PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- Evaluate existing insurance policies in order to determine what coverage may be applicable to a claim
- Research, detail, and substantiate damage to buildings and contents and any additional expenses
- Evaluate business interruption losses and extra expense claims for businesses
- Determine values for settling covered damages
- Prepare, document and support the claim on behalf of the insured
- Negotiate a settlement with the insurance company on behalf of an insured
- Re-open a claim and negotiate for more money if a discrepancy is found after the claim has been settled
ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
BUILDERS RISK & CONSTRUCTION DELAY
Builders risk and construction delay can affect your project in many different ways. Most construction and building projects are an insurance risk for a standard policy since there a lot of unexpected events and issues that can take place during construction. That means a specific type of insurance is needed called a builders risk or construction delay policy. This covers the insured for damage during construction or other unforeseen issues that arise outside of the normal coverage area. Construction delay will also be a unique issue as delays can result from damage and other untimely events.
Some exclusions that can be in a policy include workmanship exclusions or faulty workmanship, design exclusions, latent defects or inherent vice exclusions. Most of the builders risk exclusions are the same type as those found in regular building polices. The parties involved can add endorsements to cover specific issues they may feel the project will encounter.
It can be difficult to determine what the amount of insurance needed to cover the building since values can change during the construction process. You may see some different forms like:
- A Completed Value Form is for the full value of the building, this is the policy limit. No further changes are needed unless a major design change happens.
- A Reporting Form relies on the insured to completed statements of the progress of the project on a monthly basis this can be risky if the insured forgets to report and incurs a penalty.
- A Builders Risk Form doesn’t take into account any increase in the amount of insurance. Meaning you have to increase the amount of insurance if needed by endorsement.
Policy holders should get agreements upfront and in writing following a loss to provide a paper trail should a disagreement regarding expenses happen.
APPRAISAL & MEDIATION
You as the home or business owner have the right to dispute a claim even though you may not be notified by the insurance agency of this power. When this instance occurs you may be able to invoke the appraisal clause within your policy, providing you have that clause in your policy.
Some of the language you may find in your appraisal clause is:
If you and we fail to agree on the amount of loss, either may demand an appraisal of the loss. In this event, each party will choose a competent appraiser within 20 days after receiving a written request from the other. The two appraisers will choose an Appraisal Umpire. If they cannot agree upon an Appraisal Umpire within 15 days, you or we may request that the choice be made by a judge of a court of record in the state where the “residence premises” is located. The appraisers will separately set the amount of loss. If the appraisers submit an agreement to us, the amount agreed upon will be the amount of loss. If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the Appraisal Umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will set the amount of loss.
Each party will:
a. pay its own appraiser, and
b. Bear the other expenses of the appraisal and umpire equally
You can choose to mediate instead of invoking the appraisal clause which is binding and more costly. Mediation may not solve your claim issue but you will at least know what the other sides point of view is which will help if you decide to proceed with an appraisal.
PRE LOSS PLANNING
Pre loss planning helps you recovery faster from damage or a loss. This type of planning can be very helpful should a loss occur because you will already be prepared with all the correct documentation that the insurance agency will need.
This helps your claim move faster as all the documentation is ready and you have a record of what has happened on the insured property up until the point of the loss. Keep in mind that during a loss you will have your time stretched and already having all the proper documentation prepared will help you recover from your loss faster and should result in less issues from the insurance agency.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Risk management assessments are helpful in understanding the risks and perils that a property or organization can suffer from. This in turn helps you decide what coverage you need in your policy. This is an important part of any business or organization right up there with marketing, sales, and product development.