Masonry Magazine June 1979 Page. 22
PROPERTY/CASUALTY INSURANCE
continued from page 21
damage coverage, and worker's compensation insurance. A little knowledge of how many insurance companies determine rates for these coverages and how they rate contractors could also help you lower your insurance costs in these areas without sacrificing protection. For example, when we are asked to write coverage on the job site, we look rather closely at the contractor's job practices. Does he actively engage in loss prevention programs? Is he finishing his jobs on schedule? Does he have labor problems? The size of his operation will also influence his rate.
Here again, the agent who knows contractors policies can play an important part in protecting the contractors' interests. For example, he should make sure that the contractor has coverage for materials stockpiled at the job site. A contractor who is building houses will often bring large quantities of brick, block, lumber and other materials to the job site prior to starting a job. If catastrophe strikes and the stockpile is wiped out prior to the contractor ever building anything, he'd be in big trouble. Suddenly he may be looking at a penalty clause in his construction contract because he won't be able to make the completion date. He also must scramble to replace his materials.
Job site coverage can ease these worries. But policies usually have set limits for coverage of stockpiled materials at any single job site, and you should work with your agent to determine how much coverage is right for your operation. What is usually recommended is coverage equal to the largest job you have ever performed. If you have stored as much as $250,000 in materials at any given site, you should be buying a policy with a set limit of $250,000 and not $50,000. If a hurricane, or some other catastrophe occurs you could lose the entire stockpile.
What about materials in transit to the job site? The professional agent accustomed to dealing with contractors knows there's a possibility of loss between the time materials leave the supplier's location and the time they arrive at the job site. He's going to make sure you are protected while your materials are in transit, while in temporary storage enroute, and while they are at the job site.
Your agent will also know when to recommend that you buy testing insurance. This is particularly important for contractors in the electrical and plumbing trades. If a contractor installs a heating system in a building, he obviously has to test it to determine whether it is working properly. If during the course of that test he manages to destroy the system and perhaps the building, how will his insurance coverage respond? A professional insurance agent will recommend that in addition to proper liability insurance the contractor doing this type of work should carry testing insurance, so that he will be covered for replacement of the heating system as well as for damage done to the building.
Such coverage is especially important because court rulings concerning losses during testing have not clearly defined the laws governing "care, custody and control." As an example, suppose a contractor conducts a test involving the light switch in a room. He flicks the switch and a fire starts which burns the building to the ground. The question is raised, was the entire building or just the room or just the wall with the light switch on it in his care, custody and control? The courts have ruled all three ways.
Controlling the Cost Of Insurance
The cost of your business insurance should be looked upon as more than just the sum of the cancelled checks made out to your insurance agent. You should be able to
BRIKARIERS
BY GOLDBLATT
Goldblatt offers you three heavy duty brick tongs: the Fuller Brikarier and the Goldblatt standard and tubular tong. Tongs adjust to handle from 6 to 10 bricks or building tile. The Fuller Brikarier comes with a wood handle and lock which opens to unload with one hand. The standard and tubular tong has no-chip end flanges and a straight handle with a curved hand area. Goldblatt brick tongs let one hand do the work of two.
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SPECIALISTS IN THE INSTALLATION OF
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7810 S. Claremont Chicago, III. 60620
(312) PR 8-4300