If You Are A Landlord You Need To Make This Change To Your Home Insurance Policy

It’s amazing just how many people in this world are landlords of some type. And most of them are not really in the business of being landlords, they just happened on to it through inheritance, divorce or maybe even a chance investment. But very few occasional landlords have taken the time to cover a hidden liability exposure that comes along with the territory. And the saddest part of all is that the fix is so easy and affordable.

Part of the reason that the small time landlord leaves off this protection is that adding liability coverage for rental dwellings is deceptively easy. All you need to do is call you agent and tell them to add the liability coverage for your rental property to your home insurance policy. And this fix takes care of 95% of the risk. But the other 5% could ruin you.

What needs to be done is to add the personal injury endorsement to your homeowners policy. Many agents will forget this tidbit of knowledge, but the personal injury endorsement adds protection for some intentional or even unintentional acts that can get a landlord in trouble. The most likely of these is wrongful eviction, wrongful entry into or the invasion of the right of private occupancy of a room or dwelling occupied by a lessor. The standard homeowners policy does not include coverage for wrongful eviction and invasion of privacy and even if you extend the liability coverage of your homeowners policy to the location of your rental property, without this endorsement, you won’t have protection for these acts.

The good news is that you can add the personal injury endorsement to your policy by simply calling your agent. And the cost of this protection is rarely more than $25 per year in North Carolina. So if you are a home insurance, homeowners insurance, liability insurance for landlords, NC home insurance quotes online, Charlotte home insurance, Winston Salem home insurance landlord, by all means, call your agent and take care of this coverage gap today.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. If we can help you with your home insurance or your auto insurance, or if you need help with life insurance or business insurance, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com

Construction Insurance in NC – small contractors, don’t forget your work comp insurance

I hear it so often with artisan contractors, they don’t think they need workers compensation insurance because they have too few employees or the general contractor that they work under provides that coverage. While these are reasons that allow them to legally avoid buying a policy, in both cases they leave the artisan contractor’s destiny in the hands of others and may ultimately cost the small contractor his or her business. Here’s the real scoop on workers compensation insurance in North Carolina for small contractors.

It doesn’t matter which area you work in, whether you are hunting for painter insurance, plumbing insurance, lawn care insurance, carpenter insurance, landscaping insurance, grading insurance or even insulation or flooring insurance, you really will do better to always purchase a work comp policy for your small contractor business. Let’s take a look at the three reasons people don’t purchase workers comp insurance for their small business.

Reason #1 - Less than 3 employees. While it is true that in North Carolina, if you have less than 3 employees, then the state will not require you to purchase a workers compensation insurance policy, what is seldom said in the next sentence is that whether or not you buy insurance, you are still on the hook for the claims. The workers compensation insurance policy was created as a compromise. Workers gave up their rights to sue their employers in most cases and the trade off for them was that employers agreed to pay the benefits associated with injuries and sicknesses on the job according to the statutory payouts required by each state. So, as the employer, you will have to pay for your employees job related injuries, sicknesses and time out of work in accordance with the NC workers compensation statutes. If they are permanently disabled or even out of work for several months, these costs could run into the tens of thousands and possibly close your business. Many small contractors are choosing not to buy workers compensation insurance based on their number of employees and this could have a devastating effect on their business.

Reason #2 - It costs too much. Let’s face it, workers comp insurance can be expensive. But if you have an agent that specializes in your type of business, then you will have a much better chance of getting your policy set up in a way that saves you the most money while still protecting you from financial ruin. And really while the short term costs may seem high what is your entire business worth?

Reason #3 - The general contractor covers it. While for some small contractors, this may be true, there are several reasons why this is a poor choice. First of all, if the general contractor were to go out of business, or let their insurance cancel through some error, then you are back on the hook and if the claim is large enough, then there goes your company. Also, if you do work not associated with that contractor then you are back to going bare. Secondly, most general contractors add a large premium to the rate that they are charged to carry you on their policy so you will probably find you are paying more than you should to be covered this way.

In almost every case, it is a better choice for small, artisan construction companies to purchase their own workers compensation insurance policy directly. The risks associated with going bare, or riding on the general contractor’s coat tails are just too high.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping small artisan contractors of all types with their insurance needs. We have special insurance programs designed for carpenters, carpet cleaners, concrete and masonry construction, electricians, flooring installation companies, grading and excavating contractors, guttering and siding installation companies, HVAC companies, landscapers and lawn maintenance companies, painters and plumbers. We work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance buyers. If we can help you with your business insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheContractorsHelper.com.

The source information for this blog article was pulled from information which can be found on line at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com

Electrical Contractors – Don’t forget DOC coverage on your electrician insurance for your trucks

Most electricians did the basic set up work on their electrical contractors’ insurance years ago and few ever revisit the underlying structure of their insurance plan. As a result, there are electrical contractors out there, running around with a huge hole in their insurance policy protection. I call it the DOC trap and you can figure out if you are vulnerable to this problem by asking yourself a few easy questions.

First of all, to understand this problem, you have to understand that your electrician insurance policies cover the named insured on the policy. In many cases that is the name of your corporation or LLC, and if your personal name is not on your business auto insurance policy, then you can’t expect personal protection from that policy.

Here’s the problem. Let’s say you are at a party with a friend, who has had too much to drink. You kindly offer to drive him home but on the way home, you are involved in an accident that is your fault. For this example, let’s say the total damages, including injuries are $250,000. That’s not hard to do with medical costs the way they are these days. Now, if you have a personal auto policy in your name, then you will be protected for your liability in this accident as long as you have liability limits high enough to cover the losses. But suppose you don’t have a personal auto insurance policy because you just drive your company truck all the time. If your electrician auto insurance policy has your corporation as a named insured, then the basic policy will not give you any protection for this accident.

So what is the solution? It’s simple really; you should add DOC coverage to your commercial auto policy. DOC stands for drives other car coverage and this endorsement will add your name to the policy making you a named insured for this excess coverage. This endorsement usually costs less than $200 per year per person and is used to plug a dangerous hole in protection.

So to review, you should consider DOC coverage if the following statements are true.

1. Your electrician insurance policy on your trucks is in a business name and,

2. You don’t have a personal auto policy in your name

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping electrical contractors with their insurance needs. We want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers so that they can make the right decisions for themselves and for their electrician business. If we can help you with your electrician workers compensation insurance, your electrician liability insurance, or any of your other electrical contractor insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at our electrical contractors insurance helper page.

The information in this article was drawn from an article which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com

Plumbers Here’s The Way To Increase Your Business Strategically

Every plumber worth his salt knows that the busiest repair days out there are the holidays. Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and the 4^th of July. Too many people sharing a house and flushing the same toilet over and over again can stress household plumbing systems to the breaking point. But only the savviest plumbers out there understand that this is a chance to increase their business for the rest of the year. Here’s a tip on how to turn these overworked holidays into big bucks for you all year around.

Let’s face it, most homeowners don’t really have a go to plumber until they have a plumbing emergency. Then they call a friend or go looking. If the plumber that they find does a good job for them, well they have your card and your number and they never need to hunt down a plumber again. They have you. But if you miss that opportunity, then you will never get a shot at their business. So how do you use that information and the insider knowledge you have about the busiest plumbing days of the year to your advantage? Here’s how.

First of all, understand that very few people look in the yellow pages any more. They just go to google. Now you can work hard all year around to build up your ranking on google but there are two problems with that approach. First of all, search engine optimization isn’t geographically specific. Second of all, it is hard and takes a long time. But there is a way to get to the top of the search engine world immediately. That is called pay per click advertising. And with your knowledge of just when people will need you, you can bid high on just those days. You can set up your pay per click, called ppc, account so that you bid very high only on the days that people will be looking and desperate. You can also limit who will see your ad to the geographic territory in which you are willing to operate on the holiday. This will put you at the top of the list for the search terms you think are most likely to be used, such as: plumber Raleigh, N.C., or other terms you deem to be most likely to be searched. Also, always put your phone number in the ppc ad. Some people will click through to your site but if you have an ad that tells them you are available on holidays and just call this number, then you can save the click through cost of the ad because some percentage of searchers will just pick up the phone and call you.

Now you are buying the business here just a bit, but you will be able to charge them holiday rates. Let’s face it if you have 25 people in your house and a plumbing leak that is shutting down the party, you don’t care what the plumber charges, you need a solution and fast. Also, if you handle this correctly, you will have made a client for life. And they will have other plumbing repair needs in the future.

Now, last of all, if you have to pay your employees time and a half, or double time to work on holidays, then you need to know one last trick to save you money. Your NC plumbers workers compensation insurance policy does not require you to include the extra holiday pay in the payroll that you declare at audit. So keep good records on your overtime and holiday pay so you don’t pay to much for your workers compensation or your plumbers liability insurance policies, both of which are rated based on payroll.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. We also want all of our commercial insurance clients to be successful businesses. We specialize in the insurance needs of plumbing contractors and work hard to help all of our plumbing company clients become successful. If we can help you with your plumbing insurance needs, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at the plumbing insurance headquarters.

The source information for this article was pulled from information which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

NC Landscapers Insurance – The Bond Is Coming, Now Is The Time To Get Your Ducks In A Row

North Carolina landscaping companies dodged a bullet this year when the general assembly put off the requirement for a surety bond to go with the upcoming landscaper contractors license requirements. But that bullet is going back into the gun for next year and now is the time to take a few simple steps to make sure that you don’t get run out of business in early 2011 because of a regulatory hurdle.

North Carolina Landscaping companies have plenty to worry about in terms of their landscaping insurance needs. They need landscape liability insurance, landscape workers compensation insurance as well as coverage on their trucks and their equipment. But the thing that could bring down the house and close their doors is really the cheapest and least expensive. A landscapers surety bond. And it looks like every NC landscaper will have to have one by January 2011 if current expectations play out. This bond will not be expensive, in fact it should cost no more than $100 per year. But if you are not eligible to get the bond, then you might find yourself unable to operate as a business.

I watched this process play out in NC in 2009 with the newly required irrigation contractors license bond. This bond is required for any firm wishing to use the word irrigation in their name or wishing to perform irrigation installation, repairs or maintenance. In the beginning this bond was relatively easy to obtain, but over time became more and more difficult. In fact, some firms are being put out of business right now because of their inability to obtain this bond. So what lessons can we learn from that process to protect and prepare landscapers for the next bond requirement.

There are several lessons here. The first lesson is to act fast. As soon as you know that the bond is required, get on board and apply for your bond. With the irrigation license bond, we were able to issue about 30 of them in the first month before the bonding companies decided that they needed to order a credit report on the irrigation companies. If you are a landscaping company with marginal credit, you should act quickly when the bond requirement is announced and perhaps you can get your bond issued before the bonding companies realize how many they will be issuing and start asking for credit reports.

Secondly, understand that poor credit will give you trouble with your bond, so work now to clear up any credit problems that you have. Pay off those debts and if you can avoid it, don’t file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy made getting the irrigation bond impossible for some and now has shut down their company. Don’t let that happen to you.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we specialize in helping landscapers all over NC with their insurance policies. If we can help you, or if you have any insurance questions on which you would like a second opinion, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit our landscaper’s web page.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.