Brickeye Construction Risk Mitigation: De-risk Projects to Protect Margins & Reduce Insurance Costs through Technology-Enabled Risk Controls
Within the current construction and Builders Risk insurance landscape, forward-thinking owner/developers and general contractors are actively adopting innovative technology solutions to mitigate risk and bend the insurance cost curve, particularly around water damage incidents. Increasingly, taking a proactive approach to technology adoption by de-risking projects upfront in pre-construction is becoming a prerequisite to qualify for lower deductibles, while enabling proper budgeting and planning around the implementation of job site risk controls to protect project margins.
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Vertical construction projects face a wide range of risks. Among these, water-related incidents such as water escape from mechanical building systems (e.g., pipe bursts, leaks, etc.) and water intrusion from severe weather events (e.g., wind-driven rain breaching water barriers/envelope, flooding, etc.) pose significant threats. These incidents can lead to costly property damage, disruption, delays, insurance claims and higher premiums, rework, higher construction financing costs, delayed startup, lawsuits and legal fees, reputational damage, and - it goes without saying - major headaches.
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Bending the Insurance Cost Curve
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Water loss deductibles and coverage terms on Builders Risk policies are largely determined by a project’s total insured value, the construction project’s risk profile, and the insurance carrier’s assessment of the insured’s track record and risk mitigation practices. By proactively adopting job site risk mitigation technology, insureds, together with their brokers, are putting their best foot forward to markets as better risks to insure and lowering insurance costs in several ways:
1. De-risk Projects Upfront
Leveraging construction technology to lower insurance costs and mitigate water damage risk starts in pre-construction, before binding your Builders Risk policy and well before putting a shovel in the ground. In addition to drawings, construction schedule, and other project documentation brokers typically include in a submission package to markets, a Project-Specific Water Mitigation Technology Plan is a valuable tool that insureds can leverage to help lower deductibles and secure more favorable coverage terms. This plan, developed by your technology partner, provides insurers with upfront visibility on the technology-enabled monitoring and risk controls (e.g., presence of water sensors, flow meters, automatic shut-off valves, etc.) that will be used to protect building systems and critical areas from water damage during construction. Sharing a detailed risk mitigation technology plan with carriers prior to binding the policy can significantly improve the project’s risk profile, helping to drive down deductibles, as well as the cost of deductible buy-downs, by up to 50%.
2. Mitigate Incidents in Real-Time
IoT (Internet of Things) monitoring technology, including cloud-connected sensors, can significantly reduce the time to discovery of job site water incidents as compared to human discovery. Combined with IoT-enabled risk controls (e.g., shut-off valve on water supply), this reduced time to discovery can enable an automatic response, isolating water systems much faster than a human response and significantly mitigating incident severity. What’s more, in some job site applications, sensors tied to threshold-driven alerts (e.g., temperature dropping towards freezing in a mechanical room) can provide an early warning of potential risk. These alerts can enable project teams to act on real-time data and prevent incidents from happening in the first place, reducing the frequency of claims. Taken together, these technology solutions can help reduce incident frequency and severity, mitigating the cost of claims while helping to keep projects on schedule and on budget.
3. Apply Data-Driven Continuous Improvement
Real-time and historical job site data in the form of risk control analytics is an invaluable tool to help insureds inform and continuously improve upon best practices in their approach to construction risk management and mitigation. Data-driven insights can help insureds and their brokers develop a stronger performance track record and enhance their risk profile, demonstrating a proactive approach to technology adoption that results in a reduction in claim frequency and severity across projects over time. Risk control analytics and reporting can help build the case for preferential insurance coverage terms, lower deductibles, and premium credits, driving significant savings on individual projects or Master Builders Risk policies.
Brickeye’s Role in Construction Risk Mitigation
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Brickeye is trusted by leading owners/developers, general contractors, and insurance providers to reduce risk and protect margins on major construction projects globally. Our end-to-end job site platform comprises ruggedized IoT-enabled sensors and devices, reliable job site connectivity, and advanced cloud-based software and analytics, delivering actionable alerts and intelligent loss-reducing automations to help customers identify and mitigate job site water incidents before they escalate.
Pre-Construction Planning & Insurance Support
Brickeye works together with project teams during the pre-construction phase to develop a project-specific water mitigation technology plan that helps you properly scope and budget for the solutions you need to de-risk your project. Brickeye also helps support risk managers and brokers in securing the best possible terms and rates when placing Builders Risk insurance coverage, by providing underwriters with enhanced visibility and certainty around the technology solutions being deployed to mitigate job site risk.
Real-time Job Site Monitoring & Risk Controls
Brickeye’s IoT-enabled job site platform utilizes sensors and risk control devices to provide continuous monitoring and protection of construction sites from major water damage incidents. Through early detection of water-related anomalies or incidents, Brickeye’s smart solutions can trigger automations that shut-off water escape from building systems or alert project teams to take informed action on water intrusion to mitigate significant damage. This rapid response reduces the time between incident detection and action, minimizing incident severity and associated costs.
Job Site Data & Risk Control Analytics
By leveraging real-time and historical job site data and risk control analytics, Brickeye’s platform is evolving to provide developers, general contractors, and insurance providers with valuable insights into risk incident characteristics, risk mitigation technology utilization and performance, and data-driven best practices for continuous improvement in construction risk management.
Contact us today to learn more about how Brickeye can help de-risk and protect your next vertical construction project from water-related incidents, delays, escalating insurance costs and budget overruns.
