Southport Business Insurance

What Southport businesses look like

The City of Southport keeps its own business directory, and it reads like a waterfront town: restaurants and shops make up most of the listings, followed by services, galleries, lodging, history sites, real estate offices and tour companies. Many of them sit on Howe Street, Moore Street, Bay Street and Yacht Basin Drive, within a few blocks of the water.

Around that core are businesses that depend on the river and the island: tour and charter operators that need a City permit, rental owners on Oak Island and Bald Head Island, and the contractors who build, raise and repair coastal homes. Film and television crews come too. The City requires every production filming within city limits to get a permit and show proof of liability insurance first.

The two risks that shape a Southport commercial policy

Wind and water on the same block. During Hurricane Isaias in 2020, the National Weather Service reported up to three feet of storm surge in Southport's waterfront shops, eroded bulkheads along East Bay Street, damage to a hundred or more boats at the marina, and an EF2 tornado from Bald Head Island to Southport. A shop owner that night could have three separate claims: wind, flood, and lost income while the doors were closed. Each one sits on a different policy, or a different part of one.

• Wind. Coastal commercial property policies often exclude wind and hail. The building then needs a wind policy, often from the Coastal Property Insurance Pool, which writes up to $4 million combined per building. Named storm deductibles are usually a percentage of the building value.
• Flood. Federal flood insurance stops at $500,000 for the building and $500,000 for contents. A waterfront restaurant with expensive kitchen equipment can outgrow that quickly, and the excess needs a private flood policy.
• Business income. Business income coverage is tied to the causes of loss your policy covers, so ask us what yours includes. Federal flood policies don't cover business interruption, so ask us about options for income lost to a flood.

Seasonal staff and the workers comp count. Southport's busy season brings extra servers, dock hands and shop clerks. North Carolina requires workers comp once you have three or more employees regularly employed. Corporate officers count toward the three, even if they exclude themselves from the policy. If you're a contractor and you hire a subcontractor without getting a certificate of insurance, you can be held liable for that sub's injured workers, no matter how few employees the sub has.

What usually goes wrong for Southport businesses

1. A building policy that quietly excludes wind. The renewal looks normal until you read the exclusion page.
2. Contents under the federal flood cap. $500,000 of contents coverage sounds like plenty until you price a commercial kitchen and inventory.
3. Tour or charter operations on a general liability policy. Don't assume a general liability policy covers a boat. A boat that carries paying passengers should have marine coverage written for that use.
4. A short-term rental insured as a second home. Ask us whether your policy allows nightly rentals. If it doesn't, a dwelling or commercial form written for rental use is the fix.
5. No certificate on file for subcontractors. For contractors, this is how one uninsured sub's injury becomes your workers comp claim.
6. Seasonal payroll left off the workers comp estimate. Workers comp premium is audited at year end. Underestimate summer payroll and the audit bill arrives in the off-season.

Coverage we place for Southport businesses

Business owners policy (BOP) and general liability

For shops, galleries, salons and offices. A BOP packages liability with property for eligible small businesses.

Commercial property, wind and flood

Your building, equipment and inventory, the wind policy where wind is excluded, and NFIP plus excess flood.

Restaurant and bar coverage

Property, liability, liquor liability, spoilage and equipment breakdown.

Workers compensation

Required at 3 or more employees. We help with the year-end audit.

Marine and tour operators

Coverage for vessels, passengers and docks, written for how the boat is actually used.

Contractors

General liability, tools and equipment, builders risk and certificates for the jobs you bid.

Rental property

Dwelling and commercial forms for short-term and long-term rentals, with loss-of-rent coverage.

Our Southport office

701 N Howe St, Suite 1, Southport, NC 28461 · (910) 448-4818 · Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Your Southport advisors are Deanna Matthews, Tom Tully and Curt Pritchard. We compare more than 100 insurance companies, and every client works with a licensed advisor. Sizemore Insurance is an independent, family-owned agency founded in Wilmington in 1977, with eight offices in North Carolina and licenses in NC, SC, VA, MD and other states.

See also: North Carolina Business Insurance, statewide rules and coverage.