Florida Small Business Insurance Checklist

Florida small businesses face a stack of insurance decisions that can be confusing. Here’s a practical checklist by coverage type, in roughly the order most businesses should consider them.

1. General Liability (foundation)

Required for almost every business. Covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury claims.

Typical cost: $400-$1,500/year for solo + small businesses.

2. Business Owners Policy (BOP)

Bundles General Liability with Commercial Property + Business Interruption. If you own physical assets or rent commercial space, a BOP is usually cheaper than buying GL + Commercial Property separately.

Typical cost: $700-$2,500/year for small businesses.

3. Workers Compensation (legally required)

Florida requires workers comp for most employers with 4+ employees (1+ in construction). Penalties for being uninsured are severe.

Typical cost: depends on payroll and class code. Office workers: 0.5-1% of payroll. Construction trades: 5-25% of payroll.

4. Commercial Auto

Required if you use any vehicle for business purposes. Personal auto policies exclude business use.

Typical cost: $1,500-$3,500/year per vehicle.

5. Cyber Liability

Increasingly essential. Pays for breach response, customer notification, and lawsuits if customer data is compromised. A single breach can cost $20K-$100K+ in notification, forensics, and legal costs.

Typical cost: $500-$2,500/year for small businesses.

6. Professional Liability (E&O)

For service providers, consultants, and licensed professionals. Covers claims of negligence in your professional services.

Typical cost: $400-$2,000/year depending on profession.

7. Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)

If you have employees, EPLI covers wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and similar claims. Particularly important in Florida’s litigious environment.

Typical cost: $500-$2,000/year for small businesses.

8. Commercial Umbrella

Adds extra liability over your underlying GL, auto, and EPLI. Cheap insurance against catastrophic claims.

Typical cost: $400-$1,000/year for $1M of additional coverage.

Florida-specific considerations

• Hurricane: if you own commercial property, hurricane deductibles work the same way as on a home (typically a percentage of the building value).
• Workers comp enforcement: Florida is aggressive. Don’t skip this if you have employees.
• Industry licensing: some trades (contractors, healthcare, financial services) have minimum coverage requirements set by their licensing board.

How to actually buy this

You don’t need every coverage above. Start with the legally required ones (GL or BOP, workers comp if applicable, commercial auto if applicable), then add cyber and professional liability based on your industry.

Get a Florida business insurance quote — we’ll right-size the stack for your situation.