Commercial Property Frequently Asked Questions
Commercial property insurance helps cover the damage or loss of your property, like the building, items including equipment, furniture, inventory, supplies, and fixtures. It can also help cover the costs to replace stolen, damaged, or destroyed property, including property and equipment that isn’t yours but is in your care, custody, and control.
Basic property insurance usually covers losses caused by fire, lightning, wind, and hail, or acts of vandalism. Here are some of the important aspects of your business that commercial property insurance helps protect:
- Your building
- Your outdoor sign
- Your furniture and equipment
- Your inventory
- Your fence and landscaping
- Other’s property
Commercial property insurance plans pay for losses based on the replacement cost of the item or its actual cash value.
- Replacement cost (RC) refers to the amount necessary to repair, replace or build property on the same premises, with comparable materials and quality without deducting any amount for depreciation.
- Actual cash value (ACV) is the cost to replace it with new property of similar style and quality, less depreciation.
Living in Florida, we are all familiar with the cost of property insurance being on the higher end. Here are some of the factors that can impact your premium:
- Building construction type
- depending on what material your building is made from, you can not only save on the premium but also have more options when it comes to insurance companies that are willing to insure you. For example, Non-combustible buildings receive the highest discount as they have the highest fire rating. While a frame construction will be costly due to the windstorm and fire risks.
- Year built
- Newer construction buildings give you more credits for being built up to hurricane code.
- Location
- If your building is located east of I-95, your insurance will generally be more expensive and with higher wind deductibles because you are in the windpool.
- Fire & Burglar Alarm
- Having a fire and burglar alarm that is centrally monitored not only offers your business protection, but can also give you a lower rate on your commercial property insurance.
- Commercial Vehicles
- Property damage resulting from employee error
- Personal assets
- Property intentionally damaged
- Employee wages
- General liability
- Employee injuries
- Electronic data
Other Things to Consider When Insuring your Florida Commercial Property
There are certain things you need to review when shopping for your Commercial Property insurance:
- Co-Insurance Clause - Co-insurance ensures that you carry adequate coverage to protect your building. It requires the insured to purchase insurance coverage that reflects the value of the property being insured. It's typically shown as 80%, 90% or 100%. If the policy shows 80% you have to ensure the building at 80% of it's value for the coinsurance penalty to not apply.
- Ordinance or Law - this coverage assists in paying for demolition costs & or increased cost of construction as a result of newer building code enforcement or ordinances when repairing or replacing your dwelling after a covered insurance loss.
- Business Income - this comes into play to cover a company's loss of income due to a slowdown or temporary suspension of normal operations that stems from direct physical property damage.
- Hurricane Deductible - this is something that can be very costly to a business if you do not fully understand the deductible you are purchasing. Is it a named storm deductible? Is it per building or location? Working with the right agent can help set you at ease before hurricane season.
While most insurance products are similar in price and function, insurance providers are very different when it comes to structuring a policy that actually covers your Davie Commercial Property Insurance. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all insurance policy when it comes to your business.
At The Bunker, are your neighbors. We protect businesses and people we know and care about, and that means we are looking for ways to protect you better, including carefully choosing the insurance companies we represent to be both affordable and responsive.
