Hard Market Blues

As if the recurring shutdowns from COVID-19 weren’t enough of a headache for contractors and other businesses, the recession triggered (or, at a minimum, aggravated) by the economic impact of the virus has hurt numerous projects and supply lines for those that are ongoing. Now, topping that off, the hard market is here. Rates for many lines are building up to double-digit increases even while our income stream is down. There may be work out there for all of us, but it’s becoming harder and harder to squeeze adequate earnings while dealing with the productivity impacts of keeping our workforce safe and healthy. Rising Auto Liability, General Liability, and Work Comp rates are putting pressure on our jobs, and who knows what our property renewals will look like after a hugely destructive start to our Western States wildfire season coupled with an above active Atlantic Hurricane forecast that now, still early, looks to bring more named storms to our shores than we’ve seen in our memories.

To help you think about some of the things you can do to work toward mitigating this insurance cost impact, I spoke with the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) recently and offered some suggestions for you to consider. Take a listen at:

<https://letsgetsurety.org/episode/22-managing-risks-rapidly-changing-insurance-market