Key Insurance Coverages for Paving / Repaving Professionals · Services Paving / Repaving...

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Key Insurance Coverages for Paving / Repaving Professionals

Health, Property and Casualty Insurance and Risk Management Services

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917-208-9252

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Insurance and Risk Management Services Paving / Repaving Professionals

Delivering Value to our Clients CCI’s focused experience as a boutique

specialty brokerage and risk management consultancy to the Paving / Repaving Professionals has honed our knowledge of our clients’ business.

When it comes to small-business

insurance for pavers and repaving professionals, customization is key. Depending on the size of your outfit, where you operate, and the sorts of projects you specialize in, your risks and business protection needs will vary.

Whether you’re a one-man plumbing

company or a 100-employee paving contractor, we have the expertise to handle all your insurance needs. Our business partners – the companies we do business with – represent centuries of experience in insuring contractors. They include: C.N.A., The Travelers, St. Paul, and many more. Bonding is one of the most crucial elements of some contractor operations. CCI has an affiliation with some of the most respected bonding agencies in the US. Bonding is all they do, and they know their stuff!

In the paving and repaving world, when

things go wrong, they tend to go very wrong. Often, you only have one chance to get a project right, and one error can put you out of business without the proper insurance protection

As a paving contractor, insurance plays a

major role in your bottom line. Needing the right equipment for the job means having equipment that is towed to site, but also a fleet of vehicles as well. It is important to understand the needs and differences between fleet insurance and general liability insurance when dealing with your insurance policies. The experts at CCI can help you through the process to ensure you are getting adequate coverage at the right price.

When choosing your liability limits, be sure to

focus on your maximum exposure to loss. If you are working on city roads or in public spaces, your exposure could be higher than if you are working on residential driveways. We analyze the types of jobs you do to make sure you have adequate limits to cover your business and it's assets in the event of a loss.

Have you ever been explained the difference

between replacement cost and actual cash value on your bobcat? Furthermore, do you have strategies in place to protect your property if it needs to be left overnight at the job site? CCI’s experts pride themselves on knowing your business so that when it comes to protecting your assets, they can not only help with adequate coverage and pricing, but they can also help with loss control strategies to help before the loss occurs. For further information, be sure to review our Creating A Loss Control Program on Page 11 for loss control tips and techniques. Or give us a call at CCI, we would be happy to assist or answer any questions you may have.

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One of the largest exposures you face in your day to operations as a Paver is your vehicles.

They are required to be on the road day after day as a means of getting your equipment to the job site to get the work done. Having competitive fleet insurance allows you to keep more money in your pocket. Did you know the drivers how hire directly affects the pricing of your vehicle insurance? Doing something as simple as requesting a drivers abstract during the interview process can help save headaches and increased costs down the road. Want more information on how to hire a driver? Jump over to our Hiring An Underage Driver on page 12 for tips on hiring strategies.

Have a question? Be sure to give one of our experts a call for a no-obligation review of your

current policy to see if there are places to improve your pavers insurance coverage or your insurance costs.

Here are two reasons to call right now! A small amount of time to review your insurance needs could save you money or help find

places to further protect your business.

Our CCI expert can provide a no-obligation quote rather quickly to help you make sure you

have the best protection for your business.

It's important to realize that not all insurance providers are equipped to deal with the

insurance needs of contractors who do paving or repaving work. That's because not all insurance agents understand the needs of startups and small businesses - not to mention the unique insurance needs of a paving or repaving business. Fortunately, CCI agents are experts in your business insurance and specialize in particular fields, including the paving industry.

Below is a snapshot on the key insurance coverages that paving and repaving professionals

typically need, which include…

General Liability Insurance Property Insurance (Inland Marine Insurance) Commercial Auto Insurance License Bonds / Permit Bonds Workers' Compensation Insurance Umbrella Insurance

Each type of coverage can be adjusted to fit the needs of your growing business and provide

you with an insurance plan to suit the needs of your business.

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General Liability Insurance for Paving and Repaving Professionals

General Liability Insurance is a type of coverage that protects your paving business from

allegations that you or one of your employees caused someone bodily harm or damaged their property. What would be an example of this claim? Here are a few…

While installing a client's new driveway, the client trips over a tool you forgot and breaks a bone.

While working on a residential street, an employee dents a parked car with a piece of equipment.

A dog owner sues after her dog runs over freshly poured concrete, burns her paws, and needs immediate veterinary care.

If you think the last example might be thrown out in court, you might be right - but an

unfounded claim does not stop some people from suing, which will require you, at the very least, to pay for a legal defense. Thankfully, General Liability Insurance will help you pay for court fees, even if they are associated with unmerited claims.

Property Insurance & Inland Marine Insurance for Paving and Repaving Professionals

Every paving or repaving business relies on property to get the job done and Property

Insurance to protect it. In addition to any offices you may rent or own, you probably require a variety of vehicles, heavy machinery, and other tools to complete your paving projects. A regular Property Insurance policy reimburses your businesses for property loss or damage related to common incidents like theft, fire, and wind damage. But since your business works with equipment like loaders, pavers, and conveyor belts, you'll probably require a special kind of Property Insurance policy called Inland Marine Insurance. Inland Marine coverage was originally designed for cargo that was transported from port to port by ship; hence the name. Today, Inland Marine Insurance covers equipment, tools, computers, other supplies, and even data that is being transported via the more modern roadway system. Inland Marine Insurance is a wise investment for businesses that must transport their machinery and equipment on trailers from one construction site to the next. This policy protects the items in transit as well as the trailer you use to haul them.

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Commercial Auto Insurance for Paving and Repaving Professionals

A Commercial Auto Insurance policy is an essential part of any paving and repaving

professional who regularly commutes to your job site. In the event of an auto accident, an uninsured business owner would be forced to absorb the potentially high cost of vehicle repair, medical bills, and lawsuits.

In addition to protecting your vehicles while commuting for a job, Commercial Auto Insurance

can also help protect personal vehicles. If an employee uses his personal car for work purposes and has an accident, your Commercial Auto Insurance policy will make the difference of what his Personal Auto policy doesn't cover.

The main benefit of Commercial Auto Insurance is that it protects you and your employees in

the event that they are responsible for an auto accident. In addition, you may add other types of coverage to suit your business's needs, such as Uninsured Motorist coverage. To find which types of Commercial Auto Insurance coverage best fits your business insurance plan, contact a CCI agent that specializes is the needs of paving and repaving professionals.

License Bonds and Permit Bonds for Paving and Repaving Professionals

As the owner of a paving and repaving business, you are probably familiar with the License

Bonds and Permit Bonds that townships and states require to make sure that projects are completed in accordance with local regulations.

You need these bonds before you can receive a license or permit from federal, state, or

municipal governments because they function as a guarantee from a surety - like an insurance company - that your paving business will follow the local laws - like building codes and safety regulations - as you finish a project.

More specifically, if you were contracted to repave a portion of a town's main roads, you

would probably need to buy the surety bond that would pay the town in the event that you couldn't finish a project or did not finish it in line with proper code. When you enter a License Bond or Permit Bond, you are promising to adhere to all local laws as you work on and finish a paving project. License Bonds and Permit Bonds are different from other kinds of small business insurance because they involve three parties (you, you insurer, and the client) instead of two.

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Workers' Compensation Insurance for Pavers and Repavers

The paving and repaving field is one of the most high-risk work situations in the construction

industry - which makes Workers' Compensation Insurance all the more important. This type of coverage pays for the medical expenses and at least some of the lost wages of employees who suffer from a work-related injury or illness. Workers' Compensation Insurance - also known as "Workman's Comp" - is regulated and often required by state governments. This means that even if you think your paving business doesn't need a certain kind of coverage, you may be required to carry it by law. If you are unsure of your state's laws, a CCI agent can help you sift through the details and help you find the appropriate coverage.

Umbrella Insurance for Paving and Repaving Professionals

In the paving and repaving world, when things go wrong, they tend to go very wrong. Often,

you only have one chance to get a project right, and one error can make your new roadway, for example, unsafe for drivers and in violation of local laws. This means that it might be beneficial for paving and repaving professionals to consider Umbrella Insurance coverage.

Umbrella coverage boosts many of the policies in your existing business protection plan. So

for example, if you carry a General Liability policy with a $1 million limit but are facing a claim worth $1.5 million, your Umbrella policy would kick in to cover what your General Liability does not.

An uninsured paving business would be responsible for making up the difference out of

pocket. And if that business didn't have the money, the business owner would be responsible for making up the different out of his or her personal finances - yikes.

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Employee Benefits for Paving/ Repaving, Construction & Contractors

Insuring Employees of Paving/ Repaving Businesses As your advisor, we focus on your concerns and objectives, whether it is cost containment or

broadening the benefits offering to your employees. CCI understands that due to the unique structure of your business, the needs and requirements of Paving/ Repaving businesses are different from those of other organizations. We have assembled both the expertise and the services to accomplish your business goals.

Using Technology to Manage Healthcare CCI has invested in the best in class technology platforms to help clients manage the

bottom-line of their benefit budget while maintaining the value to participating staff and partners alike. We value our clients and are committed to offering solutions that improve efficiencies and reduce their administrative costs. Our Paving/ Repaving, Construction/ Contracting are provided with interactive tools which deliver real-time legislative, compliance, benchmarking and communication resources which when coupled with our experienced consultants, result in quality programs.

Advising Clients on Complex Issues We view our relationship with your firm as a partnership. With that in mind, we build a

stewardship service model which is designed to keep you informed enabling you to take a managed approach to Benefits with a keen eye on ROI.

Businesses have different reasons for offering employee benefits—to attract and retain the

best talent, to gain a competitive advantage, or to provide business protection.

Group Benefit Expertise • Medical, Dental, Vision and Prescription Drug • Life, Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability • Self Funding and Minimum Premium Funding options • Retirement Programs (401K, Profit Sharing, Money Purchase, Defined Benefit) • Group Long Term Care

Individual Benefit Expertise • Individual Long Term Disability (Up to 75% income replacement) • Higher term limits on Executive Life insurance • Individual Long Term Care policies for executives and family members • Deferred Compensation Retirement Savings Programs • Voluntary programs for Life, Health and Disability

CCI has concentrated benefit capabilities in both Group and Individual core areas, to include:

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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act & How it Will Affect Your

Paving, Contracting, Construction Related Businesses

Abstract: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014 — including substantial penalties for large employers that don’t meet health care coverage requirements. So Paving contractors should start reviewing their workforces and evaluating the health care benefits they’re providing. This article describes what the law considers a “large employer, ”the penalties such employers face if they provide no or inadequate insurance, and the options they might consider. A sidebar looks at the state of government-run health care insurance “exchanges” prescribed under the law.

Preparing for possible health care coverage penalties

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was big news when signed into law in 2010. And the act got its fair share of play this past year, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding most of its provisions and as a hot topic of debate in the presidential election. But you may not have seen it talked about much on the evening news lately.

Don’t let that fool you — it’s just the calm before the storm. Substantial penalties are due to take effect beginning in 2014 for certain employers that don’t meet health care coverage requirements. So contractors should start reviewing their workforces and evaluating the health care benefits they’re providing.

Penalties looming

The penalties in question won’t affect every construction company — just any deemed a “large employer” that doesn’t offer adequate or affordable health care coverage under the law’s definitions. (Your CCI representative can provide more information on these definitions.)

Here’s how it will work: The health care act makes premium tax credits available to employees who fall under specified income requirements and don’t have access to adequate or affordable employer-provided insurance.

If even just one employee of a large employer receives a premium tax credit, and that employer provides at least 95% of full-time employees with coverage that doesn’t qualify as adequate/affordable under the law, a penalty will apply equal to the lesser of $3,000 for each employee receiving the credit or $2,000 for each full-timer beyond the first 30 full-timers.

If the large employer doesn’t provide health care coverage to 95% of full-time employees, the penalty will be $2,000 for each full-timer beyond the first 30 full-timers.

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Workforce review So will your construction company be deemed a large employer? Yes, if it employed 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs) in the preceding calendar year — that means 2013, soon to be 2014. FTEs include full-time employees, defined as those who work 30 or more hours weekly, excluding — and this is key for contractors — seasonal workers employed for fewer than 120 days per year. But the FTE number also takes into account part-time workers. This requires totaling their hours of service for a given calendar month and dividing that figure by 120.

For instance, a construction company with 30 part-timers who average 100 hours per month would have 25 FTEs (30 × 100 = 3,000; 3,000/120 = 25) who must be added to the number of full-timers to determine whether the 50-FTE threshold has been crossed.

Strategic moves Projecting your exposure to the health care act’s penalties now is critical to determining whether you’ll want to make changes to your workforce or benefits coverage. If the coverage you currently offer already meets the act’s adequacy and affordability standards and you plan to offer the same coverage next year, you have nothing to worry about. Likewise, if you don’t have anywhere near 50 FTEs, you needn’t worry about the penalties. But, say your construction company sits on the border of the 50-FTE threshold, and you don’t provide coverage or your coverage doesn’t meet the adequacy or affordability requirements. In this case, you may opt to reduce the size of your staff and start engaging more independent contractors (keeping in mind that the IRS actively pursues employers that it believes have misclassified employees as independent contractors) or using more seasonal workers. If you can’t reasonably reduce your workforce to avoid large-employer classification, you’ ll need to compare the cost of enhancing your health care coverage with the expense of paying the penalties. Bear in mind, health care coverage costs generally are tax-deductible while the penalties aren’t. The health care act requires employers to annually determine whether they’ll be considered a large company for the following year. The good news is that 2014 is a transitional year, for which you generally may use any six-consecutive-month period in 2013 to perform your FTE calculation. So you could choose six months early in the year and then use the rest of 2013 to plan your workforce or coverage adjustments.

An important issue

Health care coverage is no longer an ancillary issue to running a construction company. The health care act has made it an important part of doing business that could bring considerable risk and expense if not monitored carefully.

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Sidebar: The uncertain state of exchanges. Among the most prominent provisions of the Pa-tient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the establishment of government-run “exchanges”— online marketplaces where: Individuals can buy health insurance if they don’t receive adequate/affordable coverage from their employers, and Small businesses can buy a health care plan if they can’t afford to buy on the private market. If you’re thinking that your paving/ construction company may go this route, keep an eye on how the exchanges, all of which are supposed to be established by the end of this year, are coming along. The answer so far: Quite slowly. State governments were meant to establish and run the exchanges. But the federal government agreed to launch and handle them in states that couldn’t (or wouldn’t) set one up. As of this writing, it’s looking like the federal government will be running at least 50% of exchanges nationwide — a much higher percentage than was expected.

Do you KNOW what the Patient Protection And Affordable Healthcare Act says and how it applies to your business? Have you read it? Do you want to? It is thousands of pages long and still changing! And yet – do you NEED to in order to run your business in a national healthcare environment? CCI HAS read it. CCI does understand it and we DO keep up with the constant changes. We KNOW what it means to your business and we will teach it to you in a way you can understand with success. Knowledge isn’t power – the IMPLEMENTATION of knowledge is power. You must not only know what Obamacare SAYS- you must know what to DO about Obamacare. How does this impact your business? What changes do you need to make? Do you just wait and get hit by it and hope for the best? Should you prepare for it?

What changes have to be made to your business? What deadlines have to be met? What

recommendations have been impacted? What reports must now be made? Where do you go? What do you do? That’s what it means to have CCI in your office! We show you HOW to

manage a business through the trials of national healthcare. CCI’s team of Obamacare experts

HAVE read it and DOES understand it. We will teach it to you in a simple and understandable way so that you can have at a glance – the deadlines – the requirements – the changes – the fines and penalties – the restrictions – the benefits – the anticipated coverages and reimbursements – the legal ramifications all from the Law Firm perspective. No where else can you get this. You can be proud that we are putting you at the FRONT of understanding – surviving and THRIVING through this health care storm. This government takeover of health care is unlike anything that health care or our country has ever experienced. Never has cutting edge management been more important than now. Do you WANT to be PREPARED for this health care hurricane? Then be sure to take advantage of our Corporate Care Live & ZYwave systems! Our internal systems will provide you with access to our exclusive Obamacare Survival materials & healthcare management tools.

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Creating A Loss Control Program for Your Paving, Contracting, Construction Related Businesses

Risk Management and Loss Control

Every business owner needs to consider and manage the potential loss exposures that could effect their business. Formulation a plan to identify operations, procedures and conditions that could pose injury to people, damage to property and the environment are an essential part of developing a Loss Control Program. The formulating, implementing and monitoring of the plan is essential to ensure the continuous safe operation of the business.

Loss control considerations

Preparation of a Loss Control Policy, a loss control policy should clearly state the companies

program and goals.

Appoint a Loss Control Coordinator, this staff member is responsible for the development and

implementation of the loss control policy.

Written procedures and training, should be in place and should be clear and comprehensive

to guide staff as they perform their daily duties.

Standards-based programs, where industry standards apply ensure all staff are maintaining

quality control.

Third-party compliance, ensure that policies are in place for all volunteers, contractors and

subcontractors that are working on the companies behalf.

Identifying Hazards, conduct physical inspections, interviewing personnel and review docu-

mentation and contact outside consultants when required.

Loss Analysis, review your losses for possible trends and look at the loss trends for your

industry.

Maintain Records, document your loss control, quality control and maintenance programs this

provides a valuable defense.

Accident/incident investigations and reports, record and maintain reports of all accidents and

incidents. This provides evidence for a legal defense should a lawsuit be launched in the future and provides records for future loss-trending analysis.

The development and implementation of a sound loss control program ensures that your

company is proactively reducing and/or eliminating hazards which ultimately helps to control insurance costs.

Be sure to contact one of our insurance professionals at CCI Insurance to go over how loss control can increase your insurance costs.

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Creating A Loss Control Program for Your Paving, Contracting, Construction Related Businesses

Hiring An Underage Driver To Your Business

CCI Your Fleet Insurance Experts

You have recently gone through a period of growth and your business needs to

add a few new employees to their fleet of vehicles. An outstanding candidate emerges but he/she is under the age of 25. No problem! Don’t let age stand in the way of hiring the right person for the job. Let our experts at CCI help with finding the best place for your drivers insurance.

Thinking about starting the hiring process, give our team a call so we can help

with hiring practices to assure you get the safest, most responsible people for the job. Something as simple as requesting past driving history can save your company time and money when deciding to hire someone new. The best way to protect your assets and your costs are to be proactive in the hiring process. Need help? No Problem, CCI would be happy to help with showing you new strategies to assuring you are hiring safe drivers.

Key Insurance Coverages for Paving / Repaving Professionals · Services Paving / Repaving...

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