Does it seem like it’s getting increasingly difficult to secure insurance coverage for your home? Rates continue to rise, coverage restrictions have become more increasingly common and in some cases, insurers have denied coverage entirely. These are symptoms of a hard market, and they may impact your insurance strategy.

While our preference is to place our clients’ personal risk management programs with Standard Admitted carriers that have received superior financial ratings from the national rating agencies, our agency represents additional Excess and Surplus (E&S) carriers, allowing us to find appropriate solutions to fit our clients’ needs. Simply put, E&S lines is a specialty market that insures unique risks standard carriers will not cover.

A Standard carrier might deny offering coverage for a variety of reasons. This can happen if you live in a high-risk area (prone to hurricanes or flooding among others); have an unusual risk (any number of characteristics can put you outside of a standard insurer’s underwriting guidelines including unique building materials, a severe loss history, etc.); or require higher limits.