Yes, we take commercial work. Anderson Dock and Lift builds and repairs seawalls, docks, piers and boat lifts for marinas, restaurants, condominium associations and commercial waterfront owners across Manatee and Sarasota counties. We are a Florida Certified Specialty Contractor, license SCC131152520, and we act as contractor of record on the permit.
If you own commercial waterfront, the bid you are holding probably prices the structure and says nothing about the two things that decide how the project actually goes: whether the specification matches the loads your property puts on the wall, and whether the schedule lets you keep operating while the work runs.
Commercial work is a different specification, not a longer version of the same job
A seawall behind a house holds back soil and takes wave energy. That is most of its working life.
A commercial wall does all of that and then carries everything built on top of it. Dining decks, public walkways, service access for deliveries, and in a marina the dockage itself and the vessels tied to it. Those are live loads a residential wall is never designed for, and they change the specification from the tieback design outward.
It also changes who is standing on it. A backyard wall is used by one family. A restaurant seawall has the public on it every night of the season, which puts edge treatment, railings and surface condition in a category residential work does not touch.
So when two bids arrive and one is materially cheaper, the first question is not who is faster. It is whether the cheaper bid is quoting the same structure at all.
The other difference is how far ahead the design has to look. NOAA’s tide gauge at St. Petersburg puts the relative sea level trend on this coast at 3.13 millimeters a year over 1947 to 2025, which the agency states as 1.03 feet per century. A homeowner replaces a dock when it wears out. An association or a marina is amortizing a structure across decades and answering to a board, a lender or an insurer about it, so deck elevation, cap height and drainage get specified against the water level late in the asset’s life rather than the one on the day of the survey. We put that reasoning in the bid in writing, because it is usually the question that gets asked second.
The largest number in the decision is usually the closed season
Price out a commercial seawall and the figure in front of you is the construction cost. On a revenue-producing property it is rarely the biggest number in the decision.
A waterfront restaurant on this coast earns most of its year in a handful of months. Close the deck for a season and the lost revenue can exceed what the wall cost to build. A marina that cannot deliver slips is refunding contracts. The bid that looks cheapest is often the one that never priced the disruption, because it never planned for any.
How a long run gets phased
Anderson built approximately 900 linear feet of seawall, dock and pilings on the Cortez waterfront as contractor of record. The restaurant sitting on top of it stayed open throughout.
That is the part worth asking any bidder to explain. A long run is not built end to end in one push. It is broken into segments, sequenced so that the sections carrying public access and service traffic are never all out of use at once, and staged around the property’s own calendar rather than the contractor’s.
Access usually drives that schedule more than length does. Where the barge can sit, where material can be staged, and how equipment reaches the wall without crossing the part of the property that has to stay open, those constraints set the phasing before anyone talks about linear feet.
Marinas, dockage and multi-slip lift work
Multi-slip properties are their own problem. The lift specification has to match the vessels actually kept there rather than an average, the dockage has to stay usable through the work, and the structure underneath carries load continuously rather than seasonally.
We build boat lifts across the full capacity range, including large yacht lifts, and docks and piers new or rebuilt.
Condominium and homeowner association shorelines
Association shoreline is the largest commercial seawall segment on this coast and the one most often deferred, because the decision runs through a board, a reserve study and an assessment rather than one owner deciding on a Saturday.
What a board needs from a contractor is different from what a homeowner needs. A written scope specific enough to put in front of owners, a phasing plan that keeps access open, a permit handled by the contractor of record, and a bid that can be compared against the others on the same terms.
That is the work. If your association is looking at new seawall construction or deciding between repair and replacement, seawall repairs covers what can be stabilized rather than replaced.
Permits, and who is named as contractor of record
In Florida every new seawall and every major repair or replacement requires a permit. We pull it, and Anderson is the contractor of record on the job.
Commercial work also starts from a different place in the rules. The exemptions and general permits that cover most residential docks are written for a single private, non-commercial structure: the state’s dock permitting guidance caps an exempt private dock at 1,000 square feet of over-water surface outside Outstanding Florida Waters, 500 square feet inside one, and its general permit at 2,000 square feet for one private dock serving no more than two vessels. A marina, a restaurant dock or an association shoreline qualifies for none of that. It goes to full review, which is not a delay to work around, it is the process.
The general range we quote is two to three months, and it varies by building department. Commercial properties can carry additional review depending on the water body and the structure. At bid stage the permit timeline belongs in the schedule as a real line, not an afterthought.
Five questions that separate commercial bids
Ask every bidder these. The answers will not match.
- What loads is this wall designed to carry, and what is on top of it in your drawing?
- How is the run phased, and which sections are out of use at the same time?
- Where does equipment stage, and what part of my property does it cross?
- Who is contractor of record on the permit, and what is your license number?
- What happens to the schedule if the permit comes back with comments?
Recent commercial work
Frequently asked questions
Do you take commercial marine construction work?
Yes. Seawalls, docks, piers and boat lifts for marinas, restaurants, condominium associations and commercial waterfront owners across Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Can you build while our restaurant or marina stays open?
Yes, and it is the part of the bid worth scrutinizing. Anderson built approximately 900 linear feet of seawall, dock and pilings on the Cortez waterfront while the restaurant on top of it stayed open.
Do you work with condominium and homeowner associations?
Yes. Association shorelines are a core part of our commercial work, including written scopes a board can put in front of owners and phasing that keeps resident access open.
Are you licensed for commercial work in Florida?
Yes. We are a Florida Certified Specialty Contractor, license SCC131152520, and fully insured.
Who pulls the permit on a commercial job?
We do. Anderson is named as contractor of record. The general range we quote is two to three months and it varies by building department.
Is financing available for commercial projects?
No. That program is for residential property only. Commercial waterfront work is quoted and paid for differently, so contact us directly and we will walk you through how these projects usually get structured.
What areas do you cover for commercial work?
Florida's Gulf Coast, centered on Bradenton and Sarasota, and reaching from Pinellas and Hillsborough down through Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties.
Next step
Tell us what the property is and what has to stay open. We will come look at it and put a written scope and price in front of you.
Request an estimate or contact us. Built work is in the portfolio, and the residential side of what we do starts at seawalls. Our commercial work is centered on Bradenton and Sarasota.