested against total values rather than location by location, so being high in one place and low in another does not create a penalty.
  • Growing businesses that add equipment between renewals.

Where scheduling is the right answer

  • High-value individual items — jewellery, fine art, a single expensive machine. Scheduling gives an agreed value and usually broader coverage, often including mysterious disappearance and frequently with no deductible.
  • Anything a lender is attached to, where a specific limit must be shown for a specific asset.
  • Items above a blanket per-item cap. Blanket coverage of $25,000 on tools often carries a $2,500 cap on any single item, so the $6,000 laser level is badly underinsured until it is scheduled by name.

The practical rule

Blanket for the many, scheduled for the few. Use blanket where values move around and no single item dominates; schedule anything valuable enough that being wrong about it would hurt on its own.

Related: What is coinsurance? · Scheduled vs blanket jewellery coverage

Educational only — confirm against the actual policy form and endorsements.