The Building BITE

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. This episode hosts Valerie Bono and Chris Epps, PSP, LEED AP, welcome guests Kenneth “Ken” Henry, Senior Vice President of Development for PMB LLC, and Eli Dresner, Managing Director of Client Solutions for Pivotal.

Ken and Eli share the partnership between PMB, a national leader in healthcare development, and Pivotal, who is partnering with PMB to transform healthcare claims data into meaningful, profitable insights. In fact, Pivotal utilizes a web-based platform that features claims-based data for over 300 million covered lives across all care settings.

Eli provides insights into using their platform and entry points, exploring traditional data points, where he believes the market is going post-covid and social determinants of health.

Hear the success PMB and Pivotal share with one of their clients and how they have benefited from the partnership. With healthcare being a specialized industry, they share three takeaways for listeners who support the industry, which include:

1. When working in healthcare, they suggest being healthcare experts 1st – then real estate second.

2. Make decisions while balancing qualitative vs. quantitative data

3. Utilize your network and partnerships – doing so can help you make better decisions across the board.

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Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Cheri Hanes, CRIS, LEED AP, Senior SDI Construction Risk Engineer at AXA XL.

Cheri leads off the show by sharing the inherent differences between Wood Frame and Mass Timber, highlighting the nuances of insuring one versus the other. There is a lot of data on light wood frames, but mass timber is still relatively new, which leaves questions around the unknowns. If data is absent, insurers tend to default conservative.

Cheri continues by sharing insights surrounding markets currently using mass timber and which sub-contractors are installing it. She then lays out several common risks for mass timber and how to manage them best. Finally, Cheri identifies the following five considerations:

1. Understand who you're working with and their level of experience. Choose to do business with those with as much experience as possible.

2. Be strategic with the placement strategy and use manufacturers' and consultant's expertise.

3. Water – Put the right strategies in place to robustly manage water.

4. Materials/supply chain – Understand and set up comms and tracking for the whole production and transportation network and then implement

5. Fire – Lower risk than light wood frame, doesn't mean all the same strategies shouldn't be used.

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Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome James “Jim” Bly, Managing Director at Alliant Construction Services Group.

Jim opens the show by sharing his career journey and then quickly dives into addressing how Alliant utilizes industry data, the current landscape, and how it’s impacting the market as a whole. Next, he shares Aliant’s C2M model looking at ten criteria through the lens of surety underwriters. The model starts with quality financial reporting and then turns towards liquidity. It considers several factors, including historical revenue, equity, and borrowing capacity, to name a few.

Later in the show, we gain three insights into successfully utilizing data when it comes to Subcontractor Default Insurance:

• Garbage in Creates Garbage Out

Not all data is created equal. While data is immense, it’s not always useful or understood.

• Understand What You are Looking At

By getting a 360-point view of the data you want to know, the more valuable the information will be as the chances for missing components and loopholes will be reduced.

• Know What to Look For

You will have an easier time understanding data if you know what to look for. He continues by sharing insights with new standards for financial reporting.

Tune in for industry trends, including those surrounding SDI, labor shortages, and current-day Covid impacts.

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Valerie Bono and Peter Duggan welcome Karen Rice, Vice President, Head of Construction Claims North America at AXA XL.

As a national leader who oversees many lines of coverage, Karen Rice shares her career journey to where she is today. Karen’s passion for coverage and desire to manage people manifested early in her career. Combining those desired and technical expertise, she demystifies what she perceives to be the unique differences between being a manager vs. supervisor and even as an overall leader.

As head of construction claims for one of the largest carriers worldwide, Karen shares what a day in life looks like in her shoes. When she first joined AXA, the construction business was starting. She ensures a cohesive approach to ensure consistent customer comprehension and treatment through all of the lines of coverage that she leads.

Listener’s gain three career tips that helped Karen advance from a coverage expert to a construction claims leader of North America:

1. Provide and Seek Honest Feedback

2. Surround Yourself with Smart People

3. Keep Learning and Enjoy Yourself While Doing So

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Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Chris Epps and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Justin Reginato, PH.D. Associate Vice President Facilities Management at California State University, Sacramento.

The show dives into how Justin and Sacramento State are utilizing BIM and construction technology to drive success, leading to new opportunities for the University. He shares nuances to building in Higher Ed such as the importance of setting a budget and guarding it closely until substantial completion. After that, the remaining budget can be used for wish-list items to maximize the impact of the facility for staff and students. Justin explains why It’s also important to be collaborative and work with teams that connect across the board from design, between faculty, project teams and even student bodies.

Justin continues by sharing his three takeaways in achieving success working in and around Higher Ed:

1. You must hire great Design Build Teams, with a focus on collaboration

2. Ruthlessly prioritize project Needs and Wants (In that order)

3. Be conservative with protecting the budget, especially the contingency until we know we are in the clear

He encourages Facility Managers to talk to end users, custodians and maintenance staff early on in pre-design and share anecdotes to support that action item.

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Valerie Bono and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Alexis McGuffin, Director of Business Development at Suffolk Construction.

Few people share Alexis' wholistic construction background. She's worn many [hard]hats - having been an estimator, project manager, then pivoting to BIM Integration, where she grew to lead as VDC Director. Today, Alexis serves as Suffolk's Director of Business Development. An impressive career for anyone, and even more extraordinary given recent statistics reported by The Construction Dive, showing women still make up only about 10% of the construction workforce – from field to office. So, perhaps it is no coincidence that she has landed her career where their tagline is: Prove impossible wrong.

Suffolk is no stranger to shaking things up, serving as an industry disruptor. Alexis gives an inside look into the exciting initiatives they are taking on as a firm, including their BOOST Program. Suffolk Technologies invests in and partners with early- and growth-stage startups transforming the built world. In addition, they support these visionary founders by leveraging their internal expertise and network to accelerate industry-wide adoption of breakthrough innovations.

Alexis continues by sharing her three takeaways that will help solve puzzles in the built environment:

1. Innovate Around Contracts, Liabilities, Model-Sharing and Sharing Digital Assets

2. Work Together Towards Industry Standards

3. Innovation Needs to be Continual, not Occasional

Tune in for more on the exciting initiatives Alexis is working on at Suffolk and hear her stance on mentorship and lessons learned throughout her journey.

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Derek Fennell, Assistant Vice President of Subcontractor Default Insurance Claims at AXA XL. Derek shares insights around four steps that help lead Carriers and Insureds to a better way of handling claims.

Derek dives quickly into his first step towards a better way which is #1 - Communicate Early. Communication, person to person, is necessary to avoid what he terms as the RFI loop.

Next, Derek emphasizes the importance to #2 – Create an Atmosphere of Trust. He explains that it is difficult to collaborate if / when everyone retreats to their corners, making it difficult to resolve issues. Issues are less likely to be resolved when the Insured does not trust their Carrier.

Once Communication and Trust is established, Derek says it’s important to #3 – Educate the Insured. The reality is that risk managers do not see SDI claims daily. Derek suggests that the Carrier should "take the analytics developed during claims and give the feedback to the Insured in ways that make the Risk Managers understand risk more."

Derek’s last step is #4 – Rip the Band-Aid Off. By informing the Carrier of any significant project nuances early on, all parties involved have more time to process and prepare for the claim. He describes this as giving "the message very early so the project team is prepared and the risk management team is prepared, which will often lead to a better result."

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Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Jim Richert, AVP, SDI Risk Engineering Leader at AXA XL. Jim provides our listeners with a brief history of what led him to where he is today, including how the risk engineering role came to AXA XL. Jim was once a team of one and now leads a team of 10!

Jim shares what he believes are the key steps to develop and sustain a team of subject matter experts who prioritize customers as well as their own personal and professional well-being: These include:

1. Create a Strong Vision

2. Look for Team Growth Opportunities

3. Constantly Engage with Your Team

Jim leaves our listeners with several trends that he is seeing. He’s spent much of this past year discussing the concept of managing the unknowns with partners. Often, trends are hard to spot – and by the time they are identified – reactions are likely too late. His conversations have focused around doubling down and making adjustments on strong practices that contractors are taking to stay ahead of risks which include:

• Revisiting project Go/No go type decisions

• Contract language review

• Prequal and sub selection practices

• Schedule management

• Supply chain and escalation risks

Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome Nils Sorenson, Innovative Insurance and Risk Management Customer Advocate at Gallagher. Nils sets the stage for his podcast, explaining what SDI is and why it was created in the first place. He elaborates on what he believes is the most significant barrier for General Contractors looking to shift from Bonding to SDI.

Throughout the show, Nils breaks down the evolution of SDI into three periods:

1. Early Creation

2. Product Evolution

3. Current Time Period

Nils outlines the influence of Zurich Insurance Group and their Subguard product, first introduced in 1995, which has led the way to what we now know as SDI. Nils thoroughly walks us through the evolution of SDI and how the market has grown from a lone policy to a market that now features 7 Carriers. Nils provides excellent insight into the industry’s evolution when he breaks down the specific changes in the market as more General Contractors are gravitating to the SDI space. One significant change was “an increase in due diligence that was happening with the loss control group” as more GCs bought coverage. He ends the journey elaborating on the current landscape with seven Carriers, their differences and offers additional market insights.

Nils shares direct insights on how Brokers factor into the overall equation as they are the key to the network of distribution. Brokers bring unique experience and expertise while acting as an excellent resource for knowledge sharing and information to Insureds.

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Please tune in to this episode of The Building BITE Podcast, as we hear from industry experts about key topics to help you be successful. In this episode, hosts Peter Duggan and Mike Diercksen, CRIS, welcome River Steenson, CRIS - Senior Construction Risk Engineer at AXA XL, in this episode. River opens up the show taking us on his career journey where he spent 15 years as a Project Manager with both heavy civil and commercial building experience. In his last five years, he’s worked at AXA XL as a Senior Risk Engineer – doubling as a perceived customer advocate.

Listeners receive expert advice on achieving a positive claim experience by starting with the end in mind. River shares that from a partner’s perspective, that typically is associated with rapid payment. To achieve rapid payment, it’s crucial to identify nuances of the claim and any pinch points to layout the ultimate road map to success. Communication early and often is key.

He continues by sharing common pinch points that are seen during the claim process.

River provides four steps to achieving positive customer claim experiences:

1. Start the Insured/Carrier Collaboration as Soon as Possible

2. The Carrier Should Provide Coaching and Feedback Throughout the Claims Process

3. Maintain Continuous Dialogue Start to Finish – Nothing Should be Done in a Vacuum

4. Get the Claim to the Finish Line

Tune in to hear the details of each of these four steps and hear real examples on key points including, creating a win-win-win, when coaching may have made a difference and benefits of avoiding snags in communications.

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