Wind, water and cold all show up in Atlanta’s loss history, and none of them is rare. Flood is never part of a standard commercial property policy. The Georgia Underwriting Association will write fire and listed perils on a commercial building that cannot find coverage, with a modest limit and no liability. Larger buildings inside the city limits also file energy reports each year. Send me the building facts and I will tell you where the file fits.
What an underwriter asks about an Atlanta commercial building
- Roof and treesRoof age, covering and last replacement, plus the large trees within falling distance. In a tropical system most of the structural damage here comes from trees.
- Glass and heightFor a mid-rise or tower: the curtain wall, how windows are replaced after wind damage, and what sits on the roof.
- Water from belowDistance and elevation from the nearest creek, what is stored at or below grade, and any past water in the building.
- Heat and sprinklersWet lines in garages, loading docks and vacant suites, and who checks them in a hard freeze.
- OccupancyOffice, retail, restaurant, light industrial or residential over retail. Each changes the fire rating and the liability picture.
- City paperworkFor a building of 25,000 square feet or more inside the city limits, whether the yearly energy report and the ten-year audit are current.
The policy parts are standard (how commercial property coverage is built). The local questions are what set the terms.
Tornado, tropical wind and hail
On the evening of March 14, 2008 a tornado moved through the center of the city. The National Weather Service office in Peachtree City surveyed a damage path six miles long, from west of the World Congress Center to western DeKalb County south of Interstate 20, passing just north of the Georgia Dome during a basketball tournament game. It rated the tornado EF2 with maximum winds estimated at 130 miles per hour.
Hurricane Helene came through on September 26 and 27, 2024. The same office’s post-storm report describes gusts of 50 to 80 miles per hour in parts of east and central Georgia, rainfall of 6 to 14 inches across north and central Georgia with some of the highest totals in the Atlanta area, and numerous structures damaged or destroyed, mostly by falling trees. East Point, Stone Mountain, North Decatur and Dunwoody all appear on its list of the ten highest rainfall totals.
Ordinary thunderstorms fill in the rest. The office’s climatology for its warning area shows damaging winds on about 19 days a year, large hail on about 7 with April the peak month, and tornadoes on about 6, mostly from March through May.
- Wind and hail deductible. Ask whether it is a flat amount or a percentage of the building limit. I point to it on every quote. Wind and hail coverage.
- Roof settlement. Check whether an older roof is paid at replacement cost or at a depreciated value.
- Trees and debris. Tree removal and debris removal carry their own limits, and they are often low for a wooded Atlanta lot.
Creek flooding is a separate policy
From September 15 to 22, 2009 the Atlanta area flooded on a scale the gauges had never recorded. The National Weather Service estimates 10 to 20 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours at the height of the event, counts more than 20,000 homes, businesses and other buildings with major damage, and notes that parts of I-20, I-75 and I-85 were closed. The U.S. Geological Survey found that eighteen streamgages in the metropolitan area recorded floods much greater than the 0.2 percent, or 500-year, estimate, that the Chattahoochee gauge at Vinings reached its highest level in 81 years, and that Gwinnett, DeKalb, Fulton and Rockdale counties had record flooding.
A commercial property policy does not cover flood, whatever zone the building is mapped in. It takes a separate policy from the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer, and the federal program does not pay for business interruption or loss of use, so an owner who depends on rent should ask for private terms as well. How flood coverage works.
Hard freezes: December 2022
Atlanta’s low for December 2022 was 8 degrees, recorded on December 24, per the Peachtree City office’s climate summary. Buildings here are not designed for that kind of cold, and the day before Christmas is a day when many commercial buildings are empty, so a split sprinkler main or a frozen supply line can run for hours before anyone sees it.
- Sprinkler systems: which areas are wet-pipe, whether garages and docks are on dry systems, and the date of the last inspection.
- Vacant suites: who keeps the heat on, and whether the policy’s vacancy conditions have been triggered. Vacant building coverage.
- Monitoring: water-flow and low-temperature alarms that reach a person, including on holidays.
- Rooftop units and boilers: mechanical failure is outside standard property coverage. Equipment breakdown fills that gap.
The Georgia Underwriting Association: what it writes on a commercial building
Georgia’s residual market is the Georgia Underwriting Association, which calls itself a market of last resort and tells agents that coverage should be placed in the voluntary market if the property is eligible. For a commercial owner its own documents set out the scope, as of November 2026:
- Commercial Fire. A named-peril policy: fire, lightning, explosion, windstorm or hail, smoke, aircraft or vehicles, riot or civil commotion, volcanic action and vandalism, with business interruption and replacement cost as options.
- Commercial Wind and Hail. A wind-and-hail-only policy limited to six coastal counties where wind has been excluded. It is not a product for metro Atlanta.
- Limits. Building, contents and business income combined cannot exceed two million dollars per building, with a higher aggregate cap for a complex of related buildings.
- Older roofs. For new business, a roof 15 years old or older gets an endorsement limiting coverage on the roof surfacing.
- No liability. The association’s commercial page says so in capital letters. Premises liability has to be bought elsewhere.
That makes the association a floor for a small building, not a program for a large one. Theft, water damage and flood are not on its list of perils. Most Atlanta buildings that standard insurers decline are placed in the surplus lines market instead.
The city’s energy ordinance and terrorism coverage
Two items come up on larger Atlanta buildings that owners do not always connect with insurance.
Energy benchmarking. Under the Commercial Buildings Energy Efficiency Ordinance, the city’s compliance site says owners and managers of commercial and multifamily properties over 25,000 square feet inside the city limits must benchmark energy and water use, report it to the city every year and have an ASHRAE Level II energy audit done every ten years. The audit year follows the last digit of the Atlanta Building ID. A single tenant that has taken over management of a whole building under a triple net lease takes on the owner’s duties. It is not an insurance rule, but a current audit gives an underwriter a recent look at the mechanical systems.
Terrorism. Lenders on downtown, Midtown and Buckhead towers usually require it. The U.S. Treasury describes the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program as a temporary federal program that shares certain insured losses from a certified act of terrorism, and says the 2019 reauthorization extended it through December 31, 2027. Insurers offer the coverage on a commercial policy and the owner accepts or rejects it in writing. How terrorism coverage works.
What to send me
- Address, year built, stories and square footage, with construction type and occupancy by floor.
- Roof age and type, last replacement, and a note on large trees near the building.
- Sprinkler and alarm details, the last inspection and who monitors the system.
- Tenant list or rent roll, what each tenant does, and any vacant space.
- Leases or their insurance clauses, so I can see who insures the building. Lessor’s risk coverage.
- Flood facts: distance to the nearest creek, anything stored below grade, any elevation certificate and past water losses.
- Current declarations pages and five years of loss runs.
I am an independent broker and I work with Georgia building owners from my office in California. If the building is mostly offices, see office building coverage.
Common questions
Who insures commercial buildings in Atlanta?
Standard insurers write most of them when the roof, wiring, plumbing and sprinkler status are documented. Buildings they decline usually go to the surplus lines market, with the Georgia Underwriting Association as a limited fallback.
Does the Georgia Underwriting Association insure commercial buildings?
Yes, on a Commercial Fire policy that covers fire and a short list of other perils, up to two million dollars per building, with no liability coverage. Its wind-and-hail-only policy is limited to six coastal counties.
Is flood covered on my Atlanta commercial building?
No. Flood takes a separate policy from the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer, and the federal program does not pay for business interruption.
Do tornadoes hit commercial buildings in Atlanta?
Yes. On March 14, 2008 an EF2 tornado left a six-mile damage path through the center of the city, according to the National Weather Service.
Why did my commercial property insurance go up in Atlanta?
Insurers price for the wind, tree, freeze and water losses described on this page, and older roofs draw the largest changes. A documented roof and plumbing update is the most useful thing you can send.
Do I need terrorism insurance on an Atlanta office building?
Your lender may require it. The federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Program runs through December 31, 2027 under its latest extension, and insurers offer the coverage for you to accept or reject.
Does Atlanta’s energy benchmarking ordinance affect my insurance?
Not directly. It requires yearly energy and water reports and a ten-year audit for commercial and multifamily buildings over 25,000 square feet in the city, and a current audit helps describe the building to an underwriter.
General information about insuring commercial buildings in the Atlanta area as of November 2026, not legal advice. Georgia Underwriting Association eligibility, perils and limits come from its own published forms and can change; confirm them with the association. Energy reporting rules are set by city ordinance; confirm your building’s obligations with the City of Atlanta. Coverage depends on the policy issued. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.