All Forum Posts by: Jason Bott

@Will Rodgers what would be considered low risk from 1 person's standpoint would be high risk to another.  That being said, you can tell which tasks are higher risk by comparing the work comp codes.  The states derive the rates for each trade by taking total losses for all employees in that entire state for 1 year, then divide by statewide payroll.  The rates quoted below were pulled today and are charged against every $100 of payroll.

Clerical/office l $0.27

Landscaping  $10.06

Janitorial (site clean up) $5.01

Electrical $4.94

Flooring $13.22

Tiling $15.97

Finish carpentry $13.36

Roofing $55.85

AS you can see, even tasks that seem low risk have a high rate of injury, primarly because health costs are so high.  Hope this helps you make a decision.

@Jesse B. This is kind of like asking for interest rates from all of the banks for the next 12 months without giving any borrower info.  The last 2 years the insurance companies have increased rates on new business or tightened up their guidelines so much they have become uncompetitive in the space. 

That being said, if you can define the type of property you are targeting, you could get a feel for the marketplace.  Define the Property Value, Unit #, Construction, Age, occupancy (Sec 8, Student Senior) and approximate location Urban or Rural, and if this is a buy and hold, or a flip?

Jeremy,  your example is probably worst case scenario, but possible.   Roofs have been a hot  button the last 18 months or so with the insurance carriers .  I just wanted to make sure you didn't assume your costs will be flat if a larger claim is filed.  

Jeremy, the property policy would cover the cost of the roof, but the claim could drive up your future insurance costs, possibly 2x-3x for another 1-3 years depending on how soft or hard the insurance marketplace after the loss.

Jocelyn, if there are no buildings to insure, then it is possible there is only a General Liability policy in place.  $500 does not seem unbelievable, but if he is his own insurance agent, he may have gotten a favor done on his own policy.

I will send you contact in PM

@Sam, Property insurance in FL does suck.  It is so bad that my agency needs to leverage our size in the Midwest so our FL branch can write a small % of property in FL.  For every $10 in premium we write in the Midwestern states, they will allow us to write $1 in FL.  Insurance companies have not figured out how to make $ on Property down there.

1 tip I can give you when trying to get other quotes.  I recommend you track which insurance companies you have approached when calling a new agent.  It's a waste of time for you and the agent to reproach the same market time and time again.  Just call and say "I have Citizens, and I have quotes from A, B & C, do you have any other options?"  This approach will get you your answer much faster than calling 5 agents and asking for quotes.

@Will, can you be more specific what risks you are looking to avoid?  Injury to handyman, liability from bad workmanship, etc.

Do you have a work comp policy that will pick up this uninsured contractor?  If not, this is your greatest exposure. You could be responsible for any injury he incurs while working for you...health bills are not cheap!

Your property and general liability policy will respond to a fire he starts, etc.  when you bring in a GC you are able to push off most of the risk of having claims on your property/business.  This keeps your premiums under control over time.

Darrell, I need to second Landon's warnings.  I was an agent for one of the national insurance companies and those companies put a ton of pressure on the agents to push their Life, annuity and investment products.  They may say it's a good option, and they could be right, but how can you be nonbiased when you can only offer 1% of the products in the marketplace. 

Example, Life insurance commissions range from 40% to 125% of the first years premium.  You can see why advisors can steer business to a particular insurance company.

find an independent financial advisor who is not tied to just a few providers.

Good Luck