How Home Builders Can Reduce Workers' Compensation Costs

Business owners in the home building industry are always looking for ways to reduce costs. Many have noted soaring costs tied to workers' compensation insurance. The most direct way to reduce these costs is to have a comprehensive safety training program in place to prevent job site accidents. But even builders with a safety-first mentality have seen workers' comp costs rise in recent years.

Alan Banks, a home builder in the Carolinas, teamed up with insurance expert Treacy Duerfeldt of the Nationwide Contractors' Alliance to create a video explaining exactly how home builders can reduce their workers' comp costs. The video, embedded below, notes that the best path to lower costs is having a plan in place to deal with injuries that includes:

1. Knowing the location of the closest healthcare provider for each job site;
2. Having a policy that prevents injured workers from driving themselves to seek medical care;
3. Being aware of the documentation of the injury submitted from a healthcare provider; and
4. Having a return-to-work, light duty program that allows workers to return to work with different responsibilities until they are well enough to resume their regular duties.

Duerfeldt called this plan a part of being “claims ready,” and encourages home builders to train all workers on the specifics of the plan. “Companies that are claims ready saved 17% on their workers' comp costs across all trades and all company sizes,”says Duerfeldt. Watch the video below for more details on workers' comp readiness.

For questions about workers' compensation in home building, please contact Felicia Watson.