Contractor's Insurance

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Lxnxjxhx

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Any recommendations? My premium doubled from last year.
 

BackInTheHabit

Senior Member
Lxnxjxhx said:
Any recommendations? My premium doubled from last year.

What year in business are you?

Mine doubled the second year of business. That was five years ago. The costs of doing business just kept going up.

Try shopping around. It couldn't hurt.
 

satcom

Senior Member
Lxnxjxhx said:
Any recommendations? My premium doubled from last year.

Last year the liability and comp rates went way up, and some companies will accept business from contractors working with condos and townhouses, where a large ingerase in claims from this group caused the spur in prices, poorly trained employees having more accidents, and building sub standard construction all caused the insurance underwriters to act, we try to avoid this end of the market.
 
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Lxnxjxhx

Guest
What year in business

What year in business

From 2003. It was the same premium until now. One insurance agent said it had more to do with a change in company policy than any different risk profile for me.

You recommend online shopping for this type thing?
Any good links you know of?
 

BackInTheHabit

Senior Member
satcom said:
Last year the liability and comp rates went way up, and some companies will accept business from contractors working with condos and townhouses, where a large ingerase in claims from this group caused the spur in prices, poorly trained employees having more accidents, and building sub standard construction all caused the insurance underwriters to act, we try to avoid this end of the market.

Costs of insurance have put a lot of local businesses out of business. the profit margin on most new homes is only about $200.00 after material, labor , etc.

When copper jumped 500% in 2005 some contractors had to eat it. Most builders in our area tell you "This is the house, this is what we pay." I've seen houses wired for $1.40/ square foot. I never saw anything over $2.00 square foot. There are so many electricians bidding on the few homes they are building now, I would hate to see what the going rate is.

Around here, residential is dead.
 
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Lxnxjxhx

Guest
After I asked my insurance agent for a sworn statement explaining the doubling of my contractor's insurance premium from one year to the next, and also sent to him a cut-and-pasted-from-the-Internet description of "fraud" according to MD law, I got a new insurance quote: 1/3th of the original premium and 1/6 of the doubled amount.

I think it's time I write to the State's Attorney for Maryland about the conduct of this company, and find myself a new insurance company.
 
In CA, I got at least 12 different companies asking to bid my worker's comp and liability. I had been with the same liability broker for 4 years, but put it out for 3 bids. Saved about 20%.

Workers comp could have saved me about 23%, but I would have had to come up with another $3.5K upfront, whereas my existing company wouldn't return my deposit for 2-3 months. I stayed put for the sake of cash flow, and the excellent loss control services they provide (SCIF)
 

aline

Senior Member
Location
Utah
BackInTheHabit said:
Most builders in our area tell you "This is the house, this is what we pay." I've seen houses wired for $1.40/ square foot. I never saw anything over $2.00 square foot.
Electricians should band together and tell builders "This is the house, this is what we charge.":)

Electricians need to quit letting builders dictate their price. The last builder I talked to didn't like the price I gave him to finish wiring the home his electrician didn't finish. I asked why his electrician wasn't finishing the wiring. He told me he went broke and went out of business. I asked him about the electricain he was using before this one. Same thing he went broke and out of business. I said it sounds to me you need to find electricians that charge enought to stay in business so they can continue to wire your homes. He just laughed.

So I guess this guy wanted to tell me how much I should finish the wiring for so I could go broke and out of business too.
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
BackInTheHabit said:
Costs of insurance have put a lot of local businesses out of business. the profit margin on most new homes is only about $200.00 after material, labor , etc.

When copper jumped 500% in 2005 some contractors had to eat it. Most builders in our area tell you "This is the house, this is what we pay." I've seen houses wired for $1.40/ square foot. I never saw anything over $2.00 square foot. There are so many electricians bidding on the few homes they are building now, I would hate to see what the going rate is.

Around here, residential is dead.

The company I was working for in '05 ate every bit of that copper increase. I kept asking my boss why he didn't just raise the price. He said because no one would pay it. That never made sense to me.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
brantmacga said:
The company I was working for in '05 ate every bit of that copper increase. I kept asking my boss why he didn't just raise the price. He said because no one would pay it. That never made sense to me.
That's what's known as a self-fulfilling prophesy.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
Everyone is in the same boat. We have started using more FRP enclosures because of the horrendous cost increases in SS enclosures. Some customers accept the extra costs of the SS stuff, but some want alternatives.

Ironically, the prices of most everything except copper wire and steel has been pretty stable, and in some cases has even gone down (better negotiating and higher volume discounts I suspect).
 

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
brantmacga said:
i wonder if mine's about to go up. i just got slapped with an audit.

Brant your liability insurance rates may even go down after an audit. It all depends on your gross ( they don't care if you make any money).

If you do smaller jobs with higher profit margins your insurance get cheaper because you don't gross as much.

I actually got money back from the insurance company after an audit.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
brantmacga said:
The company I was working for in '05 ate every bit of that copper increase. I kept asking my boss why he didn't just raise the price. He said because no one would pay it. That never made sense to me.

Can I buy some wire from him? :D
 
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