A veteran contractor avoided insurance on the construction of his private home - and Murphy's Law gained further force

Jul 29, 2018

Murphy’s laws prove themselves time and time again.

A long-standing client of ours built various residential construction projects in southern Israel. As we do with all our clients, we arranged for him an open declarative policy, with a predefined pricing framework and fixed policy terms—so that all he needed to do was notify us, via a designated form, of the start of works and receive insurance approval.

And that is what happened. The client reported the commencement of construction of eight cottages in one of the southern communities.

The construction progressed as planned, and within about a year and a half the project was completed without any insurance incidents.

Another year passed, and then I received a rather disheartening phone call:

“Itzick, after I finished the project in Community X, my son and I decided to move there to live. We purchased two plots and started building homes for ourselves. We began construction about nine months ago. Since this was construction only for ourselves—there was no client or developer involved—and the work was done by our own team, I thought I would save on insurance costs. So I didn’t notify you of the start of works and didn’t insure the project.

Yesterday a serious accident occurred: my site manager climbed a ladder, slipped from a height of about three meters, fell backward, landed on a pile of reinforcing bars nearby, and was severely injured in the spine. He was diagnosed with spinal fractures, is paralyzed, and in serious condition. Give me some advice—what should I do?”

Sometimes, you are left speechless.

This is a client who paid good money over many years, never had a claim, was meticulous about reporting and insuring every new project—and yet, the one time he was negligent and did not purchase insurance, that is precisely when an insured event occurred, resulting in severe bodily injury.

As I have noted on previous occasions: I could write an entire book about Murphy’s laws in the construction industry—and since “Murphy never disappoints,” he always arrives at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and against all apparent odds.

So please, friends, do not cut corners, do not bury your head in the sand, and do not make allowances for yourselves that could prove catastrophically expensive. Murphy is always lurking for all of us—just around the corner.