Knowledge Corner

Insurance Carriers are reducing their appetite for risk and increasing premiums. This means they are being much more selective in what they are willing to insure. If they are going to continue to offer renewals to a specific class of business, they may decide that all contractors in that class will see an aggressive premium increase or reduction in coverage.  

Both Reinsurance and Insurance carriers are focusing on reducing their loss exposures and increasing their profit margins. As a result, they are taking a hard look at their exposures to high frequency losses and deciding to cut the risk they are taking. 

Class of Business
Carriers are looking at the class of business and deciding to insure/decline a company solely based on the entire class of business, instead of the individual merits of a specific company within that class. In other words, it does not matter if you have 10 years of no claims and have increased your revenues each year. As an example, if you are a plumber, the carrier can decide they will no longer entertain plumbers, or they will issue a quote, but with a large increase in premium.  

Insurance Submission
Your insurance submission is the only chance your company has to tell its story to an underwriter. Telling your story to an underwriter is important, because it makes the underwriter feel more comfortable with your specific merits, rather than making a decision based on your class of business. Your insurance submission should be comprehensive and include the following items:

• Safety Program
• Substance Abuse Program
• Return-To-Work Program
• Jobsite/Office Security
• Cyber Protection

Communicating this information in your insurance submission to both the incumbent insurance carrier and new carriers is crucial. The goal of your submission should be to alleviate an underwriter’s concern and have your company stand out from the other submissions.

Working with a good Broker, like TSIB, can help you accomplish this, as we know the details that the underwriters require. If you have any questions about what insurance strategies you can implement to help your construction company plan for the future, reach out to us!

TSIB’s Risk Consultants are currently servicing the following locations:
East Coast: New York City, NY; Bergen County, NJ; Fairfield County, CT; Philadelphia, PA
Texas: Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas
California: Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County

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