While the current insurance climate suggests a hardening market,
in previous years lower premiums and broader coverage have seen
insurance carriers more willing to write policies with higher
limits and are more flexible in their underwriting criteria. That
presented the opportunity for insureds and their brokers to benefit
from insurers' appetite to write risk by extending the scope of
cover beyond its usual parameters.
In the construction space we have previously seen insureds, and
their brokers, exerting pressure on insurers to write policies with
cover specifically extended for claims against an insured for
breach of a fitness for purpose warranty.
In the current market the appetite to provide such broad cover
appears to be diminishing.
