Commercial property in South Florida: wind deductibles, roofs, and a building that has to reopen

Lenders want a number. Rebuild cost in Miami-Dade is another number. We use a realistic reconstruction estimate, not the purchase price from 2017. Underinsurance is how coinsurance penalties show up after a fire or a hurricane. The penalty feels like a second deductible.

If you own a small plaza, we schedule by building. If you tenant a suite, we insure improvements and betterments plus contents — and we read who insures the shell.

A 5% wind deductible on $2 million of property is $100,000 cash before the carrier pays. Businesses that cannot fund that should not buy it because the premium looked friendly. We quote available percentages. You pick the one your operating account can survive in September.

Some forms apply per building, some per occurrence, some to wind and hail separately from named storm. The difference is not academic in a county that sees both.

Miami-Dade’s building culture — inspections, recertification, code upgrades — means a damaged building may have to be rebuilt to today’s code. Ordinance or law coverage is the part of the policy that pays some of that upgrade. Without it, you can have a covered loss and an uncovered bill to meet code.

Tell us the year built and the last major retrofit. A Palmetto Bay CBS strip from 1972 is a different submission than a 2019 Doral tilt-wall.

Property puts the roof back. Business income pays the time. We set a period of restoration that matches how long a Miami-Dade contractor actually takes to rebuild, not a fantasy of six weeks. Extra expense pays the workaround: a temporary kitchen, a second location, generators.

If your customers would simply go down the street forever, income coverage still matters for the bills that do not leave: notes, taxes, key staff.

Commercial property excludes flood. Industrial parks in Doral have learned this the wet way. We quote commercial flood beside the wind policy. Same Palmetto pairing we do on houses, with larger limits.

Start a commercial quote. Have values, a photo of the roof, and the lease or the note. An advisor will not pretend a BOP is a $4 million building.