Business Insurance
Business insurance for Georgia employers, trades and small business owners
Leonard Butts Insurance Agency is independent and appointed with 21 carriers, so a commercial risk gets shopped rather than quoted once and accepted. The commercial book here is wider than most small agencies carry: churches, jewelers, woodworkers, videographers, special events and self storage sit alongside the usual contractors and retail stores. Below are all 26 commercial lines the agency writes, licensed to place them across Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
A business owners policy bundles the general liability and commercial property coverage most small businesses need into a single policy, usually at a lower combined rate than buying each separately. It's the starting point for a retail shop, a small office or a service business that owns or leases space and wants liability and property coverage without pricing each line on its own.
General liability, professional liability and the coverages that protect the business itself
General liability covers third-party bodily injury, property damage and the legal defense that comes with a claim, a customer slipping in a store, a contractor's tool damaging a client's property. It's the baseline most commercial leases and client contracts require before work can even start.
Professional liability covers claims that a service was performed incorrectly or advice given was wrong, the kind of claim general liability doesn't touch because no one was physically hurt and nothing was physically damaged. Errors and omissions coverage is the same idea written for businesses that give advice or perform a professional service, agents, consultants, real estate professionals, covering the cost of defending a claim that the work fell short, even when the claim isn't valid.
A single ransomware attack or a breached customer database can cost a small Georgia business far more than the premium on a cyber liability policy. Coverage responds to data breach notification costs, ransomware payments, and the liability that follows when customer or employee data is exposed.
Directors and officers coverage protects the personal assets of the people who govern a company or a nonprofit board, churches and homeowners associations included, if a decision they made is challenged in a lawsuit. A commercial umbrella policy then sits above the general liability, commercial auto and employers liability limits, extending coverage when a serious claim exceeds what the underlying policies pay. Many contracts and leases require a set umbrella limit before a business can even bid the job.
Commercial auto and trucking insurance
A personal auto policy excludes business use once a vehicle is doing delivery runs, hauling equipment or carrying employees on the clock. Commercial auto insurance covers company-owned and employee-driven vehicles for liability, collision and cargo, sized to a single work truck or a small fleet.
Interstate and intrastate trucking carries its own filing and liability requirements separate from a standard commercial auto policy, and three-state licensing in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina matters directly here for a hauler crossing state lines. The agency places truck and trucking coverage, including cargo and physical damage, for owner-operators and small fleets.
Workers compensation insurance
Georgia requires most employers with three or more employees, including part-time staff, to carry workers compensation insurance. It covers medical costs and lost wages for an employee hurt on the job and, in return, generally protects the employer from being sued directly over the injury. Coverage is placed through carriers including Employers and Applied Underwriters.
Commercial property, builders risk and specialty property coverage
Commercial property insurance covers a business's building, if owned, along with equipment, inventory and fixtures against fire, wind, theft and other named perils, the physical assets a business can't operate without.
A property under construction isn't covered by a standard commercial property policy. Builders risk insures a building during construction or renovation, materials on site included, until the project is complete and a permanent policy takes over. Inland marine covers property that moves instead, contractor's tools and equipment transported between job sites, or goods in transit, gaps a standard property policy leaves open because the covered items aren't sitting still in one location.
Self storage facility owners carry a specific exposure: liability for tenants' stored property, the buildings themselves, and the operations of running a facility, coverage a general commercial property policy doesn't fully address. Owning an apartment building in Austell, Marietta or anywhere else in the state carries property and liability exposure well beyond a single rental house, tenant injuries in common areas, building-wide property risk, and loss of rental income if a unit is damaged. Coverage is sized to the number of units and the building's age and construction.
Contractors, restaurants, retail, churches and specialty trades
Contractors carry liability exposure at every job site, and most Georgia general contracts require proof of coverage before a subcontractor can start work. The agency writes general liability, tools and equipment, and umbrella coverage sized to the trade, framing, roofing, electrical or general contracting. An auto body shop carries garagekeepers liability for customer vehicles in its care, on top of the general liability and property coverage the shop itself needs, a combination not every commercial carrier writes well.
Restaurant insurance covers the building and equipment, general liability, and liquor liability where alcohol is served, along with food-specific risks a standard BOP doesn't anticipate, spoilage from a walk-in cooler failure being the most common claim. Retail coverage combines property insurance for inventory and fixtures with general liability for customer injuries in the store, along with business interruption coverage if the store has to close after a covered loss.
Churches carry a mix of exposures a standard commercial policy doesn't anticipate well: a sanctuary and its contents, liability for congregants and visitors, directors and officers coverage for the governing board, and often a daycare or a school operating on the same property. Hotel and motel coverage combines property insurance for the building and its contents with liquor liability where a bar operates on site, innkeepers liability for guest property, and business interruption if the property has to close.
A jewelry store carries inventory value far above what a standard retail policy anticipates, and needs specific coverage for inventory in a safe, in transit, and on memo from suppliers, along with liability specific to the trade. A woodworking or cabinet shop carries fire risk from dust and finishing chemicals that a standard retail policy doesn't rate for, along with liability for finished pieces installed in a customer's home. Coverage is written for the shop, the equipment, and the completed work.
Videographers carry equipment that leaves the studio on every job, along with liability exposure at weddings, events and client properties. Coverage covers cameras and gear against damage or theft on location, plus general liability for the shoot itself. A one-time event, a festival, a wedding reception, a community gathering, often needs a short-term liability policy the venue or the county requires before it will issue a permit. The agency writes special event coverage for a single date rather than requiring a full annual policy.
A surety bond guarantees a contractor or a business will perform according to a contract or a license requirement, common for Georgia contractors bidding public work or trades required to hold a license bond. The agency places the bond types most small Georgia businesses actually need for licensing and contract requirements, through carriers including CNA Surety.
Get a business insurance quote
One call covers all 26 commercial lines, from a business owners policy to trucking, workers compensation to church coverage, quoted across 21 carriers by an agent licensed in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. Leonard answers his own phone, and the same number takes texts.