Save 11 Percent on Workers Compensation Insurance

A great opportunity to invite companies to consider the benefits of joining the HBA

By Jeff DeHaan, Montgomery and Graham (CPCU)

SAIF Corporation announced that the discount for HBA members insured in the HBA group program would be 11 percent until July 1, 2012. The discount for HBA members who qualify is almost the highest it has been in over 10 years.

This is an outstanding opportunity for current members to invite a wide variety of businesses to consider joining the HBA. In the case of businesses with even a modest number of employees, the discount on insurance costs could easily cover the cost of joining the HBA.

Here are the requirements to receive the discount (SAIF Corporation underwriters have judgment authority to add the HBA group discount):

• Must have an annual standard premium greater than $2,500
• Must be a member in good standing with the HBA (dues paid current)
• Must have a record of worker safety

Listed below are the classes of business that qualify for the 11 percent discount if they are members of the HBA. Use this list to stimulate your thinking about who YOU could invite to join.

• Landscape Gardening
• Carpentry Shop
• Overhead Door Installer
• Fireplace Construction
• Plumbing
• Automatic Sprinkler Installation
• Electrical Wiring
• Concrete Construction
• Concrete Work/Private Residence Concrete Flatwork
• Swimming Pool Construction
• Tile/Stone/Mosaic/Terrazzo Carpentry/Industrial
• Carpentry/Finish Cabinetry
• Drywall Installation
• Glazier-Away from Shop
• Painting
• Carpet/Floor Layers
• Insulation Work
• Asphalt Laying
• AC/Heat/Refrigeration
• Roofing -all types
• Excavation
• Sewer Construction
• Fence Erection
• Burglar Alarm
• Building Material Dealer
• Surveyor -Architect
• Estimator/Outside Sales
• Appliance-House
• Electrical Install

If you would like to refer a business that fits one of the classes below to Montgomery & Graham, we will perform a free written analysis to determine how much the business would save in premium by joining the HBA. There is no obligation for this analysis, and the prospective member could keep their current insurance agent and make the final decision to join the HBA based on the amount of the projected insurance premium savings.For more information, contact me at 971-327-5793 or jdehaan@mg-pc.com

HBA Endorses Montgomery & Graham

Dave Nielsen,

Chief Executive Officer
HBA of Metro Portland, Oregon

Our partnership with Montgomery & Graham has proven to be one of the best and most valuable business benefits for the members of the HBA. In fact, in 2008 the partnership won a National Association Excellence Award for “Best Service Delivered to Members”!

As a Broker agency, Montgomery & Graham is able to research across multiple product lines and find our members the best product to meet their needs and still maximize value. In addition, they have access to some exclusive insurance programs that provide substantial discounts that are only available to HBA members. Workers Comp, Medical, Dental and Construction insurances have especially attractive programs and discounts which can provide savings that can exceed the cost of HBA membership.
Not only do our members save money by using Montgomery & Graham to meet their need for insurance products, they are also supporting the industry and the local HBA. As the HBA and Montgomery & Graham participate in joint marketing, Montgomery & Graham is able to support the HBA thru substantial marketing fees and participation in and sponsorship of various HBA events throughout the year. These revenues help support HBA and provide us with additional resources to serve our members and protect, promote and advance the industry.

We have been in partnership with Montgomery & Graham for several years now; they understand our members’ needs and the issues that contractors face on a daily basis as it relates to insurances. We are proud to be in partnership with them to offer our members a wide array of quality insurance products.

Hiring a Contractor? The Cheapest Price Might be the Wrong Price

Got a bid with a price that's lower than the others? You want to do the project, but the prices are too high? Someone you know get laid-off recently and you want to help them out and have them do some construction work for you?

Here are a few examples of why you might want to dig deeper:

• A homeowner hired a firm to trim some tall trees. The owner of the business said he had insurance and even showed some insurance "paperwork". The first day of the trimming a workman fell and really got hurt. He ended up suing the homeowner and the judge determined that because the tree service had no insurance that the homeowner was considered the employer of the injured worker. This claim cost the homeowner over $25,000 and was not covered by the home-owner's insurance policy.
• An uninsured painting contractor fell while painting a house in Portland. The broken elbow cost $18,000 in medical bills. The painting contractor was poor, had no health insurance, no workers compensation insurance, and no license. His initial price was real good though. However, under threat of lawsuit, the homeowner and her family ended up paying for the partially completed paint job and the $18,000 medical bills.

• Click on the picture on the right to see a sample of what a "Certificate of Insurance" looks like for our client and HBA member Baltzell Sheet Metal. This certificate of insurance is issued by an insurance agency to the "Certificate Holder". You can request one of these certificates from your contractor and it will tell you a great deal about the coverages that they have in place. If you have any questions about the validity of the insurance they say they have, get your certificate directly from their insurance agency.
  
  There is a lot going on with this form. It is beyond the scope of this blog to go into all of it. But, the owner of a project should review this form and if anything looks strange--they should ask about it.

In addition to reviewing a certificate of insurance, take a minute to go to the state website to check on the license and bonding status (and insurance too) of your prospective contractor.

In Oregon go to: www.oregon.gov/ccb and click on contractor search.

In Washington go to: http://www.lni.wa.gov/tradeslicensing/contractors/

A licensed contractor has insurance and has a bond of the required amount. The insurance will cover an accident. The bonding is meant to cover a dispute that is awarded in your favor if the contractor does not come through with the fix, the bond will provide the money to hire another contractor.

Again, it is a little more complicated than that, but you can learn a lot more at the state websites.
In short, when you hire a contractor, the lowest bid might in fact be the best bid--just make sure that it is.

--Jeff DeHaan, CPCU 971-327-5793
Montgomery & Graham Property & CasualtyHere is an article on Angie's List Website that you might find interesting:

http://magazine.angieslist.com/articles/2009/september/national/contractor-licensing.aspx


NOTE: Our client Baltzell Sheet Metal is Oregon's oldest rain gutter contractor. Call Gus for all your gutter needs at 503-698-5049. They've got good insurance!

Surplus Lines Insurance

What’s the deal with “surplus lines” insurance?
By Jeff DeHaan, Montgomery and Graham
For many contractors, liability insurance continues to be expensive and, in some cases, difficult to obtain. Our agency has insured a number of contractors who were cancelled by their previous “admitted” insurance companies. It seems like there is a second wave of insurance turmoil in the marketplace as even artisan contractors are being hauled into construction defect claims and insurance companies are pulling back in Oregon and Washington.

Almost every contractor that works on the “envelop” of buildings is being forced to buy insurance in the “non-admitted” marketplace of insurance companies, also known as “Surplus Lines.”

By law, your insurance agent must first attempt to place your coverage with a licensed insurance company. If unable to find a licensed company willing to accept the risk, only then can the agent turn to a surplus lines company. Surplus lines insurance companies are not regulated by the state. If the insurance company goes out of business, the State Insurance Guarantee Association will not cover any claims filed under the policy.

Surplus lines insurance contracts are more flexible than the policies of admitted companies. This means there can be greater restrictions placed on the policy, and some claim situations that an admitted policy will respond to will be excluded in a surplus lines policy.

There are times when the extra exclusions and restrictions in a surplus lines policy can make a very real difference in whether a claim will be paid. Our agency recently reviewed a general liability policy for an HBA homebuilder member that had multiple restrictive endorsements and exclusions that made me wonder if the company had any coverage at all.

Many HBA members have been dealing with surplus lines insurance for many years. Others are just being forced into that situation. The key is to have a long talk with your agent about what the surplus lines market means to your company and to be extra diligent about really understanding your insurance policies.

If you want more information, contact Jeff DeHaan, President of Montgomery & Graham Property & Casualty, at jdehaan@mg-pc.com or at 971-327-5793. M&G is an exclusive Benefits Partner of the HBA of Metropolitan Portland

Worker Leasing

Considering Leasing Your Workers? It’s Complicated.
By Jeff DeHaan, CPCU
Increasingly, business owners are looking to staffing and Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) to provide the workers for their companies. There are 131 PEOs in Oregon and there are at least 700 operating in the United States. Almost 2 million Americans go to work each day for a staffing firm.

Leasing your workers creates insurance contract issues that need attention. The first issue is distinguishing between a PEO and temporary employment. A temporary employee is replacing an absent worker or is hired to fill a professional or seasonal shortage for a limited period of time. Usually, workers compensation and other insurance issues are handled by the temporary agency.

If you lease workers through a PEO, however, much different insurance issues can arise. In the area of workers compensation insurance, the coverage can be provided by the PEO or by the client of the PEO. Often, the workers compensation insurance might be less expensive if purchased by the client. In addition, the calculation of experience modification factors and the following of claims can be simpler if the client company is insuring the workers compensation risk.

In addition, the client company should take steps to protect its self if it decides to lease employees and have the PEO handle the workers compensation insurance. The workers compensation insurance carried by the PEO needs to be properly endorsed so that the client company is protected. The client company should attempt to have the employee exclusion revised or removed from it’s own General Liability insurance just in case they are sued as a “third party” by a leased worker.

Oregon PEOs must be licensed by the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS). HBA members considering worker leasing are encouraged to visit the DCBS web pages devoted to this topic at http://www.wcd.oregon.gov/. There is a lot of helpful information and a list of the licensed PEOs that are permitted to do business.

Montgomery & Graham is the endorsed agency for the HBA of Metropolitan Portland. We have a great deal of expertise in the area of proper risk management in employee leasing arrangements. There is also a discount offered by SAIF Corporation the dominant workers compensation insurance carrier in Oregon exclusively for members of the HBA. Currently that discount is 9 per cent in addition to all other credits and discounts that can be applied to a policy. Please contact Jeff DeHaan at jdehaan@mg-pc.com or by phone at 971-327-5793 if you have any questions