The coverage itself is usually quite similar. Remember that the sinkhole insurance offered here in Florida is written by Statute so all domestic insurance companies follow the same guidelines. Big differences in the coverage can arise when you have surplus lines carriers which often are the only options for a large, riskier commercial property. (More on surplus lines in another post). Commercial properties will still have to prove the presence of structural damage and sinkhole activity. In our experience structural damage is more common to find at a commercial building than residential. When you consider the increased amount traffic coming in and out of the building, the different ingress and egress flows and code requirements and ADA restrictions, etc. safety hazards are much more common. Commercial properties can also have very unique issues you would never see at a residence. For example, performing sinkhole repairs at a gas station was a task that took some real time and creativity to work on. Also, many commercial structures are multi-story and sometimes multi-unit, allowing for more ways for damage to express itself in the structure.

The biggest differences in commercial projects we have worked on usually is procedural due to the sheer volume of money, time and people involved. Apartment complexes for example require a ton of time in just scheduling alone to be able to inspect the different units. Often these types of properties are overseen by property management companies and homeowners associations which can create a different dynamic as far as communication goes. Have a smooth system of interfacing with everybody involved is critical. Finally, the amount of money necessary to properly work a larger case up can be daunting sometimes. We settled a large case in 2013 that our firm had invested three quarters of a million dollars into. In short, if you have a large commercial property or a property with very unique issues make sure you hire a firm with the financial resources to take on the task and with the time and attorney resources to properly work it up.