Commercial Insurance in Florida
Contractors, shops, restaurants, offices and trucking. We build the coverage your contracts and your landlord actually require — and we issue the certificate the same day when you need it to start a job.
What a Florida business usually needs
General Liability (GL)
The base policy. It covers third-party bodily injury and property damage — a customer slips in your shop, you damage a client's property on a job. Almost every commercial lease and almost every subcontract requires it, typically at $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate.
Business Owner's Policy (BOP)
General liability plus property, packaged together and usually cheaper than buying them separately. This is the right starting point for most shops, offices and small restaurants. Property covers your equipment, inventory and build-out, and a BOP normally includes business interruption — the coverage that pays your bills while you cannot trade after a covered loss. In hurricane country that is not a footnote.
Workers' Compensation
Florida's thresholds are specific, and construction is treated differently from everything else:
- Construction: required with one or more employees.
- Non-construction: required with four or more employees, counting full and part time.
- Agriculture: its own thresholds — ask us.
Even below those numbers, general contractors routinely require their subs to carry it, so many one-person businesses buy it to be allowed on site at all.
Commercial Auto
A personal auto policy does not cover a vehicle used for business, and a claim is where that gets discovered. If the vehicle is titled to the company, carries equipment, or is driven by employees, it needs a commercial policy. This is the single most common gap we find.
The ones people forget
- Professional liability (E&O) — for advice and services, where the loss is financial rather than physical.
- Commercial umbrella — extra limits above GL and auto. Often the cheapest way to satisfy a contract demanding higher limits.
- Cyber liability — if you store customer data or take card payments.
- Tools and equipment — a contractor's tools are usually not covered by the GL policy.
We read the contract before we quote
Most commercial insurance problems are not about price, they are about a mismatch: the certificate says one thing and the contract required another. Send us the insurance requirements from your lease or your general contractor and we will build the policy to satisfy them, instead of quoting a generic package you find out is short at the worst moment.
What we need to quote you
Commercial quotes are not instant like personal lines, because the price depends on what you actually do rather than on a form. Having these ready turns days into hours:
- What the business does, described the way you would to a customer. The classification code drives the rate, and a vague description gets a conservative one.
- Annual revenue and, for workers' comp, annual payroll by type of work.
- Number of employees, and whether any are subcontractors.
- Vehicles — year, make, model, VIN and who drives them.
- The premises — square footage, whether you own or lease, year built.
- Loss history, usually five years. Claims do not disqualify you; hiding them delays everything.
- The insurance requirements page of any contract or lease you have to satisfy.
A note on workers' comp audits
Workers' comp premium is an estimate at the start of the year and is audited at the end against your real payroll. If payroll grew, you owe the difference. This surprises business owners every year, so plan for it — and keep clean records of subcontractors, because a sub without their own certificate typically gets counted as your employee at audit.
If you also drive for the business personally, look at your personal auto policy at the same time. Where the line falls between the two is worth getting right before a claim, not after.
Commercial insurance in Florida, answered
How fast can I get a certificate of insurance?
If the policy is already in force, usually within the hour during business hours — including certificates naming a general contractor or landlord as additional insured. If you are starting from scratch, a straightforward general liability policy can often be bound the same day. Tell us the deadline when you call, because it changes which carriers we approach.
Do I need workers' comp for just one employee?
In construction, yes — Florida requires it from the first employee. Outside construction the threshold is four or more, counting part-time. But the legal threshold is only half the question: general contractors almost always require their subcontractors to carry it regardless of size, and without it you will not be allowed on the job.
Can I use my personal auto policy for work?
Usually not, and it is the gap we find most often. Personal auto policies exclude business use. If the vehicle is registered to the company, carries tools or inventory, is used for deliveries, or is driven by an employee, a claim can be denied on the personal policy. Commercial auto costs more, but a denied claim on a work vehicle costs a great deal more.
What is an additional insured, and why does everyone want it?
It extends your liability coverage to another party — typically your landlord or the general contractor — for claims arising out of your work. They ask for it so that if something you do leads to a claim against them, your policy responds. It is a normal endorsement and we add it as part of issuing the certificate.
Is a BOP better than buying general liability on its own?
For most small businesses with a physical location, yes: it bundles liability and property, usually costs less than the two separately, and normally includes business interruption. If you have no property to insure — a consultant working from home, say — standalone general liability may be all you need. We quote both so you can see the difference rather than take our word for it.
My business is home-based. Am I covered?
Almost certainly not by your homeowners policy, which excludes business activity and business property beyond a very small limit. Clients visiting your home, inventory in the garage, and equipment you rely on are all outside it. A BOP or an endorsement fixes this inexpensively. Send us the details and we will tell you which one fits.
Let us quote your business
Send us your contract requirements and we will build coverage that satisfies them. Same-day certificates when you need them.