News & Views

RIA ADDS WORKER’S COMP

The RWC Insurance Advantage (RIA) is proud to announce the addition of Risk Exchange to our growing list of insurance partners. Risk Exchange handles Worker’s Compensation Coverage for us in a number of states.* This is a big deal for RIA. As you are probably only too aware, finding worker’s comp when you are a general contractor can be challenging. If you’ve ever wondered why that is, maybe a story will help to explain: A…
Read more

MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES

Membership has its privileges?  Yeah, right! you may be thinking.   Advertising one-liners like that used to be called bromides.  Bromide:  A trite and unoriginal idea or remark, typically intended to soothe or placate.  Frankly, we want your business.  Like our competitors, we want to distinguish ourselves in your mind so that you will want to do business with us.  Doesn’t everyone do the same?  And yet, most people are suspicious of statements, or bromides, like the…
Read more

WHEN IS A CLAIM A CLAIM? – CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS

In last month’s blog we talked about one of the main kinds of losses covered by general liability insurance: premises / operations, or coverage for “trips and falls” by members of the public. We saw how these claims aren’t always reported when they happen. In fact, the claimant may not even know they are hurt for days. This is one reason why it is vital to have an established incident reporting procedure and to make…
Read more

WHEN IS A CLAIM A CLAIM? PREMISES / OPERATIONS or “TRIP & FALL” COVERAGE

Its Summer.  You’ve been taking advantage of the good weather to complete several single family homes you started late in the Spring.  Progress has been rapid.  In fact, you’re ahead of schedule.  Then, you get a call from one of your jobsites.  A woman tripped over a piece of scrap lumber and fell on the sidewalk in front of one of your nearly finished houses.  None of your crew saw it happen since they were…
Read more

LIFE IS IN THE DETAILS — OR — I THOUGHT YOU BOUGHT BUILDERS RISK!

Hypothetical situation. Let's say you've been contracted to build a custom home by someone who was referred to you by a satisfied customer. This individual owns the land and is financing the project out his own pocket. You are the general contractor with complete authority over the entire project. The single family home you're building is a typical design and requires nothing out of the ordinary. Construction proceeds without a hitch. Then, with the house about…
Read more

My Subs Are Covered Under My Policy, Aren’t They?

Last year we posted a blog called BEWARE OF THE SUBCONTRACTOR GAP.  We said “The RWC Insurance Advantage does not exclude claims arising out of the work done for you by your subcontractors. If your current General Liability company won’t cover the work your subs do for you, what do they cover?”*    This is so important it is worth revisiting.  First, why do some insurance companies not want to insure the work done for you by your subs? …
Read more

Umbrella & Excess

When it rains, it pours. Apart from being a very old expression, its also a glass-is-half-empty kind of thought; something a little on the negative side. Now consider the net worth of your business. If your general liability limit is the standard $1 million for each occurrence, is that enough to protect all your business assets? Let’s say you build a custom home worth close to $3 million. The electrical contractor you’ve worked with for…
Read more

Avoid Audit Shock

Did you know your general liability policy is auditable? Are you aware what that means? When we quote a price for your coverage, we use your estimates of your total cost of construction plus your payroll for any work you might have your own employees doing for you. These figures are really your best guess for the next 12 months. Many things can happen to increase, or decrease your costs and / or payroll including…
Read more

Additional Insured! Me? Welcome to Blue Monday

Why do bad things seem to happen most on Monday mornings? We even call it “Blue Monday.” Take the builder, for example, who wasn’t named Additional Insured on his exterior painter’s general liability policy. Our builder came to work one fine Monday morning to discover a voice-mail. His painter had over-sprayed a dozen parked cars in a lot across the street from his three-story townhouse project that was nearing completion. It happened on Saturday, which…
Read more

The Claims-Made Gap? Facts vs. Myth

When most insurance agents hear the RWC Insurance Advantage offers Claims-made general liability coverage, they warn their general contractor customers to stay away from it. They say you’ll be trapped by the “gap” in coverage that will open up the moment you try to leave. What happens upon termination of coverage is one of the biggest arguments against Claims-made. The way some agents talk, you’d think Claims-made is like the old children’s poem “The Spider…
Read more