FEATURE
sports car parked nearby. You thought you’ d keep your insurance costs down by just paying a high deductible, but all you’ ve managed to do is sabotage yourself because instead of choosing the right coverage to begin with, you’ re going to be shelling out a good deal of dough, making quite the dent in that project’ s profitability. Insurance experts Scott Cerosky, Principal of World Insurance Associates in Brewster, New York, and Gary Goldman of Gary S. Goldman & Associates shared examples like these with me recently as we were discussing a contractor’ s best practices when it comes to finding the right insurance coverage for your contracting business. As people with decades of experience in the contracting world themselves before entering the realms of insurance and consulting, they’ ve likely heard and seen it all as far as what can truly go sideways when proper coverages are not in place and the worst scenario possible suddenly comes to life. We also contacted Justin Failoni, Partner and Senior Vice President at Acrisure’ s South Division in Miami Lakes, Florida. He shared a similar instance in which a contractor’ s equipment struck a sewer main, resulting in a pollution event.“ While the repair to the sewer main itself was covered under the General Liability( GL) policy, the resulting damage caused by the released sewage was not – since pollution events are typically excluded from standard GL forms,” he says.“ This left the insured facing significant out-of-pocket costs.” Even the best laid plans for a pavement or asphalt project can go awry, and all the experts I contacted agreed that it’ s possible to not be caught flat-footed – or under-insured – when one of those nightmare scenarios suddenly enters the world of the living. In addition to the standard coverages of general liability, workers’ compensation and automobile insurance, Failoni says for niche industries such as asphalt and paving, some tailored options should be considered. Those include:
• Contractor’ s equipment coverage: protects costly machinery such as pavers and rollers from theft or damage.
• Inland marine insurance: covers equipment and materials during transit, which he says is critical for asphalt deliveries.
• Pollution liability: addresses environmental risks from asphalt spills or emissions.
• Builders risk insurance: covers materials and work in progress for new paving projects. In turn, Cerosky tells me that there’ s been a trend in the industry toward greater demands from customers and myriad regulatory bodies that affect the types of coverages a contractor should hold. In addition to the tailored coverage mentioned above, he says the typical triumvirate of general liability, workers comp and auto insurance coverage limits can be increased by purchasing an umbrella policy( purchased in $ 1 million increments) that essentially increases the coverages of all those underlying policies( basically, enjoying the“ umbrella” of higher amounts hovering over them). He also emphasizes the need for each project to have a detailed scope of work.“ It’ s the best thing to defend you in the event of claim,” says Cerosky. He says it’ s critical to make sure that the scope of work is clearly defined – leaning heavily into the
For More Information On This Advertiser Please Visit www. CallAPE. com / e-inquiry
[ 20 ] www. callape. com 1.800.210.5923