How to COPE in an Inflationary Environment

November 28, 2022/in General Business Insurance, News, Video /by Amanda Rogers

Recently, Hartford did a study that showed that 75% of all commercial buildings were underinsured. And of those that were underinsured, they’re at 40% underinsured. That means that if you have a property that’s worth a million dollars, you’re only having it insured for 600,000.

If you have a catastrophe, you’re only going to get paid the 600,000 for the rebuild costs now, and not the million dollars that it’s going to cost to make you whole again. What’s really important for commercial building owners is to understand how the insurance carriers rate your properties and it’s called COPE, C-O-P-E: construction, occupancy, protection, and exposure.

In this blog, we’ll discuss COPE and learn more about it directly from the founder of Competitive Edge Insurance, Brenda Jo Robyn.

What is COPE?

As a commercial building owner, it’s important to understand how your property is being rated for insurance purposes. The four main factors that go into this rating are construction, occupancy, protection, and exposure (COPE).

Construction is how your building is built. Things like the roof, walls, windows, and doors all factor into how well your building can withstand a disaster.

What is the building made of?
What is the age of the building?

All commercial buildings are going to be rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best. So if you have a fire resistant building, that would be a 1. If you had a wood frame building, that would be a 10.

Occupancy is what your building is used for. If you have a lot of people coming in and out of your building, or if you have hazardous materials inside, that will affect your rates.

Who’s in it?
Is it manufacturing? Is it retail?

So if you have a retail store, that would be a low hazard. If you had a chemical plant, that would be a high hazard.

Protection is what you do to protect your building. Things like security systems, sprinklers, and alarm systems can help lower your rates.

What are the protections you have there?
How far away is the fire department?
Do you have a fire hydrant on your block?

So if you have automatic sprinklers, that’s going to give you a better fire rating.

Exposure is how likely your building is to be damaged in a disaster. If you’re in a high-risk area for hurricanes or tornadoes, your rates will be higher than if you’re in a low-risk area.

What is around your building? Fire brush, lakes, potentials for flood?
What is the neighborhood like? Is it in a crime area?

If you’re on a busy street, that’s going to be a high exposure. If you’re in the middle of a field, that’s going to be a low exposure.

All these factors are what carriers take a look at. Understanding COPE can help you make sure you’re getting the best possible rate on your commercial property insurance.

Instability Caused By Inflation

Currently, insurance rates have been increasing and they have also been very unstable for the last year. The instability is being caused by inflation.

Supply Chain Issues

The raw material costs are all over the place. They don’t know how much they’re gonna cost when they get ordered by the contractor. Some can order it a week out and some are being told, “Hey, here’s your bill now, but when it comes in, we’re gonna give you what the real cost is.” Obviously, the sluggish supply chain issues haven’t gone away.

Demand for Skilled Labor

There’s a high demand for skilled labor. Not only are we having people retire, but we don’t have enough people being apprentices and it’s not being able to translate to more people being able to do a job.

Lingering COVID Effect

And lastly, the lingering COVID effect. Unfortunately, during COVID, people were placing insurance on buildings that were only looked at over the internet on your desktop. And what they come to find out later is that the building has not been maintained, that there’s storage of plastics in there and there’s no sprinkler system. So this has all led to an increase of rates.

What Can You Do?

And what can you do? In order to be a building owner that’s gonna continue to make money, you have to control your costs. And how do you do that? You have to make a commitment to do so, and you’re gonna do it by controlling your losses.

Steps to control your costs:

Maintain your buildings
Update the electrical wire, heating, plumbing, roofing
Have good housekeeping
Perform regular safety checks

What is it that’s been able to be implemented in the last three years so that it protects your office building better now than it was three years ago? All these things will go ahead and poise you into a place where the carrier will look at you favorably and give you more credits.

When you are able to show the insurance company that you are in a mode of safety, maintenance, and security, carriers will give you rates that you can live with and you won’t have to pass on to your customers. It’s a win-win for everybody.

A Final Word

All of these things go into how the insurance carrier rates your property and what they’re going to charge you for premiums. As a commercial building owner, it’s important for you to understand how your property is being rated so that you can make sure you’re properly insured. If you have any questions about your commercial property insurance coverage, reach out to us today!

Or if you’re interested in learning more from Brenda Jo, you can check out her other videos including, Why You Need to Audit Your Commercial Property Insurance.

Insurance Requirements for Business Owners

June 12, 2022/in EIDL, General Business Insurance, News /by Amanda Rogers

When it comes to protecting your business, insurance can get tricky. What policies do you need? How can you ensure you’re meeting insurance requirements given by a city, state, or government?

Don’t worry—Here we have Brenda Jo Robyn, Founder of Competitive Edge Insurance, on camera to discuss standard insurance requirements for business owners. Let’s dive in!

Why Do Business Owners Need to Comply with Insurance Requirements?

Business owners are required to have certain insurance.

Most cities, states, and governments fall into the category of asking for insurance requirements, including the SBA and the requirements they have for their EIDL loans that companies have taken out due to COVID or other disasters.

Vendors and service providers follow suit in asking for insurance requirements.

Lastly, as you might imagine, landlords frequently ask for different insurance requirements in their contracts. Anytime real property is part of a professional relationship, these requirements ensue.

What Policies Are Typically Required in Contracts?

Below is a general list of four policies you might see in a contract in terms of insurance requirements.

General Liability

The number one policy that’s required is general liability.

This type of insurance policy protects a third party in the event that there’s a bodily injury or property damage claim to your products or services that you provide for them.

General liability, for example, would also include this scenario: Let’s say you have someone come into your office (you’re either renting a space or the whole building). Then, this someone trips on your carpet and falls as they’re coming in.

General liability would be the number one policy to make sure that you have your requirements buttoned up.

Property Insurance

The next policy would be property insurance. If someone is renting their property to you, they want to ensure that it’s covered in case of a loss.

If you’re a restaurant, for example, you could imagine you’re in someone else’s building. You need to make sure not only that you have the safety elements in place (i.e. fire suppression) but also insurance for the owner of the building, should something happen.

Professional Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance

Professional errors and omission (E&O) insurance come into play when there’s a failure in services or technology that you might be providing. The policy will provide the company with a way to make the client whole after an error that results from this mishap or financial loss occurs.

Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance

Directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance might come into play for a business owner as well.

This type of policy is typically required by investors before they fund, and before becoming a board member. Remember, when you’re working with investors and funding, there’s a contract involved—so you’ll probably see this there.

How to Manage Your Risk as a Business Owner

So, now what do you do? Here comes the risk mitigation part.

A lot of times, you will see that most contracts ask for reasonable requirements—and it only makes sense they should have these protections in place.

We recommend, however, that you keep your eye out for these elements in order to best manage risk.

Outlandish Requirements

There are times, however, that you see outlandish requirements. Brenda Jo reminds us that these need to come up as a big red flag for you. An example of an outlandish requirement would be an unusually high minimum occurrence or aggregate limits or policies that are unrelated to the scope of the contract.

Broad Language in Indemnity Agreements

Look at broad language within the indemnity agreement that works in their favor, and not in yours. Moreover, there is such a thing as being too broad.

Remember, indemnity agreement language should always be reviewed by your attorney.

Unreasonable Required Coverage

This is a big one!

If you’re the party in the contract that the insurance requirements are being imposed upon—in construction, typically the contractor or subcontractor—it’s important to confirm that the required coverage terms are either included in your current insurance program or can be purchased at a reasonable price.

Ideally, you’ve had your broker review the contract before you sign it so that they can let you know what might be remiss in the requirements that are being put in front of you, and what you might need to purchase.

Then, is the purchase of new insurance more than what would be justified for this amount of a contract? For instance, if your contract is $25,000, and you’re required to purchase additional insurance for $5,000, does that make sense? Is this something that you can write out of the contract? Or, do you need to rework your bid?

Then, what level of insurance is necessary for each of the different policies? Do the policies make sense regarding the contract or the scope of work? For any new requirements or endorsements that need to be added, are they reasonable, and are they reasonably priced?

Interested in learning more? Read on to learn about complying with insurance requirements for construction, manufacturing, and tech start-ups.

What Does Workers’ Comp Look Like for Remote Employees?

January 23, 2022/in General Business Insurance, News, Video, Workers' Compensation /by Amanda Rogers

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work is more common than ever, but how does workers’ compensation work for remote employees? How can an injury be proved when the individual is not in a corporate setting? What does workers’ comp look like for remote employees, and what does it cover?

Brenda Jo Robyn, founder of Competitive Edge, joins us on video to answer all of these questions.

Are Employers Required to Provide Workers’ Comp Coverage for Remote Employees?

Yes. Employers are required to provide workers’ comp for all employees, whether they’re in the office, out in the field, or in their homes working.

What Does Workers’ Comp Cover for Remote Employees?

“Workers’ comp covers everything the same across all policies and all carriers,” says Brenda Jo. “What’s different are the rates that are charged based on the payroll, the industry, and the number of employees per class code within that industry.”

All of these elements dictate the rates based on which carrier takes the coverage for the employer.

Interesting to note is the new class code that was created when remote work skyrocketed. In California, a new class code was created for telecommuting. With this new class code, you have to be at home working or in a remote workplace 50% of the time or more.

If you are coming into the office for work, you will still be considered an office employee; otherwise, you’ll be in the new class code at a very inexpensive rate. Regardless, all employees will still be covered.

How Can Employers Prevent Claims From Being Made?

It’s tricky. “It’s been a really difficult thing for employers to make sure that all of their employees are set up ergonomically for remote work,” says Brenda Jo.

Setting up ergonomically includes:

Ensuring cords are not in the way of tripping
Identifying where remote employees are sitting
Identifying how remote employees are sitting (as to not strain their necks, etc.)
And more

Some employers have hired ergonomic consultants who help remote employees set up their workplace correctly, in an attempt to avoid workers’ compensation claims.

How Can Remote Employees Make Workers’ Compensation Claims?

Things get tricky when it comes to a claim made at an individual’s house or a local cafe, for example.

Let’s say a remote employee is working at a Starbucks when they slip, fall, and get injured. Brenda Jo tells us it’s going to be hard to see where that claim will fall.

“There’ll be a lot more investigation depending on how severe the injury really ends up being,” says Brenda Jo. “You can make that claim [as a remote employee], valid or not. Then it’s up to the carrier to decide whether the claim is valid through their inspections, investigations, as well as doctor’s reports, etc.” In some cases, it might include an applicant attorney getting involved.

Read on to learn more about what to expect this year from workers’ compensation policy renewals.

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