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Expertise

Contractors

Managing contractor risk

Empowering contractors to build with greater confidence

Today’s construction landscape is being reshaped by digitalization, climate risks, rising costs, and supply chain disruptions — forces that influence risk profiles. Understanding these factors is essential for designing a comprehensive risk management framework that effectively balances your organization’s retention, management, and transfer strategies.

For decades, Marsh has drawn on the collective experience of more than 1,000 leading construction specialists to support contractors in delivering some of the world’s most complex and high-profile infrastructure projects.

Our reach and expertise:

A global team of 1,000+ construction specialists dedicated to your success.

More than 150,000 policies placed globally each year.

Broker to more than half of the top 50 global contractors worldwide.

Supporting contractors with an aggregate annual turnover of approximately US$1 trillion.

Why Marsh?

With our extensive global network and deep industry specialization in contractor-related risks, you benefit from:

  • Technical excellence and innovative solutions.
  • Structured service methodologies tailored to your needs.
  • Deep knowledge of sector-specific insurance markets.
  • High servicing capabilities.
  • Extensive resources backed by dedicated teams.

FAQs

In construction projects, contractor risk refers to potential events or conditions that could adversely impact your project’s timeline, budget, quality, or overall success. As the contractor, it’s your responsibility to identify, assess, and manage these risks to achieve project objectives.

Contractor risks arise from various sources, including:

  • Operational risks, including internal challenges such as equipment failures, labor shortages, or inefficiencies in project management.
  • Subcontractor risks, involving issues arising from subcontractors’ performance, actions, or financial stability that may cause delays or quality concerns.
  • External factors encompassing uncontrollable elements such as adverse weather conditions, unforeseen site conditions, regulatory changes, or supply chain disruptions affecting project progress.

Failure to effectively manage these risks can result in significant delays, increased costs, legal disputes, or compromised safety and quality standards.

From small-scale engineering to large infrastructure projects, today’s contractors face multiple interconnected risks — such as natural disasters triggering supply chain disruptions — that can potentially result in project delays and contractual and financial impacts.

Risks are also unique to each construction project and organization. Successful projects and resilient businesses accurately identify and quantify risks, implement risk mitigation actions, and obtain contractor insurance and tailored risk transfer solutions.

Key risks facing the construction industry:

  • Economic: Commodity shocks, supply chain disruptions and delays, collapse of systemically important industries, and inflation and debt crises.
  • Environmental: Natural catastrophes and extreme weather events, climate change impacts, sustainability concerns, carbon footprint issues, green financing challenges, and deconstruction requirements.
  • Societal: Erosion of social cohesion, social unrest, livelihood crises, mental health issues, infectious diseases, and reputational risk.
  • Geopolitical: Geo-economic confrontation, government policy and regulatory changes, regional and global geopolitical instability, political violence and unrest, and terrorist attacks.
  • Technological: Emerging technological risks from modern construction methods, cyberattacks, data fraud and theft, and the pace of digital transformation outstripping implementation of standards.

With an extensive global network and decades of specialized construction experience, Marsh and its Construction team offer innovative and cost-effective risk solutions informed by data and analytics, tailored for each construction project or organization, and supported by dedicated services and claims assistance.

Core insurance coverage

  • Construction all risks/erection all risks.
  • Third-party liability/product liability.
  • Professional indemnity.
  • Construction plant and equipment.
  • Marine cargo.
  • Workers compensation/employers liability.
  • Construction surety bonds, performance bonds.
  • Contractors pollution liability.
  • Cyber insurance.

Construction insurance services

  • Construction insurance market analysis.
  • Construction insurance program design.
  • Program cost indication and benchmarking.
  • Project risk identification and analysis.
  • Input on insurance requirements and risk allocation mechanisms.
  • Captive management.

Risk consulting services

  • Risk finance optimization.
  • Analytics and risk engineering.
  • Claims solutions and advocacy.
  • Strategic risk consulting.
  • Climate and sustainability advisory.
  • Cyber risk assessment.

Speak with a Marsh representative

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Our people

Guy Fitzgibbon

Kelly Outram