Insurance Mic

Introduction

This blog contains important tips, critical warnings, news, and updates for those who purchase and those who provide NY Construction Liability Insurance, and NY Construction Workers Compensation Insurance. This blog is my personal microphone to speak to and collaborate with the top professionals in the NY Metropolitan area who serve the NY Construction Risk Marketplace.

NY Construction Umbrella Liability Market Going From Hard To Distressed

If you’re an Umbrella Insurance Carrier how many accounts do you have to write to pay a $20 million dollar claim? The answer is not enough, which is why the pricing on NY Construction Umbrella Insurance policies have doubled since the January 1^st . The biggest drivers are the reinsurance treaties that have been renewed at much higher insurance rates.

 

The problem stems not just from the two high profile crane accidents that occurred in Manhattan back in 2009, but from the NY States Labor Laws 240 & 241 , also known as the Scaffold law. In most other states large claims that would pierce the underlying general liability insurance policy would be a rare event. “ In NY  the Labor Law  claims start at $ 1 million and usually settle for between $ 2 & $ 3million almost routinely , imposing absolute liability on Building Owners, General Contractors, and Developers” stated Howard Klar, general partner of Gallo, Vitucci, and Klar.

 

Adding to this troublesome dynamic is the fact that base general liability costs for construction firms are up a minimum of 25% to 100% contingent on scope of work and geographic work location. This too effects the cost of umbrella insurance as the premium is usually priced as a % of general liability costs. Further the NYC Department of Buildings new liability insurance mandate that stipulates certain projects must maintain a higher  project specific liability limit ; ranging from $5 million up to $80 million of additional liability insurance limit.

 

Prior to January 1^st the industry would see $10 million of additional umbrella liability insurance priced typically at approximately 40% of the price of the construction general liability insurance premium. Post January 1^st clients that used to seek a $10 million limit are now seeking $15 million thanks to the new NYC DOB ruling. The cost is  75% to 100% of the now higher general liability insurance premium, contingent on scope of work, and project location. Additionally it typically would take 2 to 3 days to underwrite , quote , and bind. Now it's upwards of 5 to 10 business days contingent on size and complexity of the project.

 

What’s the answer? The macros are the macros, that said focus on the cost of your primary construction general liability insurance. The cost of your umbrella liability insurance or excess liability insurance is predicated off your primary construction general liability policy. For tips on managing your insurance costs read our previous article 7 Tips To Position Your Business During a Hard Insurance Market.Need further clarification call a Risk Advisor to help manage your cost, get quotes  and boost your profit margin. 

 

7 Tips To Position Your Business During a Hard Insurance Market

I can literally feel your eyeballs rolling as you mutter a “colorful” sentence or two about insurance brokers occupying the phylum right above amoebas. Before you click on, give me a paragraph or two to explain.

For those insurance buyers new to the scene  a “hard” market is defined as one in which various lines of insurance experience acute price increases, coupled with limited availability. It’s classic Keynesian supply and demand. In contrast, a “soft” insurance market is one in which prices fall, year in and year out.

The problem with a soft insurance market is that it insulates poorly managed businesses, not punishing those with high claims. Their insurance costs are only slightly higher than those of a “best practices” firm because insurance carriers in a soft market lose all pricing discipline as market share, not underwriting, is their primary motivation.

The Opportunity

Those businesses that have incurred insurance claims will see their unit costs increase substantially. For some types of businesses, such as healthcare, human services, or construction, insurance is one of your highest expenses. Further, insurance claims don’t just impact your future insurance costs, they affect your productivity and your labor costs. Insurance claims have an impact up and down your P&L statement, impairing your ability to compete in the marketplace.

Are you following me, grasshoppers? Those businesses that focus on the fundamentals of loss control and claims management, that either have a strong claims history or a desire to clean up their claims history, will have a major competitive advantage in their native marketplace during a hard insurance market. Simply put, their unit cost structure will be, at a minimum, 30% more cost efficient than that of their less-diligent competitors.  Here are some of the techniques we employ with our clients to help them achieve and maintain cost efficiency.

Strategies for Achieving Risk Management Cost Efficiency

1. Order your loss runs several times a year, not just at renewal. Outstanding claims are blank checks drawn on your account by someone else.
2. Ask questions on the reserving practices of the adjusters on large losses. Have them factually justify their position. High reserves are a harbinger of higher insurance rates at renewal. Don’t just accept the adjuster’s numbers.
3. For workers’ compensation losses, order both the loss runs and state worksheets showing how your experience modification was calculated. This calculation can contain very costly errors that will drive your insurance premium costs up.
4. Have someone in your office do a contract audit. How is the risk allocated in your projects? Who gets left holding the bag? Do all your vendors and subcontractors have signed and executed contracts with proper insurance documentation?
5. Did you just hire your next insurance claim? Set up a vendor or subcontractor qualification system to be certain the pool of capital at risk is theirs and not yours. Do this by confirming that their insurance, not yours, will respond to a potential loss. You can hire out a turnkey solution such as the RISK ROCKET, which performs this function for you.
6. Don’t just renew your insurance as is. Ask questions with every new project and contract. There may be other ways to structure the insurance purchase that can give you greater cost certainty and cost efficiency (pricing).
7. Get aggressive when an incident occurs. Take pictures, find witnesses, issue a very detailed report the day the loss happens. Help your insurance carrier mount a defense on your behalf. It will significantly impact both the amount the claim is reserved at and the amount it is ultimately settled for.

There are other strategies, as I am just getting started. We can’t emphasize enough how big an impact on your current and future profits these techniques can have, positioning your company to beat the competition in your marketplace by making sure you are as cost efficient as possible.

Need help positioning your company? If your current insurance brokerage relationship isn’t positioning your company and just facilitating a transaction, we politely suggest you speak to a risk advisor.

Is 2012 The Begining of A Hard Market?!

For those of you not in the “industry” January 1st is a big insurance date. It’s the day a vast majority of re-insurance contracts renew. Re-Insurance are those folks who insure the insurance companies so they can spread the risk of insuring a $100 million dollar project. After 8 years of declining re-insurance rates, on January 1st for some classes of businesses like construction, rates have increased dramatically which ultimately impacts you the end user consumer of commercial liability insurance, property insurance, and workers compensation insurance products.

In a succinct article summarizing an A.M. Best report, Insurance Network news extrapolated some quick facts in their article P&C Insurers Wince.  

The bullet points are as follows:

In 2010 for every $1 in commercial insurance premium taken in the industry had claims and expenses of .99 cents.

In 2011 for every $1 in commercial insurance premium taken in the industry had claims and expenses of $1.08. Which means they lost 8% and climbing for every dollar received in aggregate premium.

Income from investments continues to be spotty and under performing with some actually taking losses on their portfolio contingent on how they allocated their investment choices.

What This Means For You:

No doubt about it prices for certain lines of insurance in classes like construction are going north. How much is contingent on how you make your money, where your business is located, and of course your claims experience which is the great differentiating variable.  

Please be mindful as you are bidding on future projects that you factor an insurance price increase into your cost pro formas. Some folks have seen their prices escalate 200% to 300% on renewal which erases most of if not all the profitability on the current work. Be careful not to sign future project commitments without a better understanding on how your unit cost structure or production cost structure will change otherwise you are setting your self up for a net income loss for the year.

In my next few posts I will lay out some strategy on how you can not only protect yourself, but profit from the opportunity as those who manage and become most cost efficient will have a decided competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Can’t wait for those nuggets! I can’t blame you as time is money. Contact a Risk Advisor directly as we would be happy to have a thoughtful strategic discussion on how to best position your company to win in this new and challenging environment.

Insurance For Property Under Construction

We recently were invited to speak to the New York County Law Association in Manhattan across the street from one of the largest construction projects in the country; The Freedom Tower. We presented to a group of construction attorneys who wanted to understand more about insuring properties under going or about to under go a major construction or renovation.

If you click on the picture above entitled " Risk Transfer for Property Under Construction" you will be brought to a detailed presentation on all the nuance that is Builders Risk Insurance. The beauty of the slide show presentation is that we overlaid the audio to the power point so you get to hear in essence the material as it was presented. For those of you that already have a working knowledge of Builder Risk Insurance , but wanted to grab a few quick take aways, just click thru the slides until something strikes you.

As with any of our posts, feel free to reach out directly to us at Metropolitan Risk Advisory to get clarification on any issue we write on. We hope you enjoy the show....!

 

NYC Buildings Department Revises NY Construction General Liability Insurance Ruling

On June 13th 2011 the NYC Department of Buildings revised the general liability insurance requirements for certain construction companies looking to pull building permits for NYC construction or NYC demolition work. In April we met with two members of the D.O.B. rules committee, along with Ira Brown who is President of Queens Bronx Buildings Association, and Robert Altman our Chief Lobbyist. We expressed our concerns on how the rule was written and will be applied. Both committee members were very receptive and accommodating.

Flash forward, two weeks into the implimentation of the new rules there are changes, the NYC Buildings Department wisely revised some of the more stringent aspects of the NY Construction General Liability Insurance requirement. Under pressure from builder groups such as the Queens Bronx Building Association and the NY State Builders Association, the insurance carrier community and NY State Bar Association, the NYC D.O.B revised the ruling.

In a memo to the New York State Bar Association dated June 22nd, 2011 the NYC D.O.B. issued the following revisions. 

• The NYC Department of Buildings will update its website to say that it will consider the phrase "contractual liability exclusion" to mean "an Insured Contract Exception no less favorable to the insured than ISO Form CG 00 01 (12/07 ed.)"
• The NYC Buildings Department shall not mandate the advance notice of cancellation requirement beyond what New York Insurance Law already requires. New York Insurance Law Section 3426 permits admitted carriers to cancel NY General Liability Insurance policies midterm for a limited number of reasons with 15 days’ advance notice.

Please be advised the remaining provisions of the NYC Department of Buildings regulation for construction permits remain in effect as it relates to the purchase and maintainence of NY Construction General Liability Insurance. Pay special attention to the limits of insurance consistent with the scope of work as well as certain exclusions which include third-party action over claims, residential construction exclusion, and exterior insulation and finish system exclusions on projects that include EFIS in their design.

If you have questions or need help procuring the right NY Construction General Liability Insurance, contact a risk advisor for a free assessment.

 

Our Solve For the NYC Dept of Buildings General Liability Insurance Rule

Too many digital properties to manage, so rather than copy and paste I will provide the link to the Post that was written on our other Blog that provides a potential solve for the New York City Department of Buildings rule relating the the purchase of NY Construction General Liability Insurance. This is a 3 parter, sorry, it's a big issue with a huge potential impact for the NYC General Contractors who build housing , affordable housing, and commercial space in the 5 boroughs who desperately need their projects to receive NYC Building Permits.

 

The first two articles give you a foundation for the issue:

Effective June 13th 2011 NYC DOB Issues New Rule Relating to NY Construction General Liability Insurance

 

The Potential Cost Impact of the NYC DOB Rule Relating to NY General Liability Insurance

 

Our Solution:

 

Our Solution To The NYC DOB Rule Change Relating to NY Construction General Liability Insurance 

 

It's our expectation that we will be meeting with the New York City Department of Buildings within the next few days to help illuminate the disastrous impact this new rule could have on the cost structures of an industry reeling from difficult macro challenges resulting from the financial crisis. With the NY Building Community behind us we hope to achieve a result that is consistent with both the New York Building Departments Goals, and the NY Building Communities goals. We believe our proposed solution achieves that.

 

We will keep you "posted" !!

NYC Department Of Buildings Change Impacts Cost of NY Construction Liability Insurance for General Contractors & Developers

For those of you caught in the storm of your own reality, the New York City Buildings Department has been feverishly busy revising the NY Construction General Liability marketplace. On June 13th, 2011 there are new rules as it applies to both the TYPE of NY Construction General Liability Insurance as well as the limits you must purchase. To understand the rule changes click NEW YORK CITY BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT CHANGES THE RULES FOR NY CONSTRUCTION GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE.

Once you have absorbed how the new rules are written, we suggest you read the next article on our sister blog: The Cost Impact of the New  Department of Buildings Rule Change for NYC General Contractors & NY Developers General Liability Insurance. Click on this article to see what the cost impact is of this important new ruling. Learn how it some instances it could double the cost for NY Construction General Liability Insurance. 

We are working feverishly behind the scenes to get this rule changes as we believe the New York City Buildings Department can achieve their goals of having a substantial pool of insured capital (NY General Liability Insurance) insuring New York City construction sites , without mandating how it's done (NY Project Specific General Liability Insurance). We are working with the Queens Bronx Building Association, New York State Builders, & New York State Affordable Housing Association. 

Please check back as we expect to have a dialogue directly with the Department of Buildings. We believe this rule change can be a very damaging rule to an industry that is already reeling from depressed demand for product, tight financing, still inflated prices for land, and steep increases in commodity costs. Why pile on with a short sighted NY General Liability Insurance mandate when we can accomplish the same goal in a smarter more efficient manner.

You thoughts and comments are welcomed and encouraged!

 

What Buffet, 2012, & Your Business May Have In Common

Let's be clear here, we're talking Warren, not Jimmy. No offense to parrot heads, but this post is about strategically positioning your business to beat your competition. 

One of the key attributes that makes Warren Buffet one of the most successful investors in the western world is his ability to see around the corner. I like to call it the long view. Many of the best, and brightest business folks I have had the pleasure of consulting for had that uncanny ability to be where the puck was going to be, not where it was; quoting the great Wayne Gretzky. Yes , I am an unabashed name dropper; Pat Riley.

What's interesting is that when it comes to construction, especially NY  General Contractor's and NY Developer's what always puzzled me was the zealot like fixation on pricing their bid to be as competitive as possible yet often not properly forecast their future cost structures, imperiling their profits. 

Let me tie this all in a nice bow for those of you smart enough to stick around. The smart NY General Contractors & NY Developers are already thinking about 2012 , 2013, and 2014. Riding the macro economic trends which include the labor market, collective bargaining agreements, 6 of which renew this year, interest & vacancy rates.  

If that's not enough let me add another macro factor that must be considered as you look to position your company for 2012; NY General Liability Insurance costs, NY Umbrella Insurance Costs, and NY Workers Compensation insurance cost. According to the Construction Finance Management Association beyond labor, Bronx NY General Liability insurance may be the highest business cost a New York City General Contracting firm, or NY Developer has. As you begin to bid jobs that probably won't break ground for at least 12 months think about how your NY General Liability  insurance costs are going to trend, and the impact on the profitability of the job. 

In 2010 there were approximately 10 insurance carriers that would offer competitive pricing and coverages to the NY General Contractor Liability Insurance  & NY Owners Interest Liability Insurance . 

In 2011 we are down to 6 if you include Ace which in my opinion does not take enough of the risk for the premium they charge to be a value.For arguements sake let's include them in our little exercise. Of the 6 that are still writing, 2 of them I had serious discussion with senior management whether they were going to cancel their book all together and leave the market their results being so poor. 

 

It's my contention the market will continue to erode by 2012 leaving less options for those who must purchase NY General Liability Insurance, NY Umbrella Insurance, and NY Workers Compensation. Insurance pricing is classic Keynesian supply and demand. More carrier offering coverage, more options for you, less cost. 

Flash forward to 2013 the market could be worse, 2 maybe three carriers offering coverage, at what premium level? 

My point is don't submit a bid that has too thin a margin. It is not inconceivable that within 2 years your insurance costs could rise by 40% or more. If your losses are poor, you may not get coverage at all, or at a price point that simply erodes all of the projects profitability. 

 Here are some back of the napkin strategies that could protect your P&L: 

• Purchase a NY Project Specific Liability Insurance policy  for your project. The advantage is locking in rates for the complete term of the project which will give you cost certainty. 
• Pay great attention to properly transferring your risk down to your sub contractors as that is your ordained right as a NY General Contractor, NY Developer. Put in place protocols that make certain the pool of capital at risk is the sub's and their insurance carrier. Their P&L, not yours. You do this by making sure the insurance they have is close to what you required by written and executed contract. 
• Be vigilant and follow up on past liability claims, especially liability & indemnity reserves. They are tanamount to a very expensive credit line and YOU don't have control of the check book. Someone in another Ivory Tower does, impacting your future cost structure.
• Don't always jump at the lowest bid sub ,hire smart . Anyone in the business long enough knows how expensive the lowest bidder usually becomes, ultimately killing your profits.
• Build a smart team around you of solid, forward thinking professional that just don't provide their service , but as thought leaders  positioning your company  to succeed. Start with a sharp risk advisor. Don't know one? Click Here!!
• Sure up your balance sheet, position your financials statements way in advance of your potential NY Surety need. For an excellent blog on Surety issues  click NY Surety Bonds.
• Take a good hard look at staffing. How many A players do you have? There are some excellent folks on the street right now. Always be recruiting talent as they can have a huge impact on your business. Think Charlie Munger to Warren Buffet.

Yes, I can drone on forever as that is the province of unlimited space to write. The best and brightest companies are already thinking about 2012 and 2013 , even though it's 1st quarter 2011. They are positioning their company for where the puck will be so they can achieve their goals. The soft insurance market is on it's last legs. It's turning now, incrementally so. Positioning your company by utilizing best practice Risk Management techniques will pull you far ahead in this NY Building & Development Iditatrod.

Think like Warren, dance like Jimmy, feast like the Buffet is free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maximum Benefit Allowance For NY Workers Compensation Has Been Raised

This actually occured in July, which I published elsewhere. It occurred to me that perhaps folks who read this Blog could use the information. Rather than re-write the article I thought for effeciancies sake I thought I would just provide the link to those who want this valuable information.

CLICK HERE TO READ FURTHER

Owners Interest Liability Policies - Pick Your Poison

I have been slugging away this vocation for 20 years, which paved the way for parenthood but I digress. The point is for 20 years General Contractors, Developers, Owners, Non Profits AND Insurance Brokers have been screwing this up since day one. Present company included to be genuine here. I'm no Elliot Spitzer hypocrite, I don't have his money! LOL. The issue I speak about is cheaping out and adding entities to the construction liability policy that : 1) Don't belong there as there is NO common ownership , and 2) It's a "free" or "Cheap" way to get coverage. I actually wrote a very similar article on this topic a while back entitled The Difference Between Being a Named Insured Versus an Additional Insured. For those of you who got religion and stop doing that because it's understood the risk you retain is too high a price to pay for "free" insurance; kudos. In that article I espoused adding these entities as "additional insured's" rather than "Named Insured's" that way you won't fall trap to the " Cross Suits Exclusion". Well, I may suggest adding a second god to the equation so for those of you who had gotten religion. Purchase a separate "Owner's Interest Liability Policy" altogether , rather than being sated by the simple "Additional Insured " status.

I will try to be succinct as I am noticing your eyes glazing as your about to click to photos of Lady Gaga , insurance be damned!

The issue ALWAYS is what's the risk; and what's the cost benefit analysis look like if we try and transfer the risk. That's always the question , so let's start there shall we, I know your excited!!

If you succeed in getting an entity not owned by the construction firm folks added to their construction policy ( i.e. Non Profits always try a get listed as a "Named Insured" on the general contractor's policy because some dolt attorney years ago thought that was a great idea) kudos. Yes there is lots of coverage for a lot of situations, and the cost in premium dollars is $0 . I know your thinking why did he call that attorney a dolt as this seems like a no brainer. Your right, you need to have NO brain to retain all the other risk that is not contemplated by this technique. Let Lucy splain. On most liability insurance contracts a smart but nefarious little endorsement called the "Cross Suits Exclusion" lays in wait. The purpose from an insurance carriers standpoint is so they don't get in the middle of a Hatfield / McCoy feud between two of the entities on the insurance policy AND the insurance carrier is asked to pick up for both defense and indemnification for both parties. From the liability insurance carriers point of view if you folks want to slug it out, go for it, we aren't getting involved. That's the purpose of the cross suits exclusion.

The cross suits exclusion problematic for the General Contractor because if the project owner every litigates against the General Contractor for almost any reason there is no coverage for defense or indemnification because the owner is listed as a "Named Insured" on the G.C.'s policy. Thus the G.C.'s own balance sheet is at risk, and the owner is at risk of the G.C. not having enough of the unsecured assets to cover the loss. See how much free can cost!

Let's move on to Additional Insured status because I know you have Gaga on your mind. This possibility for loss is more remote than the one above , but I just had a scenario where this actually had happen. On the sidewalk adjacent to a construction site was a large tree, a tree well and raised sidewalk slabs. I know hard to imagine in NYC, but this was the scene. A pedestrian , probably with big red clown shoes and a clown nose took a header on the obvious raised sidewalk. The owner of the Property had all of the construction contracts in place, additional insured status on the General Contractors Liability insurance policy , AND they had the property insured under their real estate policy.

Result, coverage denied on all insurance policies, thus the pool of capital at risk resulting in a net income loss is on both the G.C. and the Owners. Reason it was denied on the Owner's Real Estate policy was because the property was under major construction and was vacant at time of the loss. Both no no's and exclusions in a real estate policy. The G.C.'s policy denied coverage to owner because the owner was trying to back in under "additional Insured' status. The reason I said back in was because in this instance it is the position of the carrier that the sidewalk issue , caused by the tree, is the owner's responsibility and not the G.C.'s. The general contractors policy would only respond if it was deemed negligent in the loss. Thus without perceived negligence by the general contractor; the general contractor liability policy will not respond. Simply put the coverage trigger is the negligence of the general contractor , which once triggered may result in coverage for the General Contractor AND all of their additional insureds. In this case coverage was not triggered when Bozo fell and a sidewalk raised by an adjacent tree root because it's the position of the insurance carrier the general contractor was not negilgent, thus no liability, thus no liability insurance coverage. Get it jimmy Neutron!

Now what Insurance Mic? Well, glad you asked and even happier your still with me! The proper way to trigger insurance coverage for a Bozo type loss is the placement of an Owner's Interest Liability policy , specifically for the benefit of the owner. It takes the above two examples completely out of play. The problem is two fold , cost and RFP. The cost is typically .05 % of the hard cost of the job, which is real money. The second problem is that the Owner's don't ask for and specify the purchase of such a product during the RFP process, thus all of the Developer's and General Contractor's in an effort to be super competitive on their bid chose either one of the two examples above and cheap out. Thus opening the door to a major net income loss. Thus the article title "Pick your Poison" If Owner's really understood the cost and the risk to their own balance sheet , I am convinced that most would opt to spend the .05% up front and guarantee that is all they will lose in the deal then again what do I know, I'm just the 800 pound gorilla in the room.