Tag: insurance

Construction Business Owner, May 2008

As many of us in the construction industry, I was fortunate to learn the business from the ground up. Growing up on a farm in central Virginia, I had been running equipment of some sort since I was twelve years old, so naturally becoming an operator was my calling.

While I was working in Kansas City, MO, in the mid-1980s I jumped off my 4100 onto a patch of ice and, you can guess the rest of the story. I ended up with a bulge at the L4-L5 vertebrae.  I was lucky enough to work for a contractor who, even in the 1980s, had a strong return-to-work program. During the four weeks I was in therapy, the contractor had me come into the office and do paperwork, help in the bidding process by calling subcontractors and suppliers and perform various other duties.

Construction Business Owner, May 2008

Editor's Note: This is the first article in a three-part series about commercial auto insurance.

As a business owner, your vehicles are the backbone that keeps your business up and running.  Just like you would never go on a job without the tools of your trade, you should never drive your business vehicles without the right insurance coverage.

Construction Business Owner, March 2008

Is the high cost of providing health benefits for your employees getting you, and your company, down? Have you already tried everything you can think of, including cost sharing, cost shifting, managed care, risk-rating and cash-based rebates or incentives, with little or no slowing in the exponential rise in costs? If so, then you may have decided that there’s nothing else to be done except to decrease or eliminate health benefits for your workers and hope you’ll be able to deal with the fallout from disgruntled workers. Don’t give up hope yet. There is one thing you may not have considered—a strategy which has proven to be the bottom-line savior for many companies and organizations—helping your employees reduce their health risks and become healthier.

With fewer construction companies competing for work in a still healthy construction market, opportunities to expand market share are within reach for some. The problem for many contractors, however, is they cannot take on larger projects unless they increase their bonding capacity. Unfortunately, as a result of losses in recent years, sureties have gone back to the basics in bond underwriting: A contractor has to earn the bond line, and earn it every year.

If you gave more thought to buying your last pickup truck than you did to choosing your current business insurance policy, you're not alone.

Construction Business Owner, August 2007 

At the start of every construction project, owners, contractors and surety companies all share the same goal: finishing the project on time and on budget. An owner wants the project completed correctly, on time, within budget and without liens. The contractor is looking to complete the work on schedule without defect, receive payment for his/her work and make a reasonable profit. The surety relies upon the contractor to complete the contract on time, without defect and to pay all labor, subcontractor and supplier expenses. Logically, the goal of all parties is the successful completion of the project.

Construction Business Owner, August 2007 

As the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the Gulf Coast remains engaged in the most ambitious rebuilding effort in U.S. history.

Construction Business Owner, August 2007 

Amidst the turbulent waters of organizational risk management lurks the necessary, yet often challenging, expanse of workers' compensation. In some states, a government-run bureau of workers' compensation is the insurance agency through which all workplace injuries are processed. These states are referred to as "monopolistic." In the majority of states across the country, however, employers shop the insurance market for rates and service.

Construction Business Owner, August 2007

Safety training material for cranes, aerial lifts and other equipment is constantly evolving to better meet the needs of the construction industry. Through the power of the Internet, new online methods make it easier to access this information. Online safety training courses give companies instant access to top-quality safety material from any point of the globe.

Construction Business Owner, July 2007 

Almost half of today's non-residential (single-family) construction takes place in the public sector where contract surety bonds are required by law as a way to protect taxpayer dollars. In addition, more and more private project owners or their lenders are stipulating bonding requirements on their construction projects. Prime contractors are also more frequently requiring subcontractors to obtain bonds.