Broke: The Broken Contractor's Insurance System and How to Fix It

The system is broken: Construction CEOs are buying contractor's insurance based on the lowest premium, and the ""savings"" are costing them a fortune: up to $20 lost for every claim dollar spent. The status quo can break a growing company, because brokers get paid their commission, whether or not they help prevent claims, manage risks or improves safety -- and in most cases, they don't. Contractors can go broke: driven into bankruptcy by hidden exposures and insurance loopholes that leave them blind-sided to their biggest risks. Construction Risk Advisor Robert Phelan deconstructs the broken system with common-sense ideas to fix it: ways to help prevent the high cost of low-priced coverage and keep contractors from the dangers that can bring down their business.

Robert Phelan, ARM is CEO of Litchfield Insurance Group and its subsidiary Construction Risk Advisors and a 30-year veteran of the insurance business. He brought the industry-leading Risk Reduction Approach to the construction community and developed forward-edge workers compensation loss-control and claim-litigation strategies for contractors. A graduate of Tufts University, Mr. Phelan is an expert in all types of Alternative Risk Transfer and Alternative Financing. In 2009 he was names a Construction Power Broker by Risk & Insurance magazine.