WorldWide Drilling Resource

15 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2015 Your Missing Link: Contractor’s Professional Liability by Kyle Rehme, VolkBell Property & Casualty Insurance, LLC Okay, so what does contractor’s professional liability have to do with a drilling/pump contractor and why do you need it? Where is the wisdom of spending more money on a professional liability policy when you already have general liability? Let’s look at some real-life examples where professional liability is the ONLY answer to solve unfortunate contractor claim situations NOT COVERED by general liability: Example 1: You install a water system in a multimillion dollar facility. The system, despite intense trou- bleshooting by everyone, fails to perform adequately. The remedy is an expensive retrofit, which is just as costly as the original system. Without contractor’s professional, you must lawyer up and hope you don’t have to pay for it and install it yourself! Example 2: A water well drilling contractor spends a couple weeks drilling a well and then, while setting the casing, the borehole collapses. Some of the casing is recovered, but the hole is lost, along with the profit, and he must move over and start over again when he should be off making money somewhere else! Example 3: A geothermal contractor installs a 200-borehole loop field. However, a coupling used in each borehole has a manufacturer’s defect and the entire field must be redone. The manufacturer fulfills his obligation to replace the faulty parts, but the geothermal contractor has to choose between protecting his bottom line, or protecting his reputation and redo the entire system. Example 4: An environmental contractor is hired to sample soil at a site prior to a real estate purchase. The soil is tested at a lab, found to be free of pollutants. Months later, pollution is discovered. Eventually, it is discovered the environmental contractor’s employees inadvertently sampled at the wrong locations! The result is a serious lawsuit against the contractor for the wrongful purchase of the property, plus the environmental cleanup of the site. In each of these examples, ordinary general liability will deny a claim. A contractor’s professional liability policy, however, will immediately pay to correct the situation. Then the insurance company will seek reimbursement. Most of all, you the con- tractor avoid a serious financial loss, lost time, lost revenue, and lost reputation. A contractor’s professional liability will empower you to act like you want to act, make things right, and in fact, better your reputation. You get to be the hero! Kyle Kyle Rehme may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Kyle Rehme uses his personal knowledge of the water well, drilling, and environmental in- dustries to provide cus- tomers with practical insurance solutions. , . *#! ' , , . &#," 1 0% "& 1 * ', &#," (%$ %% *() *,0 +- %,0 '+-* ' *#%% *+ 1 '- ,-* *+ 1 -))%# *+ 1 '!#' *+ 1 ('+-%, ',+ 1 , * %% 1 ,"( # 1 '.#*('& ', % 1 (," *& % 1 (' - ,(* (% *#%% *+ 1 #% # % *.# + 1 , * -&) *.# ) #* (',* ,(*+ /,(' * (*, (%%#'+