When should you review your business insurance?
It’s important to evaluate your insurance needs as your practice evolves, particularly when you change your services, projects, team or business operations. Coverforce offers valuable advice on situations when it may be worth reviewing your insurance arrangements.
Your insurance should reflect the work your architectural practice does today, not just the circumstances when your policies were first arranged. As your practice evolves, changes to your services, projects, team or business operations may affect your insurance needs.
While your annual renewal is an important opportunity to review your cover, significant changes throughout the year may also warrant a conversation with your insurance broker.
Here are some situations when it may be worth reviewing your insurance arrangements.
1. Your services have changed
As your practice develops, you may begin offering services beyond your original scope, take on different project responsibilities, or move into new areas of architectural work. These changes can introduce different risks and may affect the cover you need.
A change in activities does not automatically mean additional insurance is required, but it is important that your broker understands how the business has evolved so the potential implications can be assessed.
2. Your practice has grown
Taking on more employees, increasing turnover, opening another office or expanding the size of your team can change your business’s risk profile.
Growth doesn’t automatically mean you need additional policies or higher limits, but it is a good opportunity to review whether your current insurance still reflects the size and activities of your practice.
3. You’ve moved premises or acquired new equipment
Moving to a new office, expanding your workspace or purchasing additional computers and specialist equipment can affect the value of the property your business needs to insure.
Review your property and contents cover when these changes occur, and check that your insured values reflect current replacement costs. It’s also worth reviewing your arrangements if you dispose of significant assets.
4. Your contractual obligations have changed
New clients or projects may introduce different contractual requirements, including specified insurance limits or indemnity provisions. It’s important to understand these obligations before signing an agreement, particularly if they differ from those in your existing contracts.
Your broker can help you review the relevant insurance requirements and identify matters that may need further consideration before you commit.
5. Inflation and rising business costs
Inflation can affect the cost of replacing business assets and the ongoing expenses of running an architectural practice. If your sums insured haven’t kept pace with rising costs, your existing cover may not be sufficient to meet the expenses arising from an insured event.
Review your property and Business Interruption Insurance regularly, particularly during periods of high inflation. Your broker can help you assess whether your current cover remains appropriate.
Keep your insurance up to date
Your annual renewal is a useful time to review your insurance, but you don’t need to wait until then if your circumstances change significantly. Keeping your broker informed about developments in your practice can help ensure your insurance arrangements continue to reflect your business and its activities.
How Coverforce Complete can help
Coverforce Complete is proud to partner with the ACA to support members with specialist insurance advice and access to well-structured, competitive insurance solutions for architectural practices.
Architectural practices face a range of professional and business risks, making it important to have insurance that reflects the work you do. Coverforce Complete brokers can help you assess your practice’s needs and arrange an insurance program suited to your business.
To find out more about insurance solutions for ACA members, visit the Coverforce for ACA members page.
Disclaimer: The ACA does not provide financial product advice in relation to these products, and all advice, recommendations and policy placement services are provided directly by Coverforce based on a member’s individual circumstances.
The information provided in this article is of a general nature only and has been prepared without taking into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. If you require advice that is tailored to your specific business or individual circumstances, please contact Coverforce directly.