Church Property Insurance Expert!

Churches Urgently Need To Verify Their Contractors’ Insurance

Obtain copies of your contractors’ insurance and save your church money.

Before your church or nonprofit organization hires a contractor to perform work on your property, it is important you confirm they are licensed, insured, and bonded.

There are many people who are classified as a handyman, who are not qualified to work on your church building. They may be able to save you a few bucks today, but what damage will they cause in the future.

This applies to all jobs completed by outside companies to include electrical and plumbing work, HVAC, painting, solar contractors, roofing, cleaning, janitorial services, lawn care professionals or other maintenance jobs your church may need.

How Do Churches Save Money On Their Insurance

Churches are always asking; how can we save more money. One key area your church can save money related to your church property insurance and workers’ compensation insurance, is to make sure your contractors’ insurance is in place.

If you do not obtain certificates of insurance from your contractors, your church insurance provider will require your organization to pay for their insurance on your policy. When you review your workers’ compensation insurance policy, does it include a class code 9015?

If the answer is yes, and you do not have an employee who does your janitorial services or lawn care, this class code is specifically covering your contractors related to these two services.

When your contractors don’t provide your church with proof of workers’ compensation insurance, you are now paying to cover them while they are on your property.

By obtaining proof of insurance from your contractors, this can end up saving your church tens of thousands of dollars in annual insurance premiums.

Your Churches Financial Risk

There are several ways your church could pay more for insurance by not thoroughly vetting your contractors’ insurance coverage:

Higher Church Insurance Premiums to cover other companies’ employees while on your church’s property.
A contractor becomes injured and files a claim which could cause your insurance company to increase your premiums.
Insurance company may cancel your policy due to increased risk exposures and claims.
Your insurer might add a construction charge to your policy in the middle of the year because your original policy did not factor in the cost of covering independent contractors. (Roofing Contractors pay a lot for their insurance coverages, don’t get stuck with their insurance premium)
Fraud claims happen, and your churches increases the likely hood when failing to obtain proof of insurance from your contractors.
Increased cost for church staff payroll, dealing with claims related with your contractors verses being able to focus on ministry.

How To Cover Your Church Properly: Obtain Proof Of Your Contractors’ Insurance

Whenever you hire any contractor to conduct work on your church property, always require proof of general liability, commercial auto, and workers’ compensation insurance. This can be accomplished by asking for a certificate of insurance before any work takes place. The contractors’ insurance agent can quickly provide the needed documents, typically within a 24-to-48-hour time period in most instances. When you receive the certificate:

Provide copy of certificate to your church insurance agent for review
Verify the effective and expiration dates of all policies.
Verify that the contractor carries workers’ compensation, general liability, and a commercial auto insurance policy. Depending on the scope of work, you could also require an umbrella policy for additional liability protection.
Confirm your legal church organization is listed on the certificate of insurance correctly.
Obtain a copy of the insurance company policy endorsement showing your church is also listed as an Additional Insured.
Request a waiver of subrogation rights on the contractors’ workers’ compensation policy in your favor.
Request their Liability policy be primary and non-contributory.
Verify the insurance limits meet your requirements and are adequate to cover any possible mishaps while working at your church.
Verify your contractors’ insurance annually.

While it is important to be a good steward of the money your church receives, it is also just as important to hire property insured contractors. In the state of California, you can visit the California State Contractors License Board to verify a contractor is licensed, bonded, and that they carry workers’ compensation insurance. There are many ways to verify your contractors’ insurance is in place and property maintained.

We Can Help Verify Your Churches Contractors’ Insurance

Integrity Now Insurance Brokers, understands your church are not insurance experts. This is where we come in and can provide you with the needed expertise. We will review your contractors’ insurance and let you know what may need to be corrected.

We know that asking for proof of insurance can be intimidating, but remember it will save your church money on your insurance premiums.

We are a full service church insurance agency, that helps churches with all of the following coverages: general liability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, business auto insurance, abuse and molestation insurance, directors and officers insurance, employment practice liability insurance, group health insurance for churches, and more.

Our church insurance providers are not all the same. Some of the church property insurance companies are specifically designed for large mega churches, while others provide a insurance for smaller churches.

Did you know we can help save your church money on your churches 15 passenger vans and church owned buses.

We look forward to hearing from your church. You can either give us a call or complete our online church quote form.