Construction Insurance
You build your business. We build your confidence.
You build your business. We build your confidence.
What does it mean to have confidence in your insurance?
Confidence that you have coverage built with your organization’s needs behind you so your business can get ahead.
Confidence that you’re getting a custom policy and great value.
And confidence that you’re working with someone who knows—knows your needs, knows what environmental, occupational, and financial uncertainties can threaten your industry, and knows how to not just cover your loss—but also prevent and minimize it.
Our experience serving a wide range of construction professionals and their unique needs means our approach to finding solutions is more individual and less institutional. We work hard to understand your priorities so we can get you covered on day one and provide year-round value with Day Two Services® that reinforce your risk management efforts. By committing to transparency and demonstrating authenticity, we’re a place that leads with values so value leads.
Learn more about how our values-based approach creates value for you and your business.
Visit our Insights page to read more about construction loss control services.
Making sure you have the most effective insurance plan can be daunting. Not with Higginbotham on your side. With our nationwide network of providers, we’ll find you the best coverage available at a price that makes sense for your needs.
For those just getting started in the construction industry, surety bonds are three-party agreements between a principal (typically a contractor or subcontractor), an obligee and a surety company.
Also commonly known as “general contractor license bonds,” surety bonds are designed to encourage satisfactory performance and compliance with certain laws.
If a negligent contractor or subcontractor causes damage, injury or loss, contractor license bonds can help cover the resulting financial losses, legal costs or other damages.
As a professional contractor, you own important equipment, tools and vehicles that help you perform your work. Commercial property insurance for construction companies is designed to help protect your assets from an unexpected loss. This coverage can also help with the cost of replacing your equipment, tools, inventory and other items stored inside your shop, warehouse, office or other property.
Many states and municipalities require by law that contractors carry general liability (GL), with each state enforcing different standards regarding indemnity and statutes of repose.
However, regardless of where you live, GL is a smart investment for contractors to consider. This insurance can help cover your legal costs from lawsuits your business may face as a result of property damage, advertising injuries or bodily harm. Even if you’re a subcontractor working under an insured general contractor, carrying your own general liability can help ensure you don’t end up with a large, unexpected bill if things go wrong.
Considering the high-risk environments that many construction businesses work in regularly, the likelihood of employees sustaining injuries on job sites is too high to ignore. Designed to help protect your business from the costs of an injury at work, this coverage is designed to help with medical bills and lost wages for the injured employee.
If your business owns trucks or other commercial vehicles, commercial auto insurance is a critical coverage to consider adding to your construction insurance policy. This coverage helps protect against the liabilities and risks involved with driving vehicles for business and can help with restitution after an accident.
Whether you drive a vehicle owned by your business or have employees drive company vehicles as part of your operation, commercial auto could help lessen your financial risk.
This coverage focuses on the environmental risks involved with construction projects. For instance, if you or one of your employees causes a spill or other polluting event, contractors pollution liability could help with the costs of property damage, containment, cleanup, injuries and legal defense.
Also known as “errors and omissions” (E&O) insurance, professional liability can help cover the costs of errors made in rendering professional advice or consulting. Construction professionals can be held legally responsible for subcontractor and other employee mistakes. If you work with subcontractors or hire employees, professional liability can help limit your liability on the job site, potentially saving you from the staggering costs of a lawsuit.
A specialized form of subcontractor insurance, owners and contractors protective (OCP) liability coverage is a stand-alone policy covering property damage and bodily injury caused by an independent contractor hired to work on a job by a property owner. OCP coverage can help pay to repair or replace damaged property and assist with medical bills, settlements, lost wages and more in the aftermath of an injury.
Builders’ risk can help a contractor with the costs of repairing or replacing lost or damaged materials on a job site. This insurance can also cover fixtures and equipment as well as losses sustained from perils such as theft, vandalism and natural disasters.
This project-specific coverage is crucial if you work on projects over $100 million in value or any publicly funded work. Because traditional GL coverage limits often fall short of covering a significant loss on a project of this size, most general contractors add OCIP to bridge the coverage gap. Owner-controlled insurance can help give property owners and construction contractors peace of mind knowing they have added protection against the potential costs of bodily injury or property damage on a job site.
Umbrella insurance coverage is another important consideration for a construction company working on high-value projects. Designed to pick up where general liability insurance ends, umbrella insurance increases total maximum payout limits to better match the actual liability of the job at hand.
Considering the wide range of coverages that make sense for construction business owners, you may want to consider bundling your protections into a commercial package policy or business owners policy.
These specialized business insurance policies combine general liability with commercial property, workers’ compensation and other crucial coverages, often saving you in premium costs.
Safety programs can help control and even lower your insurance costs. Our risk consultants offer safety training to help lower the frequency and severity of accidents, thereby reducing injury claims and improving your loss ratio to minimize hikes in your insurance premiums. We also train in OSHA, so when accidents do happen, you have proper recordkeeping procedures that keep you compliant to avoid fines.
Your Experience Modification Rating (EMR) is used to calculate your workers’ compensation premium by comparing your actual losses to your expected losses based on factors like industry and company size. So, controlling your EMR is key to controlling your insurance cost. Higginbotham will put you in a position of control by reviewing your EMR to help improve accuracy and work to build safety programs to reduce your number of construction claims.
Many construction agreements contain language that can expose you to additional risk that may or may not be insurable. Higginbotham will examine the liability you assume in contracts and advise you on your options to avoid, lessen and transfer liability by recommending changes to contractual language or your insurance policies. Our in-house group, CertCon Services, can also validate your subcontractors’ certificates to help them meet the insurance stipulations in your contracts, saving you from undue liability.
William Blanchard is a Managing Director at Higginbotham, practice leader of our Construction Division, Surety division and co-practice leader of our Real Estate/Habitational specialty practice. William is a commercial broker and consultant with diverse experience in property and casualty. His risk expertise is focused on construction, surety and property insurance for real estate developers. William received a degree in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin. William joined Higginbotham in 1994. Based out of our corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, he leads a team of 30 sales, customer service and marketing representatives responsible for key business insurance accounts.
William is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, fishing and ranching. In his free time, he manages a ranch and is a Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate member.
He also loves spending time with his wife Beth of 30 years, three daughters and his son.
Solid insurance frees you to plan and perfect every project. Start with the right foundation.
