The Expert Podcast

With insurance policies for contractors. We're starting to see. We're different types of specialized work requires different types of insurance at general contractor insurance policy I may not cover for some specialized work maybe with artistic work like marble or high-end woodwork or maybe even things that are more structural. One of the things we're finding that. specialized work creates additional risk and exposure that may not be.

contemplated under a more general professional liability policy Even your bond may have exclusions for certain types of specialized work. So if you are a contractor or builder or some other construction industry professional, and you're branching out into some type of specialized, contracts projects. You might want to check with your insurance broker to make sure that your overall general policy still covers those types of activities. you might think that a broad policy covers pretty much everything. But it's actually a lot of times the other way around you want deeper coverage in an area that's more specific.

We worked with a client that did a lot of marble work and they were installing started out with countertops, right Granite and marble countertops. And at some point. They had clients that want to do more artistic work and they really liked it They had the, the equipment for it They had the, the materials handling devices and also the grinding,

equipment to cut. and shape the marble to certain, configurations And instead of just a horizontal countertop they were starting to do vertical walls and building fireplaces and building. outdoor, landscape items we'll come to find out that requires a little more engineering You might have to put support braces or maybe even small rebar pieces to hold it together. And at one point. One of the projects they worked on actually collapsed and it did some damage Luckily didn't hurt anybody, but a collapsed to the side.

and damaged some water lines at damaged, some exterior structure of the house. And it turns out it wasn't anything the contractor had done wrong They had done everything right There was some water erosion underneath. this piece of of art it was put on the yard. The problem is since they did not have coverage for that type of work. Their insurance didn't pay it even for the defense.

And…this is something you want to look at If you start branching out into different areas. Review your coverage to make sure what you have is going to be sufficient to ensure that you're not going to have gaps in coverage and have exposure that won't be paid for. If you have a loss.