Insurance Services for Remodeling Businesses DC

When it comes to insurance, remodelers have fewer options than ever before. Insurance companies that haven't withdrawn from the market have hiked their premiums across the board.

This has prompted many remodelers to pare their coverage to the skimpiest minimums needed to get them on a jobsite. But cutting corners on insurance can be a costly mistake. “Underinsured remodelers are one major incident away from being on the streets,” warns Mark Kinsey, a partner at PKG Insurance in Doylestown, Pa. He notes that high-end remodelers are especially vulnerable when they don't carry a builder's risk policy and don't have enough general liability insurance to protect themselves in the event of a lawsuit.

Even remodelers who buy all the insurance available in all the right amounts (see “Insurance at a Glance,” below) may not be completely lawsuit-proof, because they lack errors and omissions insurance.

“Most contractors can't get professional liability insurance — it simply doesn't exist for contractors,” says Frederick J. Fisher, CEO of E.L.M. Insurance Brokers, an insurance wholesaler in El Segundo, Calif. He notes that unless remodelers have a licensed architect or a licensed engineer on staff, they can't buy coverage. This leaves remodelers vulnerable to design-error–related lawsuits.

Fisher says that commercial professional liability is more readily available than residential. “The issue is that defects in residential cases — people's homes — get real personal, real f

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