A major fire or other disaster can leave more than damaged building materials behind. You may also face the high cost of clearing debris before rebuilding can begin. Many builders and property owners expect their builder's risk insurance to cover those expenses....
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Construction And Development
When construction defects impact a high-value property
When it comes to construction and development projects valued in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, defects can cost more than a dent in a project’s bottom line. Depending on the type of defect at issue – and the extent to which it has impacted construction...
The Challenges of Converting Existing Buildings to Residential Units
Real estate development is a potentially lucrative endeavor. Developers acquire unimproved property or unused real estate and make improvements that ultimately generate profits and create useful real property. While development often focuses on unimproved acreage and...
A Changing Landscape: How Rising Judgments and Costs Are Impacting Insurance Coverage Policy Limits
As a business owner, you know all-too-well that the cost of doing business has skyrocketed over the past three years. No matter what industry you are in, the bottom line is that it is going to cost more to complete your projects than it has in the past. Whether due to...
How Do Courts Look at “Professional Services” for Insurance Purposes?
Imagine you are a licensed HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) contractor and you own your own business. You have a great reputation in the community and often work with general contractors on new, ground-up construction projects. You’ve been extremely...
Timing of damage always a critical issue in CGL policy cases
A recent California case examined an issue that is extremely important for many business owners in the area. The basic question presented concerned a Commercial General Liability policy and whether the failure of a retaining wall in 2010 might be covered under a...
Revisiting the 2015 Berkeley deck collapse
In 2015, several Irish exchange students were visiting the University of California, Berkeley, when the deck they were standing on collapsed. Those on the deck fell 40 feet to the concrete surface below, and 6 people were killed in the incident. Tragically, one of the...
How a stop notice helps ensure payment in California construction
If you’re in the construction business long enough, it's almost inevitable that at some point you’ll provide labor, services, materials or equipment to a project, only to be slow-paid or threatened with nonpayment. California construction law includes a procedure that...
Diving into common construction insurance disputes
There’s an old saying that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” While the cliché might initially appear to be accurate, California construction industry contractors and subcontractors know that before ribbons are cut or foundations poured,...
Contractor’s pollution liability policies
As you can tell by previous blog entries on commercial general liability (CGL) and builder’s risk insurance, when it comes to all types of construction projects, there are many different types of coverages to consider when deciding how to mitigate the risks that...