Various Buildings

Property Insurance 101 Part 2

It’s a building, so what’s the problem

It can’t get up and hurt someone, or can it?

When you take out property owners, in addition to the cover for the building, you get cover for your liabilities, for injury to people or damage to other people’s property.

Public liability covers members of the general public, including tenants, visitors and the like and employer’s liability takes care of people you employ, such as, gardeners, handymen and cleaners.

If someone were to trip up on a loose paving stone, or a stair carpet, then they may have a case against you for the injury sustained, private treatment and any loss of earnings. The total could run into tens of thousands of pounds.

The same applies to employees who are injured whilst doing work at your direction and would extend to and the provision of a safe working environment, PPE, scaffolding, cleaning and garden equipment.

Cover also includes damage done to property, for instance if tiles fell of a roof which had not been maintained properly and crashed down on a parked car, god forbid landing on a person.

Public liability cover is included, #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time, whereas employer’s liability is optional, so check carefully.

More on loss of earnings tomorrow.

 

Various Buildings

Types of Property

Property Owners and Landlords take note

One of the simplest package policies on the market is for property owners, sometimes called landlords insurance. Everything you need in one policy. So, what is included and what is left out?

To start with you want to protect the physical structure of the building and this is done by providing cover for a specific range of “perils” such as:

  • Fire
  • Lightning
  • Aircraft
  • Explosion
  • Earthquake
  • Storm or Flood
  • Theft or attempted Theft
  • Impact
  • Escape of Water
  • Riots
  • Malicious Damage

Even with these covers there are exclusions, so it is vital you read the wording in detail #becauseaccidentshappen, to nice people all the time.

Cover is also available for “other” accidental damage, as well as subsidence, ground heave and landslip, but these are usually options, so check the detail.

Standard exclusions include: War, Radioactive contamination, Sonic Bangs, Changes in Water Table, Electronic Risks, Wear and Tear, deterioration, and any gradually operating cause.

Cover can be restricted for unoccupied property, or in the course of renovation, sale or repair.

Land for development can be covered, but for liability only.

More on property owners liabilities, business interruption and legal expenses this week.

Buildings need to be insured at your peril!

Property Owners

Just let me do my job!

Just let me do my job!

They just don’t know, but that’s exactly as it should be.

My job is highly technical, very detailed and requires a lot of thought and consideration for each client with whom we engage. Everything from health and safety, construction and security, to legal liability and international maritime law.

It is the variety of situations that has kept me interested for the last 40 years. Whilst the market place has changed, along with the systems that we use to deliver results for clients, my father who was an insurance representative and latterly a broker, could still pick up a policy wording and understand it. The basic covers haven’t changed much.

Do I expect my clients to understand all of this?

No, I don’t, and that is exactly how it should be. If they did, what would be the point of me?

I’m always happy to explain the detail, educating my clients so they can make informed buying decisions is key to what I do and the advice and guidance that I give.

All that I expect is that they engage with me, open up and tell me everything I need to know, to get the result we both want.

The correct technical solution at the lowest price available.

Its that simple!

Have a great weekend

Just let me do my job!

Trust and insurance

Typewriter

What’s your story?

Storytelling is part of being human!

It’s what we do, and it goes back thousands of years, but have you ever thought about the stories you tell in business?

When we engage with prospective customers, we quite naturally want to tell them everything about our business, what we do, how we differentiate ourselves and why that adds value for our clients. It’s our sales pitch, but it’s often a one-way thing and clients really aren’t that interested. They assume you can do what you say you can do anyway.

What we really should be doing is telling our prospects a story. If we craft our sales story well it adds authenticity and credibility at the same time. If we concentrate on our clients’ problems and how we solve them, it’s far more powerful than a straight-out sales pitch.

We are never going to name clients without their prior approval, but we can talk about the specific problems we found at “a client” and if the story relates to the same sector as the prospect we are talking to, then it will resonate.

Credibility is added, because the prospect now knows you understand the problems in their industry, and you should be able to solve their problems also?

Talk about your client’s problems and the solutions you provide which will bring them added value and peace of mind.

PS: Don’t talk about price, being competitive is a given anyway!

Have a great day.

Typewriter

Typewriter text

 

 

accept understand empower

Fail to understand at your peril!

So, what is and what is not covered?

The first concept to understand about insurance, is that it centres around specific events, called “Perils” such as:

  • Fire
  • Lightning
  • Explosion
  • Earthquake
  • Aircraft
  • Impact
  • Riot and Civil Commotion
  • Storm, Tempest or Flood
  • Escae of water or oil from fixed equipment
  • Collapse of aerials
  • Theft or Attempted Theft
  • Subsidence, Ground Heave or Landslip

 

Even where cover is give including “Other Accidental Damage” or even on an “All Risks Basis” there must be a specific event, leading directly to the damage or loss. This is called the proximate cause.

Cover never includes deterioration over time, because of a lack of maintenance. If your roof gets old and leaky, or an old boiler ceases to function, don’t expect the insurers to pay. It is your responsibility to keep the property in a good condition.

Likewise, any damage caused by a “gradually operating cause” is also excluded, for instance pollution damage over several years from the local steel works.

Fundamental exclusions applying to the whole policy will always include:

  1. War
  2. Radioactive Contamination
  3. Sonic Bangs
  4. Changes in the Water Table
  5. Electronic Risks
  6. Communicable diseases

Want some advice or guidance, give us a call on 029 20 470 375 or email nigel@severnbay.com

accept understand empower

Simple statement

 

Frustrated Customer

Pain is only weakness leaving the body, right?

It’s about your pain and how I can help you move past it, with peace of mind?

I always concentrate on the problems my clients and prospects are facing. What are those problems, how are they impacting their business, and what pain are they causing?

I do this so I can actively look at solutions which might solve those problems. It also means the solution can be tailored to their specific situation. If there are no problems, then I will respectfully bring the conversation to an end and wish them well.

Yesterday I concluded a very large client case, but the cost was very high, and it is NOT a situation I am happy with. The reasons are to do with market conditions and their perception of my client’s business.

So, I have committed to three things:

  1. I will revisit the markets that declined to get detailed information about why.
  2. I will work with the client to identify things we might change to get a better result.
  3. And I will not stop until I have found a better solution, that pleases the client.

When you care about your clients, the work never stops until they are happy. I think that’s #openhonesttransparent and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Have a great week, and remember it’s about your clients, it’s not about you.

Frustrated Customer

Client Pain

Business Directors

You’ve just started a new business, that’s great!

On your accountants, advice you’ve set up a limited company, but do you know the additional responsibilities and consequences of this action?

Well, you’ve just become a director, so it’s absolutely crucial that you check out the government website, as it’s a very serious responsibility with legal consequences.

In setting up a limited company you create a company with a separate legal identity from you as an individual and a by-product is that anyone working in the company, even the directors are employees of it.

Under the Employers Liability compulsory insurance ACT 1969, where there is more than one director, or any other employees or volunteers, unpaid or otherwise, Employers Liability cover must be in place, by law from the minute the company exists.

Penalties include fines of up to £2,500 per day or up to 6 months in jail. It is important to get the correct advice and the right cover in place, on day one.

If there aren’t any manual activities or physical labour, this can be done for a few hundred pounds by arranging a small “Office” policy, which automatically includes this cover along with many others.

If your business does include manual activity then the imperative is even more serious, as there is a real possibility of injury to employees!

Not sure, give us a call 029 20 470 375

Business Directors

Starting a Business

Handshake

Do you understand what you havent got?

It’s the most important thing in business!

Well, that is what I believe, but belief is not universal.

In my world, planning for continuity is the most important aspect of any business, and I really do believe it should have a higher priority.

The reality is that apart from buying insurance most businesses pay little attention to continuity. It’s not their bag. They just want it out of the way, so they can get on with doing their thing and making money.

Clients seldom ask me detailed questions about their cover. I give them an outline explanation supported by full detailed documentation. I’m happy to go into detail and be #openhonesttransparent but they generally just don’t have the time. I truly wish they did.

Clients are unhappy when they are told they can’t claim for something, which has never been insurable and never could be, but they assumed it was.

Good examples are matters of maintenance, like leaky roofs and worn-out boilers, as well as non-damage related business interruption claims, which have been much in the news lately because of the Covid pandemic.

If clients were willing to spend more time understanding their insurances, they would plan better for the things which aren’t insurable, and their businesses would be far more resilient in difficult times.

I can do that that for them, simply and efficiently, just need a pleasant chat.

Nigel Adams

Personal Image

Tel: 029 20 470 375          EM: nigel@severnbay.com

Team talk

Are you up for this?

Occasionally when I meet a client to discuss continuity planning, I am met with a board who have another agenda, but it becomes clear quickly. I either get enthusiastic buy in from the board or just one director has been delegated to deal with it and the remainder can’t get out of the room quick enough.

In these cases, the organisation is often “ticking a box” for a regulator or a customer. They want a continuity plan, because they need to show it to someone else, but they aren’t really interested in its impact within the business and certainly don’t want to waste time, personnel or resources on it.

I will always try to get the organisation to understand why resilience is so important and what my part is in achieving a solid result, so that continuity becomes business as usual within that organisation.

If I can’t, then I will respectfully decline the opportunity, as I will end up doing a bad job, purely because the client doesn’t want to #justkeepgoing and that’s not good for my reputation.

The first step is always policy & programme management, and without enthusiastic buy in from the board, including a desire to achieve enhanced resilience and allocate appropriate resources to the task, the opportunity is lost on day one!

Have a great week.

Board Meeting

Continuity Planning

Ladder to infinity

Just Keep Going

WOW!

£38,000,000 not a bad business at all, how do you do it?

I once worked for a guy who had built a £38,000,000 business, over 20 years. Working late one night at head office I asked him the secret of his success.

The answer was short and pithy; “Just keep going!”

If you stop, or here’s thing, are stopped by someone, an incident or event, then it’s probably all over and you never get the chance to build that successful business. #Justkeepgoing

Business Continuity is just about that, keep going through thick and thin, through challenges and adversity, through good times and bad and critically never going backwards, ever!

There are lots of things that can happen along the way, most of which are not insurable:

  1. Physical damage
  2. Human factors
  3. Competition
  4. Financial
  5. Production
  6. Technology
  7. Supply chain

The list goes on, but if any one of them is affected, it can have an immediate effect on your activity and the income you derive from it.

Business continuity is about planning for those events, so you can immediately activate plans and have response structures in place to prevent the loss of income.

Want to know more, just message me here for FREE no obligation chat

Why wouldn’t you?

Ladder to infinity

Reach for the stars