WHAT YOU NEED TO DEMAND OF YOUR CONTRACTORS

     We not only work for a myriad of local, regional and some national companies direct we do subcontract work for national sign companies that supply chains such as Wal-Mart, Taco Bell, Hampton Inn along with other retail, restaurant, service industries, manufacturing companies and more. Before we even get much past the basic requirements for a job they ask us for a series of documents to protect themselves from liability if we make a mistake on a job. From dropping an impact driver off a ladder onto a small child or tipping a crane over on a dozen cars to sign falling after we leave killing an employee or client they do not want to find themselves 100% on the hook without the subcontractor hired as a fuse between them and full liability.

     Many do not realize if their subcontractor does not have proper licenses, liability insurance, workams comp, actually pulled the permit so job could be inspected for safety by local municipality and something goes wrong it all lands on the company at the top who sold the job and if it breaks them rolls onto the property owner. These are the documents most of our big clients require and we require from any company we may subcontract part of a job to. Many "storefront sign vendors are only licensed for sign manufacturing and if insured they leave installation off as it triples the cost of insurance. Make sure documents specifically state "sign installation" before you buy a sign and expect it installed legally.

     If we are on your jobsite and local inspector shows up to ask about licensing and permits, OSHA representative stops to check for proper certifications, EPA or other agency asks questions if we hand them your order off our clipboard and say we are just working for you it could cause you some headaches getting responsibility sorted out. Especially since there is much case law stating client is responsible to ensure all contractors are properly licensed, insured and obtained applicable permits. If a contractors worker is hurt on a job, contractor has no workman's comp, is running immigrant day labor and drives away leaving his injured or dead worker then the property owner or their "agents" become 100% responsible for the workers medical bills, any civil litigation awarding damages for lost wages, injures or permanent disability the worker sustains. Say I am not insured, my worker is hurt on your biggest clients property and they are suddenly knee deep in lawsuits and lawyers how long do you think they will remain a client?    

    In addition to keeping our business licenses current, Corporate fees paid to Secretary of State, liability insurance pull all permits and other paperwork we have our OSHA General Construction, Fall Protection, Electrical, Lock-Out/Tag-Out, Tripping Hazards, First Aid, HAZMAT and others including Blood Borne Pathogens to protect ourselves and clients but honestly its to protect us first. in addition to OSHA we carry Georgia EPA Erosion & Sediment Control along with federal EPA HVAC, Clean Air, Green Energy plus other totaling over thirty federal, state and local certifications to cover us in every imaginable situation plus some just for extra layer of protection. the owners truck has a portfolio of documents sure to satisfy any inspector from about any agency. As a contractor one mistake can not only bankrupt me but possibly a customer working for when an incident happens.

    We are in a class of risk for workman's Comp rates that are in the same tier as roofers. Over the time we have been working out of our current location we have had five roofing contractors we marked their trucks and supplied signs who had an employee fall off a roof and was injured badly with no workman's comp insurance. A couple had already had minor incident where they took employee to a "quick care" facility, gave a week or two off without pay and kept moving. then they had that incident where a worker took a three story fall breaking their spine and disabled for life. Because contractor had no insurance (liability or workman's comp) the court charged the company or homeowner who hired them to pay all awards and in two instances they didn't have enough homeowners insurance to cover the civil court awards and lost their homes. Make sure any contractor you hire is insured.  

   We had this conversation recently with a client and told him we carried 1.5 million dollars per incident up to three incidents per year which they were impressed. For me this is the minimum I can afford and at least ensures my insurance company is going to send their lawyers to try and weasel out or mitigate any judgments if we had an incident which to date we are seventy years without a workman's comp incident. That said its not uncommon for workers with spinal injuries that get settlements in the several million dollar range. We could go to 2.5 million per incident for two incidents per year or 3.0 million and only one incident per year  but if had a bad day and two crews messed up within hours of each other and only covered for one then am too exposed. If your running a business without the proper insurance coverage stop and get covered or if your hiring contractors ask if they have required insurance. In our county we are required to carry 1.5 million and one incident per year to renew our business license so making sure your contractors are licensed is an easy way to make sure they are somewhat legit.

   After seventy years installing signs we have been around the edges of more utilities damages than would like to have been. Luckily for us and our clients we called in our UPC locate requests for every job since established where there was damage combined with some luck plus really good relationships with all code enforcement, inspectors, zoning officials and other agencies. In all cases fault fell on locators miss-marking or failure to mark the site at all. Bottom line is when the local utilities companies, municipalities representatives and utilities Protection Commission field managers, all in suits upset about being in the field instead of their office we had all our paperwork in order and no fines or expensive repair bills have been levied on our company or our clients. If you cannot wait for us to get a locate request completed we prefer someone else be responsible for a five to six figure court judgment. Every year rules get more complex, fines get higher and repair bills from utilities skyrocket as their systems become more complex.

   Other than injuries we could treat out of the medical kits on all of our trucks or in our shop we have not had an injury of significance. We care for our workers and do not want to see them hurt. We had one good multigenerational client that did right but got stuck on a job with a deadline that had stiff penalties for not finishing on time. this was a 100 plus employee company usually with three to five large commercial or office buildings under construction at a time. They were down to 72 hours on this one job and sent a supervisor to pick up three immigrant day laborers to install light bulbs. Very simple work, circuits were locked out so no chance of electrocution and warehouse only had a 14' ceiling. They had the three men installing standard eight foot fluorescent light bulbs from A-Frame ladders and in a freak accident one fell, hit his head on concrete floor and died on the spot. They leveraged every asset they had but seven million dollars in fines plus civil court awards to his family and their insurance covered none because the men were not officially hired and on the books broke them and put all their employees in the unemployment system. in seventy years we have seen enough of the "worst cases" we are not gong to become one and play by all rules even if it costs us some customers.

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Phone: 770-535-SIGN (7446)  emails will often be returned faster than phone messages

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