The purpose of our blog is to be a practical guide to help business owners secure the proper coverage at reasonable and understandable (surprise-free) cost. There are too few, if any, books on the subject of insurance coverage for business owners and who would even buy such a book? ? What may be available is hard to find. I hope that these blog posts will be your central source of information.
Fortunately, many of the industry associations have had initiatives to make available education on insurance. These opportunities have most often been limited to forums at conventions and periodicals on random topics. If you have received my book or content from your professional contractors association, it is another expression of their interest in protecting your construction operation.
Next to the economy, nothing can impact a business owner as powerfully as insurance—or the lack of insurance. If it were not for the insurance industry, few contractors could financially survive a tornado ripping their buildings from the foundations, a grading contractor’s bulldozer being stolen, a worker falling off of a roof becoming a quadriplegic, or a manufacturer that suffers from a fire that shuts down their operations for a year and a half. Damages from fortuitous events and weather-related situations are in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Without insurance (or proper insurance), construction projects and businesses of all kinds would grind to a halt.
The more knowledge a business owner is about his or her exposures to a loss and the insurance policies covering those losses, the less likely he will have uninsured losses. Additionally, proper insurance protection can keep a business operating should the unexpected occur. Once I heard it said, “If it were not for insurance, no one would be able to invest so much of their resources into their business.” After spending many years in the business and seeing large liability, workers compensation, and fire losses, I agree. Who would want to place all their hard-earned dollars into a $1,000,000 building project just to see it be wiped away with one tornado? It is too risky to operate without proper insurance.
There are some direct and indirect costs of having an insurance claim, the insurance company and policyholder place greater emphasis on controlling losses. When a business owner has an insurance loss, the loss has other costs such as increases in future premiums, the un-insured portion of the loss such as deductibles, and the loss of productivity, etc.
Too often a policyholder is unaware of the many indirect costs of an insurance loss. These include:
- financial loss to the family of an injured worker
- the cost to train an employee to do the work of the injured employee
- loss of productivity
- the overhead expenses during the down time
- the time taken away from other projects
- the time it takes to complete all of the necessary paperwork and discussions with the insurance company adjuster
These costs are taken directly out of profits. A bit of pre-planning with a great insurance agent can be very helpful. Insurance companies provide the most skilled “safety engineers” that help keep businesses and their employees safe! The following blogs suggest ways to eliminate, or at least minimize, many losses. Additionally, coming soon, many of my blogs deal exclusively with Methods to Minimize and Transfer Risks, responsibly.
If you’d like to review your business or personal insurance, please call us at 423-763-1111. We hope to answer your questions and serve you!
