There are many different types of contractors out there. Whether you are a carpenter, painter, roofer, plumber, electrician; work in the oilfield, road construction or make cabinets, you will need some kind of business insurance.
Each of these contractors will have individual risks that they will need to keep their business protected from. For example: A carpenter doesn’t secure the roof trusses properly, and a wind comes along and rips the roof off of the house. He would be liable for not properly anchoring the roofing system down to the main structure. This loss could be for the trusses, the damage to the building itself and if there are people nearby, a potential injury claim could arise.
These types of simple mistakes can happen more often than not. Whether you have an apprentice who is working for you and makes a mistake or you simply had a busy day where you rushed and missed a few steps; these types of scenarios can occur that can open you up to a possible lawsuit or claim situation.
This is why you need to purchase a contractor’s insurance policy with general liability. General liability coverage for products and completed operations as well as property damage and injury are available on almost every commercial contractors policy. These coverages are what you will need to make sure you are adequately covered in the event that a mistake is made. After all, we are all human and prone to human error. This policy gives you the peace of mind that you are looked after in case a simple mistake occurs.
Another reason to purchase a contractor’s insurance policy is to protect the assets of your business. If you have a cabinet shop or similar business, you will likely have a shop or some kind of facility where you store your tools, products and inventory. To protect this investment, we should insure the building, the tools and the inventory. We can insure the building based on the construction type and we can put a blanket policy to cover all of your tools and inventory. If you have high valued tools or equipment, we will likely need to list those items individually to make sure we are properly covering that specific item. Many of the tools you carry are with you in your trucks; we can design a policy to cover those tools while on site and intransit. You will need to make sure you lock those tools up overnight as some policies do not cover theft without a sign of forced entry. So make sure you look after your tools as well.
There are many other coverages that we can discuss as this is just skimming the surface. Coverages like business interruption (If your business shuts down due to a claim, how will you continue to pay for your bills/payroll/taxes?); Boiler & Machinery coverage (A loss due to a sudden mechanical failure from the equipment fixed to your buildings); Other losses deriving from accounts receivable losses, glass breakage, data loss & recovery, etc. These items “fill in the cracks” of a commercial policy. They are very important and often forgotten, so it is important to discuss your operation thoroughly with us so we can design a policy to protect your business in every way possible.
You specialize in your trade and you want to make sure your customers are well-looked after. We want the same thing, therefore, looking after your business is our number one priority. If you haven’t already, please contact us, so we can start this process on giving you the peace of mind you need to keep your focus on what’s important, your clients!
general liability
Ask us about small business insurance, it’ll provide you peace of mind.
You may wonder, “Why do I need business insurance?” It comes down to more than just what you own; your inventory, vehicles, buildings, equipment, etc. Although those items are extremely important to insure and keep track of, there are many other areas that you can be exposed to; the main exposure of course, is liability.
Before we get into the liability section, let’s get into those other areas. Insurance companies design policies that will benefit each business individually. A hair salon, for example, will require insurance on their stock, inventory, building (if they own it), and equipment such as chairs, clippers, etc. However, there are endorsements that insurance companies may wish to include, or can add on, that you may not think of; such as: outdoor sign coverage, accounts receivable, business income coverage, money and securities, data or cyber compromise, equipment breakdown, and many others. These types of coverages “fill the gap” on an insurance policy to make sure you are properly covered in the event of a loss.
Not all business types have these “pre-made” insurance packages available, so it’s important for us to have detailed conversations with you on how your business operates so we can create a policy that will meet your needs. Then if you make any changes or take on other types of business we will be able to amend the policy and make sure we have your business insured accurately. For example, some framing companies, will also take on business for other trades like roofing or concrete. They begin to do these lines of work on top of their framing jobs. That change can make a difference on your insurance policy, whether it is the different equipment and vehicles that you’d be purchasing or the new liability risks that come with roofing and concrete work.
As for liability insurance, it is important for us to have a discussion with you in detail about what your business operations are. How you operate, what type of work you will be doing, how many employees, etc. This information helps us determine what type of risks you will incur and what type of liability coverage will work for you to maximize your coverage. Liability losses can amount to extremely high costs if a major claim occurs, so it is important to make sure your policy is up to date with us.
We are interested in your business and want it to succeed; therefore we need to make sure your insurance needs are well looked after. By having an accurate policy in place, it will give you the peace of mind you need so you can focus on what really matters, your clients. If you have any questions about new or existing business insurance or would like to know more about options that can be added to your existing policy, please contact one of our insurance experts. We would love to connect with you.