Some businesses are too unusual. Some risk histories are too complicated. Some properties are in the wrong zip code or the wrong zone or the wrong era of construction. Some industries are new enough that admitted carriers haven't written a form for them yet. That's what the surplus lines market is for — and that's where we go to work.
If it exists, it's probably insurable. The question is knowing where to look.The insurance market has two sides: admitted carriers (licensed in your state, subject to rate and form approval, backed by the state guaranty fund) and non-admitted carriers (approved but not licensed, more flexible in how they price and structure coverage, not backed by the guaranty fund). Surplus lines is the non-admitted market — and it's how coverage gets written for risks the admitted market won't touch.
Understanding what you're getting and what's different before you buy.
| Admitted Market | Surplus Lines (E&S) | |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier licensing | Licensed and regulated in your state | Approved but not licensed — operates under surplus lines law |
| Rate & form approval | Rates and forms approved by state DOI before use | More flexibility — can customize forms and price based on the specific risk |
| Guaranty fund protection | Backed by state guaranty fund if carrier becomes insolvent | Not backed by guaranty fund — carrier financial strength matters more |
| Risk types | Standard risks that fall within underwriting guidelines | Non-standard, high-risk, unusual, or declined risks |
| Premium tax | Standard state tax included in rate | Additional surplus lines tax (2–5%) collected separately |
| Broker requirement | Standard licensed agent | Must be placed by a licensed surplus lines broker |
| Availability | Available directly through standard agency markets | Requires surplus lines broker access and diligent search |
If an admitted carrier becomes insolvent, your state's guaranty fund steps in to pay claims up to a statutory limit. Surplus lines carriers have no such backstop. This doesn't mean E&S coverage is unsafe — many of the world's most sophisticated and financially stable insurers operate in the surplus lines market. But it does mean you should never place surplus lines business with a carrier you can't verify is financially strong. We check AM Best ratings on every placement, and we won't bind with a carrier we wouldn't stake our own reputation on.
The surplus lines market exists for risks that don't fit neatly into a standard carrier's underwriting box. That's a feature, not a bug. Here are the most common categories we place — and what makes each one a surplus lines situation.
Standard homeowners and commercial property policies either exclude or severely limit coverage once a building has been vacant for 30–60 days. Vacant properties face higher risks of vandalism, fire, and weather damage — and admitted carriers know it. Surplus lines fills the gap for buildings between tenants, undergoing renovation, inherited, or sitting while you figure out what to do with them.
Most Common E&S RequestLegal cannabis is the fastest-growing surplus lines category in the country. Federal classification means admitted carriers largely won't touch plant-touching operations — dispensaries, cultivators, processors, manufacturers. Even hemp and high-CBD operations face challenges. Surplus lines is essentially the only market for cannabis businesses, and coverage is available for GL, property, product liability, crop, and D&O.
Federal Status = E&S OnlyHigh-capacity venues with alcohol, live entertainment, or late hours face elevated GL and liquor liability exposure that pushes most admitted carriers out of the picture. Nightclubs, concert venues, haunted attractions, escape rooms, axe throwing, and similar entertainment operations routinely require surplus lines for GL, assault and battery coverage, and liquor liability — especially if there's a prior incident history.
GL + Liquor + A&B CoverageAirbnb, VRBO, and short-term rental platforms have created a coverage category that most admitted carriers haven't figured out how to handle. When a property transitions from personal use to commercial rental activity, standard homeowners policies often void. Surplus lines carriers have developed dedicated STR policies covering liability, property damage, loss of rental income, and guest-caused damage.
Airbnb · VRBO · STR PlatformsHomes over $1–2M replacement cost, architecturally unique properties, historic structures, custom construction, rammed earth, straw bale, log homes, or properties in wildfire or coastal zones often find the admitted market thin or unavailable. High-net-worth and luxury home insurers operate largely in the surplus lines space and can provide agreed-value policies, extended replacement cost, and coverage for fine arts and collections within the same program.
HNW · Historic · Wildfire / CoastalStandard GL policies include a "pollution exclusion" — one of the broadest and most litigated exclusions in all of insurance. If your business involves fuel storage, chemical handling, manufacturing byproducts, transportation of hazardous materials, dry cleaning, auto repair, agriculture, or remediation work, your standard GL is not responding to a pollution event. Environmental liability is almost exclusively a surplus lines product.
Pollution Exclusion = No CoverageFFL dealers, gun stores, pawn shops with firearms inventory, indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, and gunsmithing operations all face unique coverage challenges. Inventory is high-value and theft-prone, the liability exposure for instructors and range operations is significant, and many admitted carriers are uncomfortable with the category entirely. Surplus lines carriers have developed dedicated programs for this market.
FFL · Range Ops · Inventory FloaterContractors with poor loss history, roofing contractors, demolition operations, high-rise work, excavation and tunneling, blasting, contractors in high-litigation states, and anyone who's been non-renewed by their admitted carrier frequently end up in the surplus lines market. Builders risk for unusual or high-value projects — modular construction, renovation of historic structures, phased projects — is also often a surplus lines placement.
Prior Losses · Roofers · Demo · BlastingHealthcare, financial services, government contractors, and businesses with significant prior cyber incidents often find the admitted cyber market closed to them — or priced out of reach. Surplus lines cyber carriers can write more complex and higher-risk cyber programs, including for businesses that have had ransomware events, regulatory actions, or significant breach history. This market is evolving rapidly.
Healthcare · FinServ · Post-IncidentWhen a business needs more liability coverage than admitted carriers will write — $10M, $25M, $50M+ — the excess and surplus lines market provides towers of coverage built layer by layer. Large contractors, healthcare systems, municipalities, and anyone with significant public exposure may need excess layers that admitted carriers simply won't offer. Surplus lines excess is a foundational piece of the risk management programs for many large organizations.
Towers · $10M+ · Commercial UmbrellaVaping and e-cigarette retailers. Psychedelic-assisted therapy clinics. Crypto and blockchain businesses. Autonomous vehicle operations. AI-related professional liability. Businesses in industries that didn't exist five years ago routinely end up in surplus lines because admitted carriers haven't written the forms yet. This is one of the most interesting corners of the E&S market — and one we actively work in.
New Industries · No Standard Form YetMost farms fit the admitted market — but some don't. Large-scale hog or poultry confinement operations, hobby farms in urban/suburban areas, agritourism with high public liability exposure, equine operations with high-value breeding stock, and farm operations with prior significant losses often need surplus lines. Specialty livestock mortality and values policies for high-value animals are also typically E&S territory.
Confinement · Equine · AgritourismOne bad claim year can get you non-renewed by an admitted carrier. Multiple claims — even small ones — can make finding admitted coverage difficult or impossible. The surplus lines market prices risk individually rather than relying on class rates, which means your claims history is a factor in pricing but not automatically a dealbreaker. We've placed coverage for accounts that had been declined by six admitted carriers. It's what we do.
Non-Renewed · Multi-Claim · DeclinedDistilleries, craft breweries, and cideries with on-site tasting rooms combine manufacturing, product liability, liquor liability, and high-value equipment into a risk profile that often exceeds what admitted market programs will cover. Equipment breakdown for stills and brewing systems, product contamination/recall, and liquor liability for tasting room operations frequently require surplus lines placement, especially for newer operations without track records.
Liquor Liability · Product · EquipmentSurplus lines rules, stamping requirements, tax rates, and the types of risks most commonly driving into the E&S market vary significantly by state. Here's what you need to know where you operate.
Iowa operates under the NAIC-model surplus lines law. Before placing in the surplus lines market, brokers must conduct a diligent search — approaching at least three admitted carriers and documenting declinations. Iowa does not have a stamping office; policies must be filed directly with the Iowa Insurance Division. The surplus lines tax rate in Iowa is 1% of gross premium. Iowa's most common surplus lines placements are vacant and unoccupied properties (especially farmsteads between tenants), ag-adjacent commercial operations outside standard farm programs, contractors with prior loss histories, and environmental liability for ag operations involving chemical storage, anhydrous ammonia, and manure management.
Vacant farmsteads and rural properties, environmental liability for agricultural operations, contractors with loss history, liquor liability for entertainment venues in smaller markets, and some high-value rural properties that don't fit standard farm programs.
Nebraska surplus lines placements are governed by the Nebraska Surplus Lines Act and are filed through the Nebraska Department of Insurance. Nebraska is a member of the Non-Admitted Insurance Multi-State Agreement (NIMA) framework. The surplus lines tax rate is 3% of gross premium — higher than Iowa and most Midwest states. Nebraska's growing ag-adjacent commercial sector and its active construction market are primary drivers of surplus lines activity. Environmental liability for feedlots, confined animal feeding operations, and fertilizer/chemical distributors represents significant volume.
Environmental and pollution liability for feedlots and ag chemical operations, high-risk contractors, vacant commercial property in Omaha and Lincoln transitional districts, cannabis operations (hemp and CBD in particular), and excess liability for large ag operations and food processing facilities.
Kansas surplus lines operates under the Kansas Surplus Lines Law, with filings made to the Kansas Insurance Department. The surplus lines premium tax rate is 6% — one of the higher rates in the Midwest. Kansas has significant surplus lines activity driven by its diverse economy: oil and gas environmental liability, aviation and aerospace specialty coverage (particularly around Wichita), severe weather property challenges for large commercial risks, and cannabis-adjacent hemp operations. The Kansas insurance market is generally well-functioning in the admitted space, but the specialty categories push a meaningful volume to E&S.
Oil and gas pollution and environmental liability, aviation-related specialty coverage, high-risk commercial property in hail-prone zones, ag-adjacent environmental, excess liability for large manufacturing and processing operations, and hemp/CBD product liability.
Montana's surplus lines market is shaped by its geography — remote operations, extreme weather, wildfire exposure, and a significant tourism and recreation industry that creates unusual liability profiles. The Montana surplus lines tax rate is 2.75%. Surplus lines filings in Montana go to the Office of the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance. Wildfire exposure has pushed a growing number of rural and high-value residential properties into the surplus lines market as admitted carriers have tightened their geographic underwriting. Environmental liability for the mining sector, recreation and outfitter operations, and cannabis (Montana legalized adult use in 2021) are also significant surplus lines categories.
Admitted carriers have been aggressively non-renewing and tightening coverage for properties in wildfire interface zones across western Montana. If you've received a non-renewal or declination for wildfire exposure, the surplus lines market is very active in this space — but act quickly. Coverage gaps during high-risk periods are a real exposure.
Minnesota has one of the more active regulatory environments in the Midwest for surplus lines. The Minnesota Department of Commerce oversees surplus lines filings, and the surplus lines tax rate is 3% of gross premium. Minnesota's E&S market is driven by its sophisticated commercial economy — healthcare professional liability for non-standard specialties, EPLI excess for large employers, cannabis (Minnesota legalized adult-use in 2023), and the construction sector's need for excess limits and specialty coverage. Environmental liability around the mining sector in northern Minnesota is also a notable E&S category.
Adult-use cannabis became legal in Minnesota in 2023. Cannabis retail, cultivation, and processing operations require surplus lines coverage — admitted carriers won't touch plant-touching operations due to federal classification. If you're operating or opening in the Minnesota cannabis space, surplus lines is your only realistic path to property, GL, product liability, and D&O coverage.
North Carolina has its own surplus lines association (NCSLA) and uses the North Carolina Rate Bureau as an additional layer of regulation for many admitted products. Surplus lines in NC are filed with the NCDOI, and the tax rate is 5% of gross premium — among the higher rates in our market. The NC E&S market is driven significantly by coastal property (hurricane and wind exposure has pushed a substantial amount of residential and commercial coastal property into the surplus lines market), construction (North Carolina has been one of the country's fastest-growing construction markets for five years), and professional liability for the healthcare and technology sectors clustered around the Research Triangle.
Hurricane exposure in eastern North Carolina has caused multiple admitted carriers to non-renew or restrict coastal coverage. Properties east of I-95 increasingly need surplus lines for property coverage, especially for replacement values over $1M. If your NC property has been non-renewed or your carrier has left the state, the surplus lines market has options — but don't wait until hurricane season to look.
Florida is the largest surplus lines market in the United States — and it's not particularly close. The Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO) is the mandatory stamping and reporting organization for all surplus lines placed in Florida. The surplus lines tax rate is 5% of gross premium, plus municipal tax in some jurisdictions. Florida's catastrophic hurricane exposure, an unusually active plaintiff's bar, and years of assignment of benefits abuse have driven major admitted carriers out of the state. Over 25% of all property insurance in Florida is now in the E&S market. If you're insuring anything in Florida — property, liability, or specialty — you need to understand the surplus lines landscape here because there is a reasonable chance you're already in it, or about to be.
Multiple major admitted carriers have stopped writing new property business in Florida or exited entirely. Citizens Property Insurance (the state-run insurer of last resort) is now one of the largest property insurers in the state. The surplus lines market has absorbed a significant volume of business that used to be admitted — which means E&S pricing and terms in Florida are more competitive than in most states precisely because the volume is so high. We have carrier relationships in this market and we know how to navigate it.
The more you tell us about your situation — your business, the risk, what you've been told by other carriers, what happened — the faster we can come back with something useful. Nothing is too unusual. We've heard it.
We don't give up on hard placements. We'll tell you honestly what we can find — and if we can't find it, we'll tell you that too.
Important Notice
Submitting this form does not bind, confirm, alter, or create any insurance coverage. No coverage of any kind exists until a policy has been formally issued by a licensed carrier and you have received written confirmation. Surplus lines coverage is subject to the completion of a diligent search of the admitted market, carrier underwriting and acceptance, and applicable state surplus lines law including any required stamping office filing.
Surplus lines policies are placed with non-admitted carriers and are not covered by your state's guaranty fund in the event of carrier insolvency. Bradley Insurance Solutions, LLC is a licensed surplus lines broker in Iowa and is licensed in all states in which it places surplus lines business.
By submitting this form you agree that Bradley Insurance Solutions, LLC may contact you regarding your insurance inquiry. Your information is kept confidential and is never sold to third parties.
Hard placements are what we're here for.
We'll dig in and come back to you with what we find — honestly. If it's placeable, we'll find it. If it's urgent, call us directly at (319) 529-3778.
Submitting this form does not bind any insurance coverage. Nothing is in force until a policy has been formally issued by a licensed carrier and you have written confirmation. Surplus lines coverage also requires completion of the diligent search process and applicable state stamping. If you have an active or urgent coverage need, call us at (319) 529-3778 — do not assume coverage exists based on this inquiry alone.
Nobody ever plans for the plot twist... but we do.
We've placed coverage for accounts that were declined by half a dozen carriers. We work the surplus lines market because we know how to use it — and because every business deserves to have someone actually try before giving up.
Licensed Surplus Lines Broker · IA · NE · KS · MT · MN · NC · FL · Independent Agency