Insurance For Contractors - When Cash Flow is Tight, What Traps NOT to Fall Into

When is money not tight or not of concern? It seems that money is always an issue among contractors no matter how big or how small the firm, it all comes down to cash flow. Now that the economy is slowing a bit, especially in the residential arena, many contractors will be focused on their insurance premiums and how can they reduce their costs when their policies renew.

It is very easy for all of us to focus on the bottom line premium when it comes to our insurance coverage but by doing so can lead to potentially disastrous coverage deficiencies especially for contractors.

Today, the purchase of insurance has become extremely complex. Insurance company forms vary from one to the next. The level of coverage offered by each carrier also will differ. Below we will discuss some areas of coverage to pay particular attention to so you wont get burned:

*Make sure that your agent or broker has an industry focus on construction. Many times clients are with the wrong broker. The reason for this can be many things but the one thing for certain is that the broker does not have a real focus on this class of business. The problem with being represented by a broker that does not focus on the industry should be obvious. For one thing they do not know what your real concerns are on a daily basis and how to address your most pressing insurance related issues or what your real exposures are and how best to address them. In addition to that, they are not up on which insurers may be best for you in terms of coverage and price. Ask the following questions Is your agent/broker a specialist in construction insurance? What is the real reason you are working with your current agent? Is your agent proactive in suggesting additional coverage improvements or ways to reduce costs over the long haul?

*Focus on coverage and not premium. You are probably shaking your head at this suggestion, but what if your insurance program cost you only $10? You might think that that is a great deal. But what if your $10 insurance policy did not cover you for a claim that you think you should have been covered for and that claim could potentially bankrupt your company and end your livelihood? How good was that purchase? You might feel at that point that even the $10 dollars was wasted since the policy did not cover you for your claim. You might be right! The point is to make sure that you are covered for the exposures and risks that you face and make certain they are addressed in your insurance program.

The construction insurance market is in turmoil today. Insurance companies are providing coverage options that include exclusions, warranties and other types of coverage limitations. Unfortunately, many of these exclusions pertain to exposures that you expect your insurance policy to protect you against. Instead it excludes them from coverage. Some of the exclusions you may see are such things like designated work exclusion; independent contractors exclusion; professional liability exclusion; multi unit residential exclusion; foundation work; EFIS exclusion; and microbial matter exclusion. Each one of these needs to be reviewed and addressed to see if it may have a potential impact relative to your business should a claim arise. Remember the old saying, You get what you pay for.

*Make sure that the contracts you enter into are reviewed by your attorney and that insurance related responsibilities are addressed by your insurance adviser. Over and over again contractors enter into agreements that they can not possibly live up to, they are in breach of contract the minute they sign on the dotted line. Today in the construction industry every owner is holding the GC accountable, every CG is holding their subcontractors accountable and everyone is named as an additional insured on someone elses policy and everyone is holding everyone else harmless. Its beyond crazy. It takes some expertise to figure out how best to structure and insurance program to address these issues.

*Take a long term view rather than a short term view on your insurance program. We all get stuck on the short term how much is my premium this year? and its a very easy thing to do. With everything there are cycles. When there is a hard insurance market, capacity is low, coverage is difficult to obtain and premiums are high. During a soft insurance market just the opposite takes place, capacity among insurance carriers seems endless, broad coverage is bountiful and premiums are low. The problem with this scenario is that when premiums are low and your losses stay the same as in the hard market, your loss ratio increases which will make your account unattractive in a moderate to hard market, thus potentially increasing your costs substantially. The approach should be to manage your entire insurance program for the long haul which will steady your costs year to year. This means implementing sound safety practices and risk management techniques designed to address both short and long term risks.

Throughout this article you may have been asking yourself how do I really know if I am well protected? What if you are not sure? Then the answer is to have a thorough analysis done of your operations and exposures to risk along with a review of your current insurance policies. The objective of the assessment is to make certain that you have the correct combination of coverage, risk management and cost based on your exposures. The sooner you have a review performed the quicker you can begin to lower your insurance costs over the long haul and reduce your exposure to potentially uncovered claims.

About R. Scott Wolff:
R. Scott Wolff, CIC, CRIS, is a Premier Risk Management, LLC partner. He has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry and possesses an extremely wide range of insurance and risk management knowledge. He is well versed in property and casualty coverage along with directors and officers, errors and omissions, intellectual property, new media and Internet related coverage. He has been recognized by the Professional Insurance Agents Association and received an award for Outstanding Achievement. He attended Vale Technical School, for claim and loss technical training; the IRM School for Fire Safety and Protection; the Royal Insurance Underwriting School, Sitkins Producer Training, Miller-Heiman Strategic/Conceptual Selling and the National Council for Insurance Marketing. He also holds a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation along with the Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist.

R. Scott Wolff, CIC, CRIS
Premier Risk Management, LLC.
Insurance Consultants & Advisors
777 Terrace Avenue
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
201-727-1119 Direct
swolff@premierriskmgt.com
http://www.premierriskmgt.com

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