The Building BITE

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. The Building BITE host Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcomes Michael Pepe, Northeast Managing Partner of Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. We begin the episode by discussing Michael’s path as a Construction Litigator and how he ultimately landed as the Northeast Managing Partner at Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. Michael offers a wide array of experience and has unique insights into what makes Insureds successful when it comes to appropriately leveraging their insurance policies. Michael walks us through his best practices while explaining how insureds can use their policy to maintain project cashflow. 1. Understand your Coverage: This could mean working with Brokers or Internal Counsel depending on your firm. It is important to utilize all the resources at your disposal so that you can properly leverage your coverage. Most likely, the project team who will be triggering this coverage is not an insurance expert, this is an easy way to leverage existing experience and mitigate future issues. 2. Be Mindful of Notice Provisions: It is not enough to just know your coverage and what it would cover, a key component is the “when”. You need to understand your notice provisions as they will be the roadmap to properly executing a claim. Identifying the correct time to provide notice and when to bring in the carrier or outside help can be what makes or breaks a successful claim. 3. Train Project Teams for when Escalation is Necessary: You don’t know what you don’t know. As a Risk Manager or Internal Counsel, you need to prepare your project teams with instructions so that you are alerted to potential claims. Even the best process will fall short if the project team is unaware of their role and responsibility to elevate the notice internally. By providing this instruction, you are helping to remove the guess work for your team and maximize your timeline to assess and evaluate potential claims. To learn more about how you can better prepare your firm for the challenges ahead, listen to our full podcast episode with Michael on “How Your Insurance Policy Can Help Maintain Project Cashflow” Please like, share, and subscribe to this podcast!