Property Insurance; Agents and Brokers to experience Boost in Building Coverage

Between now and 2013, experts have predicted that agents and brokers may experience an increasing clients demand for building insurance coverage. This projection is hinged on the fact that standard commercial property insurance policies typically do not cover many aspects of green properties, companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint usually face unique insurance requirements.
Whether a company has a green building or would like to take the necessary steps to renew their current business, agents and brokers should counsel their clients to purchase building insurance coverage. To determine the right level of insurance coverage for a property, the first step is to work with clients to place an appropriate value on their buildings. Agents and brokers should align themselves with an insurance company that both performs onsite engineering visits and offers insight on the valuation analysis to assist them with arriving at an accurate assessment for their clients.
Green features that are common with commercial property insurance policy vary from property to property. However the common ones among them are as follows. One of the commonest features in building insurance is the tendency for a recycling especially in a rebuilding process. For companies that want to reduce the amount of materials that end up in local landfills, it is expedient to look for a green policy endorsement that will pay the additional cost to recycle debris, up to the limit of liability, in the event of a covered loss. For example, during a company's construction project, the contractors may use five dumpsters to separate the various types of waste and send, say 80 percent of the materials back to recycling plants and manufacturers for reuse. The expense of the extra dumpsters, material sorting, and hauling to separate disposal sites may not be covered by a standard commercial property policy.
Another area is building codes. Securing appropriate building codes coverage as an endorsement to a standard property policy or as part of green insurance coverage will help reimburse companies for the costs incurred to rebuild the damaged portion of the covered property to any newly instituted standards. Without this endorsement, a client can be left paying out-of-pocket for new building code compliance that requires construction beyond the scope of the original property.
It is important to note that there could be business interruptions along the line. A few policies or endorsements allow the insured a longer restoration period to procure and/or install green materials. Some may also provide coverage to capture a company's full revenue stream from both primary operations to any alternative energy operation. Extra expense can be a very valuable coverage feature in helping to restore operations if income streams are more complex due to the greening of the business.
Under a standard property policy, some property insurance have been enlarged to provide for more appropriate coverage for some specialized kind of roofing, especially under the present dispensation where foreign roof types are finding ways into Nigeria.
It is vital that clients with certified buildings have policy endorsements in place to ensure coverage of the re commissioning and recertifying fees that are necessary to bring a building back up to its pre-loss green-certified status. This coverage also often includes mandatory fees necessary for raising the building to desired level. Agents and brokers can also link their clients to an insurer that offers coverage to rebuild to one certification level high.
This policy allows for re imbursement for such refreshing or greening products. For clients interested in refreshing their business after a loss, regardless of whether or not they proceed with the certification process, a green policy endorsement allows them to replace eligible real and personal property with green-certified products up to the percentage and limit shown in the policy. Standard commercial property insurance won't cover the use of green materials if those products are priced higher than non-green materials, thus forcing the client to pay out-of-pocket for the difference in price.
Some insurers consider underground piping and foundations part of the real property, but not all do. When clients also provide or receive alternative energy, those systems may utilize piping and other property underneath a client's building or grounds. Agents and brokers should advise their clients to secure a policy that not only provides coverage for foundations and underground property up to 1,000 feet from the covered location, but also allows the insured to capture any business income or interruption exposures from alternative energy sources.
To bridge the gap between builders’ risks and completed property and present clients with a seamless green property insurance policy, agents and brokers should align themselves with insurance companies that are able to start building insurance coverage at the project's development stage and continue it through to active property management.
All of these green policy needs can be satisfied by working with an insurer that understands building and has the expertise to help agents and brokers educate clients about the benefits of going green. Working together, agents and brokers and insurers can reassure clients that as their green initiatives seek to protect the environment, their insurance coverage will protect their green assets.