construction contracts

5 Tips for Garnering Construction Contracts

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According to the Associated General Contractors of America, construction accounts for $887 billion of the gross domestic product in the U.S. This figure represents just how massive the construction industry is, and the construction industry includes over 3,700,000 individual construction businesses. There’s clearly enough construction work to go around, but these businesses are still often in competition with each other, bidding on jobs and fighting to secure contracts. How can a construction company win contracts — and how do you avoid ambiguity in a contract? Read to learn about the essential elements of a construction contract.

Consider Your Bid Carefully

What are the 5 essential elements of a construction contract? The first is simple — always consider your bid carefully before signing a contract. If you receive notification that you are the winning bigger, it’s imperative that you have the details of your bid double-checked by your bookkeeper, foreman, and superintendent before you formally commit to accepting a project.

Visit the Job Site

One of the best ways to gain a thorough understanding of a project is to make a quick visit to the job site. You can dispatch your field superintendent to stake out the area to assess whether any unforeseen conflicts or conditions may complicate your execution of the terms of your bid. Every experienced contractor knows that a job can look much different on paper than it does in person.

Review the Job Schedule

Another important key to success is your ability to stay on schedule per the itinerary in your contract. It’s vital, then, that you review the schedule for the job and ensure that you have the resources necessary to complete it on time. Committing to a schedule that’s not realistic will simply cost you more as you rush to cut corners and complete tasks by the deadline.

Make a Project Checklist

This might seem obvious, but one of the most effective ways to prepare for a contract is to simply make a checklist. This checklist should include a review of all meetings that are scheduled, all insurance and bonding requirements, and a general overview of the scope of the work — such as inclusions and exclusions that should be noted. Making note of these elements can help you approach a contract with confidence.

Verify Project Funding

Lack of appropriate funding is unfortunately a common cause for disputes between clients and contractors. If you are asked to sign a contract, you are entitled to verify that it will be funded as promised. To do so, you should simply ask for verification of funds as a condition of contract completion. Much like contractors insurance, this is a necessary protection that can save you and your company from losses that are avoidable.

About Coastal Oak Insurance Services

At Coastal Oak Insurance Services, we strive to protect your personal and business assets from coast to coast. When you work with us, you’re family. Contact us today at (949) 519-3738 to learn more about how we can provide you with comprehensive and tailored insurance coverage.

fall risks

Addressing Fall Risks in Construction

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If you insure construction companies for CA Workers Compensation and other essential types of coverage, you may have received questions from your clients about the most common job site safety hazards out there. Unfortunately, construction site workers may sometimes be at risk of falling on the job and suffering injuries, which in turn can cost the company and damage its reputation. If your clients are interested in fall prevention techniques, there are several preventative steps they may want to put in place as soon as possible. Take a look at the mitigating steps you can advise your clients to take.

Keep an Eye Out for Potentially Risky Setups on the Construction Site

In order to avoid falls on the job site, it’s important for your clients to know which warning signs to look out for. There are some common yet potentially risky setups that they may want to eliminate or change immediately. Some common setups that could increase the odds of a worker suffering a fall include:

  • Few or no guardrails on site
  • Inadequate inspections of the site
  • Rickety ladders or stairways
  • Shoddy scaffolding at risk of collapsing
  • Improper site setup or improper use of tools on site
  • A messy or disorganized work site or a lack of cleanup crews

Implement Several Guardrails and Other Essential Precautions

Perhaps the most important step your clients can take to address fall risks in their company is to implement essential precautions such as guardrails on all of their construction sites. You may wish to advise your clients to institute:

  • A safety net system, especially at higher levels on the construction site
  • A personal fall arrest system with anchors, lanyards, body harnesses, lifelines and other similar tools
  • A guardrail system set up throughout the construction site to protect exposed areas where workers could be at higher risk of experiencing a fall

Understand the Potential Consequences and Secure Appropriate Insurance

To truly protect themselves financially and legally, it’s critical that your clients secure the appropriate level of insurance coverage for their situation. You may want to walk your clients through the types of coverage they’re legally required to have in their area as well as the additional coverage they can opt into. It may be useful to remind them of the potential consequences of having to deal with an employee’s fall while uninsured. Falls on the work site could potentially result in:

  • Lawsuits and associated compliance and legal fees
  • A damaged company reputation, poor publicity and lowered employee morale
  • Workers’ compensation costs
  • Lost time and productivity on the job following the incident

To avoid costly lawsuits, reputational hits and other professional and legal problems, it’s imperative that your CA Workers Compensation clients take mitigating steps to address the risk of falls on their construction worksites. Although falls may be a relatively common risk in the construction industry, your clients can prevent these types of accidents by immediately taking the key preventative steps outlined above.

About Coastal Oak Insurance Services

Coastal Oak Insurance offers high-quality services and products tailored to your risk management and insurance needs. Leading insurance specialists can help you find business insurance and home, auto and specialty insurance. To learn more, contact us at (949) 519-3738.

framing contractors

Addressing & Preventing Framer Job Risks

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Framing contractors occupy a unique place in the construction industry. After a building’s foundation is completed, framers go to work; the frame is the structure upon which the rest of the building is constructed. The nature of the framer’s role exposes contractors to certain risks, and framing contractors insurance helps protect against those risks. In this guide, we will explore common risks in the framing trades, helping your clients to better manage their risk exposures. This understanding of risks supplements the protection of framing contractors insurance.

Inherent Risks in Framing Construction

According to the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the construction industry is classified as one of the riskiest due to its high volume of workplace injuries and fatalities. As of 2018 figures collected by OSHA, one in every five worker deaths in the U.S. was in construction. This high number puts construction in nearly the same risk category as industries like mining and heavy equipment manufacturing. For those engaged in framing operations, framing contractors insurance serves to provide coverage against many of the common risks on construction sites.

Thousands of workers in framing and general construction are injured each year. Four common hazard areas exist; these hazards are so common to the construction trades that OSHA refers to them as the “Big Four”:

  • Falls
  • Electrocutions
  • Caught-in
  • Struck-by

Framing contractors are often working above ground level, which increases the potential for slip and fall injuries. Electrocutions also occur on a regular basis, especially when construction operations continue during inclement weather or near bodies of water. Equipment, materials, and ground can shift unexpectedly, pinning a worker and leading to injury or death. Finally, the same equipment and materials – heavy tools, vehicles, dimensional lumber, masonry – can fall, striking a worker and causing serious injury or death.

Preventing Workplace Accidents: Tips for Framing Contractors

Framing contractors insurance is a blanket term for the policies available to this essential component of building construction. Insurance options like commercial general liability, commercial auto, and umbrella insurance provide a wide range of coverage against operational and liability risks. Even with these coverages in place, preventing workplace accidents is an important piece of the risk management puzzle.

To help develop safety-oriented workplace conditions and cultures, framing contractors can take several steps:

  • Daily inspection of work areas to identify hazards like loose scaffolding, exposed electrical wires, trip hazards, and damaged or broken equipment.
  • Providing personal protective equipment (PPE) for all workers and mandating its use on the jobsite. PPE may include hardhats, protective handwear and footwear, reflective vests, or insulated coveralls.
  • Conducting daily “safety huddles” with crew members.
  • Implementing reporting tools for workers to note workplace hazards wherever they may be encountered.
  • Training workers on safe workplace practices, use of PPE, and proper use of lifting equipment or other specialized pieces of equipment on the jobsite.

Professional organizations like the National Framers Council (NFC) have launched a program called FrameSAFE which serves to address workplace hazards and to provide resources for framing contractors. Armed with the information, training, and tools to mitigate the chances of a workplace injury or death, framers are able to support the broad protection of framing contractors insurance. Safe workplaces are efficient workplaces, and while no construction site can be made completely free of hazards, adopting a safety-oriented culture can greatly reduce both the severity and frequency of workplace incidents. By understanding and addressing risks in framing, these management strategies help keep workers safer and protect company assets from loss.

About Coastal Oak Insurance Services

At Coastal Oak Insurance Services, we strive to protect your personal and business assets from coast to coast. When you work with us, you’re family. Contact us today at (949) 519-3738 to learn more about how we can provide you with comprehensive and tailored insurance coverage.

HVAC Contractors

What Coverages Do HVAC Contractors Need?

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Heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) contractors are some of the most in-demand construction professionals. Whether temperatures are plummeting in the cooler months or sizzling in the summer heat, HVAC contractors provide essential services in keeping homes and businesses comfortable. This area of the building trades is exposed to significant operational and liability risks, necessitating the robust protection of CA contractor insurance. What insurance coverages do HVAC contractors need to protect their business assets against risks? In this guide, we will explore the answer to that question.

CA Contractor Insurance for HVAC Companies

HVAC contractors work with homeowners and businesses alike. They may also provide installation and maintenance services for new construction and remodeling projects. In any of these scenarios, these contractors face substantial business risks. To protect against those risks, and as the foundation of risk management for HVAC service providers, three primary forms of CA contractor insurance are critical:

  • Commercial general liability insurance – protecting against bodily injury and property damage resulting from an HVAC contractor’s work.
  • Workers’ compensation insurance – if the contractor employs others, this insurance provides financial assistance if a worker were to become injured on the job.
  • Commercial auto insurance – HVAC contractors use vehicles and equipment in their operations. A commercial auto policy protects these vehicles from damage or loss.

Each of these policy types may be required by state licensing agencies or may be needed when entering into contracts with construction firms and business owners.

Do HVAC Contractors Need Surety Bonds?

Some states and customers will require that HVAC contractors carry surety bonds. These bonds help to guarantee the work and workmanship of contractors in compliance with established regulations. In simple terms, surety bonds represent an agreement between contractor and customer that the work will be done right with the appropriate materials and equipment. A surety bond is a form of CA contractor insurance and may be required to obtain an operating license.

Are There Specialty Coverages for HVAC Contractors?

In every part of the construction industry, unique risk exposures are present. For HVAC contractors, standard general liability insurance policies or business owners policies (BOPs) may not be enough to provide full coverage against unusual or unexpected risks. CA contractor insurance offers certain specialized coverages for HVAC contractors, including:

  • Business property and equipment insurance – protects the contractor’s investment of tools and equipment used in operations.
  • Professional liability insurance – some HVAC contractors design and install systems for residential and commercial applications. This specialized insurance provides protection against liability claims expenses, including legal defense, judgements against the contractor, and reputational harm.
  • Umbrella or excess insurance – CA contractor insurance provides robust coverage against a broad range of risk exposures. Sometimes, however, these policies may have limits too low to provide full protection. An umbrella or excess policy extends the limits of insurance, protecting the contractor beyond standard insurance coverage.
  • Inland marine insurance – when contractors transport HVAC equipment and supplies between job sites, a vehicle collision or theft can result in significant losses. Inland marine insurance protects these assets while in transit.

CA contractor insurance providers can help these contractors assess their risks and obtain the specific policy coverages and limits needed to protect business assets. With this valuable insurance in place, HVAC contractors can continue to provide their essential services no matter what the weather brings.

About Coastal Oak Insurance Services

At Coastal Oak Insurance Services, we strive to protect your personal and business assets from coast to coast. When you work with us, you’re family. Contact us today at (949) 519-3738 to learn more about how we can provide you with comprehensive and tailored insurance coverage.