One California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.epicbrokers.com
AT A GLANCE
Year founded: 2007
Number of Northeast employees: 795
Number of Northeast brokers: 131
Areas of expertise in real estate: Real estate, commercial, personal and employee benefits
ABOUT OUR FIRM
EPIC is a unique and innovative retail risk management and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm, founded in San Francisco, California in 2007 with offices and leadership across the country. EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants has a depth of industry expertise across key lines of insurance, including risk management, property and casualty, employee benefits, unique specialty program insurance and private client services.
Property owners of single buildings or large portfolios need to mitigate loss and satisfy multiple stakeholders. Our dedicated focus on analytics maximizes the positive attributes of your portfolio as it stands today and positions us to anticipate challenges in the future. Our risk profile findings translate into solutions to reduce cost. A customized service platform assures that the “blocking and tackling” is done right the first time. Our team of real estate experts will help you create a customized plan for managing risk with cost-effective coverage.
Our dedicated construction team operates as your business partner and trusted advisor — not just offering transaction-based, reactionary services, but providing forward-thinking consulting and advocacy. Our teams have a focus in the construction space specifically for contractors, real estate, rental equipment operations as well as energy.
Expectations are high in the construction and real estate development industries to deliver on time and on-budget; moving quickly to take advantage of every worthwhile opportunity; maintaining a safe workplace; performing all tasks with a focus on quality craftsmanship and efficiency. Our team understands these expectations and helps businesses in the construction and real estate development sectors meet them.
EVOLVING EXPOSURES
We are 21 months into a hard insurance market and 2021 appears to be a continuation of that trend. The combination of insurance carrier shareholders unhappy with their return on capital/investment; double-digit reinsurance treaty increases as of January 1; a low interest rate environment not providing adequate returns to offset losses in the underwriting area; claim settlements markedly increasing as a result of “social inflation” ; a reduction in capacity especially in the Umbrella/Excess Liability area for challenging risks and insurers needing more capital to absorb the volatility increase in the size of claims, is going to force increases in premiums across all lines of coverage, perhaps with the exception of Workers Compensation. We have targeted strategies and processes to help alleviate some of those challenges.
Cyber-related claims are on the increase and the real estate industry is not immune. Real estate owner-operators and property managers are vulnerable. Retaining tenant bank account records in which personal identifiable information is at risk is ripe for a ransomware attack. Owner-operators and property managers who debit their tenant accounts regularly may be at greater risk as well. Phishing and social engineering fraud claims continue to create challenges. There are multiple insurance carriers willing to write the coverage at competitive rates. The policy language offered by these carriers vary greatly and the devil as they say is in the details.
As a result of COVID-19 and the disappointing inability of clients to collect on their Business Interruption claims, there is a renewed interest in Parametric Insurance products. The policy is a customized solution that will pay for business interruption claims arising from non-physical damage losses, including a pandemic, depending on the amount of balance sheet protection desired. It is possible in some instances to purchase multiyear policies. The product has been around for some time but it is attracting interest in the middle market area, particularly in real estate, hospitality, retail and manufacturing.
