Fenn & Fenn Insurance Practice Inc.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Builder’s Risk Insurance

Fenn & Fenn Insurance Practice Inc., is pleased to offer expertise based Builder’s Risk Insurance services through our Keystone Construction Services. If you are looking for dependable advice on your construction project(s) as well as correct insurance placement with broad coverage that meets or exceeds most financial institution and contractual requirements - contact us. Our professionals have worked with the construction industry for many years and are very familiar with the challenges faced by complex projects and contracts. We are well known among leading professional services firms with construction specialty practices.  We understand the special insurance requirements for the differing project delivery methods: stipulated sum, design build, public private partnership, etc. We take great care to marry your project risks to your insurance coverage. 

There is no limit to the size or type of project we can assist you with and our insurance partners are top rated financially by leading rating agencies.  Our experience ranges from less than $1MM to $2BN in project values and from basic Commercial and Residential construction to Energy, including Nuclear Power Plants.  We also have good working knowledge of LEED and Green Building Construction. 

Whether you are an Owner, General Contractor, Trade Contractor or anyone else with a building project, we are very likely your best resource and guide for construction insurance advice and coverage. We have in depth knowledge in OCIP (Owner Controlled Insurance Programmes), CCIP (Contractor Controlled Insurance Programmes), CAR (Construction All Risks) and CEAR (Construction Erection All Risks) insurance programmes. 

We also offer corresponding construction coverages including wrap up liability, environmental impairment liability, contractors’ pollution liability, project specific professional liability, ocean cargo, delay in start up and advanced loss of profits insurance.  Beyond this we also have significant experience with structural defects insurance, efficacy insurance and other specialty coverages.

We will transition your project seamlessly from construction to operational insurance as it draws to completion. 

I hope you will consider Fenn & Fenn Insurance Practice Inc. for your own construction project(s). 

Until next time.

Regards,

Simon J. Fenn, CIP
President. 

Friday, April 04, 2008

2008 CHARACTER COMMUNITY AWARDS

On April 3rd, 2008 Fenn & Fenn Insurance Practice Inc. was honoured as recipient of the Business of Character award by the Character Community Foundation of York Region. Here is the link to the Foundation’s website:

Character Community Foundation of York Region

The Character Attributes with which we are credited are no less than humbling as follows:

Respect: I will treat myself and others with consideration, high regard and dignity.

Responsibility: I will be accountable for my actions, be reliable and keep my commitments.

Honesty: I will be sincere, trustworthy and truthful.

Integrity: I will do what is right and ensure there is no difference between what I say and
what I do.

Compassion: I will do whatever is necessary to heal the hurts of others. I will strive to understand and be sensitive to their feelings.

Courage: I will stand up for my beliefs and principles and face challenges, fear and difficulty with fortitude.

Inclusiveness: I will work to build a community where everyone feels included, empowered and valued for his or her unique contributions.

Fairness: I will treat others in a just, equitable and unbiased manner.

Optimism: I will maintain a positive attitude, look on the brighter side of situations and seek opportunities in the face of adversity.

Perseverance: I will not give up when things get tough. I will stick to my goal and work hard to achieve it, despite obstacles and challenges.

Initiative: I will recognize what needs to be done and do it, without prompting from others.

On behalf of all of us at Fenn & Fenn we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the many other honourees and nominees at the Awards Celebration. It is so very grounding to be honoured among the many of you that have achieved so very much more. Such an honour only infects us with the desire to become even better citizens of York Region.

Thank you to the Character Community Foundation of York Region, the Character Community Foundation Council, Organizing Committee and Selection Committee and also thank you to the Sponsors of this amazing event. Keep up the great work you are doing to make York Region stand out as a.... Character Community!

Until next time.

Simon Fenn

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Understanding the true value of Business Insurance

Insurance is widely regarded as a “necessary evil” and often purchased out of necessity to satisfy the buyer’s client in a business transaction, rather than for protection. It is only when the insured business actually has a claim that the real value of the insurance “relationship” becomes clear.

When purchasing insurance the buyer should take into consideration several factors:

1) The premium/price.
2) The experience of the broker/agent to represent you.
3) The appropriateness of the coverage to protect against the insurable risks faced by the business.
4) The license status and financial stability of the Insurer.

Unfortunately I would guess that 80% of insurance buyers consider item 1 above and rarely take into consideration 2, 3 or 4. Here are some interesting facts from first hand experience:

a) The premium/price is not always what it may appear to be at face value. Please explore it closely and ask your insurance adviser how it may be affected upwards or downwards by features within the policy. This is after all a contract you are considering entering with the Insurer, you should read it and understand it.

b) The broker may place 70% or more household and personal automobile insurance plus coverage on several small businesses. It may not possess the knowledge required to advise you on your business insurance needs. If the broker is a personal friend, what will you do when you have a claim and you discover that your friend really did not put your coverage together properly as he did not understand the business risks you face?

c) Not all insurance policies are the same. Every policy contains conditions, limitations and exclusions that may eliminate or certainly reduce the coverage you feel you may have. Please make sure your insurance adviser explains your coverage to you properly as to how and why it suits your business’s needs.

d) Most insurers have to be either Provincially or Federally Licensed to conduct business in a Province/Canada. In very rare cases exceptions are made where coverage is not otherwise available domestically, subject to strict declaration procedures the broker is required to follow. Most insurers are also usually financially rated by a recognizable Rating Agency, such as A.M. Best Company or Fitch Ratings. It is important to review the insurer rating and if it is anything less than Best BBB+ for example, we suggest you ask more questions about the financial stability of the insurer.

e) If you plan on doing business outside of Canada involving the actual presence of your operations, assets or staff in another Country including the United States, your Canadian Insurer may not be permitted (or admitted) to do business in that State/Country. Usually foreign nations (including the United States) have specific rules and regulations governing insurance and failure to pay attention to these rules can lead to fines and/or imprisonment. Inform your insurance adviser if you intend to expand your operations into a different country so they can inform you appropriately.

There is far more that can be said under each of the subjects discussed here. Hopefully I have said enough to get you thinking about how you go about your insurance purchasing so that the next time you are looking for insurance on your business, you consider coverage, insurer financial stability and service as well as premium/price in your overall decision.

So be careful, the True Value of what you ultimately purchase is not represented by the premium/price you pay. In fact, you could pay a higher premium/price than the lowest proposed premium/price thinking you are getting better value, but in actual fact may be getting far less out of the arrangement.

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope it helps you. 

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

President’s Blog

Hello and welcome to our webpage.  I hope you find everything you need to inform you about us and that you decide to bookmark this page and save it for future reference.  This is my very first BLOG and I am a bit of a novice at it.  I am hopeful the blog, which I will update as often as possible, will give you a unique insight into and understanding of risk, risk management and insurance and the insurance industry.

For the sake of this first BLOG we welcome any feedback you may have on our newly designed webpage.

I only have a brief commentary to presently offer on our the Insurance Industry for now.  Most insurance brokers today will constantly warn you in almost a fear mongering manner that one day the insurance marketplace will once again return to the complex and expensive marketplace it became between 2000 and 2005.  Even I was willing to join this “bandwagon” for a while but my mind is changed. I am not saying we will never see a “hard” market again but unlike many of my peers, I read and keep track of what is going on in my industry and what the statisticians, catastrophe modelers, rating agencies, insurers and reinsurers in particular have to say.  Recently the general tone has been that the current soft insurance market conditions are likely to continue for several years to come with perhaps a small correction towards the end of 2008.  Barring a “perfect storm” type catastrophe scenario, the insurance industry is well capitalized and structured to withstand enormous losses, case in point the continuing soft conditions even following the worst insurance loss year in history after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 after which experts have suggested losses in the area of $100Bn. By comparison 2006 was relatively insignificant and even 2007 a year of wildfires and floods to date has barely approached the 2005 loss levels.

Whilst I do not believe there will be another “hard” marketplace for a while, (historically they do not come about very often), I must offer the suggestion that we introduce a new term and call it a “moderate” marketplace – how original.  I believe as building materials and other costs continue to rise we will in time see a slight correction and stabilization in insurance pricing.  This is normal and the increases that may be applied will seem reasonable to you.  The industry last tried this in 2000 with moderate increases but it did not anticipate the stock market deterioration and tragic World Trade Centre Catastrophe that triggered our most recent and painfully long “hard market”.  

Of course with all things speculative there is never accuracy and precision.  I may be right, I may be wrong.  The best I can suggest to the reader of this BLOG is to always assume a moderate insurance rate increase when setting your budgets and to always seek the advice of your insurance professional well before setting your insurance budget.  At the very least if you budget for an increase and you end up with a reduction, the surplus is positive against your results.  Now as a businessperson like you, that to me is Sensible Business. 

Feel free to contact me directly or to email me if you would like me to write about any subject of interest to you.

Until next time.

Simon Fenn, CIP

President