Hendrickson Insurance
Gulf Coast Insurance Insights

Field notes from an independent
Gulf Coast insurance agent.

Plain-spoken insight on Florida insurance, homeowners, auto, flood, condo, and commercial property, plus the operational realities of owning Gulf Coast real estate. Written by Dennis Hendrickson from experience, not theory, for property owners across Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Lakewood Ranch, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater.

Real claims, what they cost, and what would have covered them. A few times a month.

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A small startup office on the Florida Gulf Coast with two laptops on a desk and palm trees outside the window
Professional Liability
Tech Startup Insurance in Florida: E&O, Cyber and the AI Gap

What a Florida tech startup should insure: E&O for the software, general liability with products and completed operations, cyber, and where AI coverage stops.

October 29, 2026 · 6 min read
A printed cyber insurance policy open on a Sarasota office desk, one exclusion clause marked in gold, a laptop with an AI assistant window beside it
General Liability
CNBC Asked About AI Risk. Here Is the Gaping Hole.

Anthropic's IPO filing says some AI risks may be uninsurable. CNBC asked me where coverage stands today. Cyber handles the data and the dollars. Nobody is covering the person who gets hurt, and that is the gap to fix now.

October 28, 2026 · 6 min read
Open jewelry box on a bedroom dresser in a Florida home with an empty ring slot and morning light through the shutters
Personal Lines
The $40,000 Ring and the $1,500 Theft Limit

A Florida homeowners policy can show 500,000 dollars of contents coverage and still pay 1,500 dollars when a 40,000 dollar ring is stolen. The clause that does it, and how scheduling fixes it.

October 24, 2026 · 5 min read
A small inland shopping plaza beside a swollen creek, brown floodwater across the parking lot and mud lines on the storefronts
Property
Helene and the Plaza on the Creek

Helene drowned Asheville's riverfront businesses 400 miles from landfall, and about one in ten commercial properties in the region had flood insurance. Why the lender's flood map is the wrong test for a plaza on a creek.

October 22, 2026 · 6 min read
A stucco dumpster enclosure with a closed metal gate behind a Florida strip center
Strip Center Compliance
Dumpster Enclosures and Code Enforcement for Florida Strip Centers

Florida has no single dumpster rule, only city rules. Why an open lid or a missing enclosure becomes a code file, and what a grease program adds when a plaza has a restaurant.

October 21, 2026 · 6 min read
Elevated Gulf Coast Florida home on concrete pilings with standing storm water and debris on the ground level beneath it
Personal Lines
NFIP Is the Floor on a Gulf-Front Home

The federal flood policy stops at 250,000 dollars on the house and 100,000 on what is inside it. On a 2 million dollar Gulf-front home, that is the floor. How excess flood is built on top, and why the order matters.

October 16, 2026 · 6 min read
A Gulf Coast Florida home at dusk with lights on and a calm bay behind it
Personal Lines
Your Broker Got Too Big, and Nobody Calls You Back

Big brokerages bought the small agencies. Now many Florida private client homeowners get a service center. What it costs you, and when to stay put.

October 16, 2026 · 4 min read
Icy walkway in front of a small retail strip at dawn, rock salt scattered by the glass storefront door
General Liability
Sued as the Property Manager: Whose Policy Answers?

A tenant's employee slipped on ice, the owner's property manager got added to the suit, and the court said the tenant's policy owed the manager nothing. The clause that decided it is in your policy too.

October 15, 2026 · 7 min read
Pole lights glowing over a wet Florida shopping plaza parking lot at dusk
Strip Center Risk Management
Parking Lot Lighting and Negligent Security in Florida Strip Centers

Two claims live in a dark parking lot: the trip-and-fall and the negligent security suit. What Florida courts mean by foreseeability, and why a dated lighting program changes the file.

October 14, 2026 · 6 min read
A freshly painted yellow curb and a concrete wheel stop centered on a white stripe in a Florida strip center parking lot
Strip Center Risk Management
Wheel Stops, Curb Paint and Trip Claims in Florida Strip Centers

What a Florida appeals court said about a wheel stop and a building code section, and why the restriping scope of work is the document that answers a trip-and-fall claim.

October 12, 2026 · 6 min read
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Why Hendrickson Insurance. Sarasota, Florida
One agent. Both lines. Every point played.

Dennis Hendrickson changed a New Jersey state tennis rule at 17 and played four years of Division I tennis at UNC Charlotte. Today he writes both the commercial and the personal insurance for Gulf Coast owners himself, and he works a renewal or a claim the way he played: nothing conceded, no point given away.

When you apply, he answers. Every application goes straight to Dennis. He reads it himself and responds the same business day in most cases, always within 48 hours.

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