Prospecting new accounts this spring is as easy as ABC! Many opportunities are available to expand your book, whether it's artisan contractors, buildings, or concessionaire/food trucks. Spring into action and check out the top 10 classes to target this spring.
Artisan Contractors
- Landscapers:Â As the weather starts to warm up, homeowners and businesses begin focusing on enhancing their outdoor spaces. Grow your book with landscapers who transform yards and gardens, making them visually appealing and functional. Forming partnerships with landscapers can lead to valuable referrals and networking opportunities in the local community, such as another outdoor contracting class.
- Hardscapers:Â These professionals do the dirty work for property owners, enhancing outdoor spaces by designing and constructing features such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls. As spring arrives and homeowners and businesses seek to improve their outdoor areas, there is a high demand for hardscaping. In addition, townships often require repairs to sidewalks, driveways, and other hardscaping elements before selling a property.
- Roofers:Â Roofing contractors' business reaches new heights every spring. Roofers are always in demand, since roof damage can lead to the costliest repairs if roofs are not up to date. Like hardscaping, it's common for property owners to update their roofs before a sale. The roof age, construction, and conditions of a roof are critical factors in underwriting and pricing practices. Roofing repairs become a high priority for property owners once March hits, to fix the damage from winter storms and get ahead of summer hail and heavy thunderstorms.
- Gutter Contractors:Â Like their roofing partners, gutter cleaners, installers, and repair contractors are at the top of every property owner's mind in the spring. Insurance agents should seek to write gutter contractors because they are crucial in maintaining and protecting properties. Gutter systems are essential in managing rainwater and preventing water damage to the structure of a building. With the increasing demand for gutter installation and maintenance, partnering with gutter contractors can be a profitable niche market for insurance agents.
- Pest Control:Â Pest control contractors are all the buzz in the spring. As the weather warms up, pests become more active, posing significant risks to homes, businesses, and health. More residential and commercial properties seek out pest control companies for preventative spraying against fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and flying insects.
- Swimming Pool Contractors: The pool contracting business will make a big splash starting in March as we prepare for the hot summer days. Builders will kick off new construction, and existing pool owners will start scheduling their openings and maintenance before Memorial Day. Dive into this niche class that will open the floodgates to other referrals, including landscapers, hardscapers, engineers, and more!
- Excess General Liability for Contractors:Â Claim costs increase due to social inflation and nuclear verdicts. For industries more likely to be sued, such as contractors, it's a good idea to suggest higher liability limits to cover damages and defense expenses. Moreover, many contractors must have these higher limits because of the growing litigation. By already having excess limits, your clients can accurately price their bids, giving them a more professional appearance than those who have to arrange these limits later on quickly.
How to Write: Every contractor account is unique and necessitates a customized policy. Still, due to the risks associated with working on clients' properties and hazardous operations, all contractors require a comprehensive package and more. Additional endorsements to consider are additional insured coverage, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, and completed operations. Fortunately, Pathpoint can quickly provide these coverages and general liability for hundreds of contractor classes under our contractors vertical. Remember to add excess general liability too.
Buildings
- Vacants:Â The spring real estate market is in full swing! Now is the time to seize those vacant property accounts. Vacant land and vacant buildings make good starting points for any agent's portfolio. Agents can have a comprehensive market with their insureds, maintaining the account when they list, renovate, or purchase a new property. Additionally, commercial properties offer additional opportunities. The pandemic has adversely affected many commercial businesses, leading to closures. High commercial rents and transitioning away from traditional office environments have created more vacant commercial spaces!
- Rentals: More rental listings appear as the spring real estate market blooms. With the increased housing prices, many Americans rent homes instead of buying. Additionally, there is a surge in short-term and vacation rentals as more Americans plan their spring and summer getaways. Expanding your book beyond just writing rental policies can be beneficial, as the same property owners often have other policies, such as homeowners or condo policies, and coverage for ATVs, jet skis, toys, and umbrella insurance. To learn more about the rise of rentals, you can read our short-term rental blog.
How to Write: Writing for vacant buildings requires comprehensive coverage and flexibility, considering additional risks such as vandalism, squatters, and theft. The physical characteristics of the building, including the condition of the roof, plumbing, and electrical systems, should be considered. Vacant properties should be secured with locks, alarms, and fencing, especially if liability risks like swimming pools or lakes are on the premises. For rental properties, obtaining general liability and property coverages is essential. Despite the challenging property market for personal and commercial lines agents, there are options available in Excess & Surplus (E&S) for both vacant properties and rentals. Pathpoint can write vacant buildings up to 30% occupied under our vacants vertical, providing a custom package. For rentals, Pathpoint considers both annual and short-term rentals under our lessor's risk vertical, enhancing your competitive advantage by offering quotes across all 50 states, including properties in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida coasts.
Concessionaires and Food Trucks
- Concessionaires and Food Trucks:Â Spring signifies more time spent outdoors and the increased presence of concession stands and food trucks. As the cost of commercial rentals rises, more food service businesses will opt for the concession stand or food truck model. These small businesses are becoming increasingly prevalent in cities, parks, and commercial lots, particularly near entertainment venues and breweries. By focusing on concessionaires and food truck accounts, insurance agents can target a growing market and offer their services to entrepreneurs starting or expanding their businesses. Establishing relationships with food truck owners can also result in valuable referrals within the food and hospitality industry.
How to Write: Pathpoint will launch our new retail & services vertical by the end of this month. The first class on the docket? You guessed it, food trucks! Be the first to write these hot mobile street vendors by attending our training on Wednesday, March 20th. Learn more here. As for stationary food concession stands, agents can mix and match packages under our restaurant vertical.