Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors?
For what it's worth, I believe IEEE offers a professional liability policy to members. If it's in line with their other insurance, the price will be reasonable (I've carried their life insurance for years, and their medical policy when I was out on my own for a while). I wouldn't be surprise if ACM has a similar offering. -- Miles R. Fidelman, Director of Government Programs Traverse Technologies 145 Tremont Street, 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02111 mfidel...@traversetechnologies.com 857-362-8314 www.traversetechnologies.com ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
RE: [OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors?
Michael, I've been toying with the idea of doing some side work in the GIS arena as a sole-proprietor or an S-Corp. In either case, if I move forward with this, I would carry some basic business insurance. Having said that, I can tell you I found it difficult to find a professional liability insurer that understood the GIS world and was willing to insure that type of work. I think "typical" business insurance would be easier to come by. I can also tell you that insurance requirements are certainly an extra burden for the sub-consultant. I have been in situations where I negotiated with a sub on the insurance coverage for a particular project. (In this case I accepted lower coverage limits.) I have also been in a situation where my company turned down work as a sub because of heavy insurance requirements. As Bobb mentioned, the sub has to pass the cost of that coverage along to the client. You can get a sub with insurance coverage, but you will pay for it. The more coverage you ask for, the more you will pay. Good question. Landon Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268 Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658 From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Bob Basques Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 10:33 AM To: OSGeo Discussions Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors? Michael, I've run into this problem for years, and the simple answer is, if you can afford the bother and cost of getting insurance to cover your works and the resulting products, just get it, it really helps with everything across the whole project spectrum. Now, having said that, I've only recently gotten Insurance and this was from the bidders end, as in bidding on a project, the project dictated some fairly heavyhanded (IMO) insurance requirements that we needed to provide, and in the end, the cost was just charged back as a reduction in hours available for working. There was really no way around it in the end. While I'm basically against adding in any unneeded extras, there are times when it's just easier to have the insurance available. I won't lie to you though, it was a rather rigorous task to get the insurnce into place, but it's typically only a one time deal and it's all setup for the next time too. Anote here, there are also options for getting insurance on a project by project basis, but the bidder will need to have an insurance agent in their pocket to be able to execute something in short order when needed. bobb >>> "Michael P. Gerlek" wrote: In the past I've hired some people for contract or consultant work (both open source projects and more general stuff) -- generally these people have been independent, one-man shops found by word of mouth and reputation, as opposed to hiring someone from an agency. I'm getting pushback now from the administrative side of my company saying that any contractor I hire needs to have proof of insurance. I understand the legal reasons for this, but I'm wondering how many of you out there actually have business/contractors insurance? Do companies you work for insist on it, or not? And how many of you are formally set up as LLCs or sole proprietorships or such? [while this is likely a US-centric issue from the hiring side, I'm interested in international responses too since I've hired some foreigners as well over the years] -mpg ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately.___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors?
Michael, I've run into this problem for years, and the simple answer is, if you can afford the bother and cost of getting insurance to cover your works and the resulting products, just get it, it really helps with everything across the whole project spectrum. Now, having said that, I've only recently gotten Insurance and this was from the bidders end, as in bidding on a project, the project dictated some fairly heavyhanded (IMO) insurance requirements that we needed to provide, and in the end, the cost was just charged back as a reduction in hours available for working. There was really no way around it in the end. While I'm basically against adding in any unneeded extras, there are times when it's just easier to have the insurance available. I won't lie to you though, it was a rather rigorous task to get the insurnce into place, but it's typically only a one time deal and it's all setup for the next time too. Anote here, there are also options for getting insurance on a project by project basis, but the bidder will need to have an insurance agent in their pocket to be able to execute something in short order when needed. bobb >>> "Michael P. Gerlek" wrote: In the past I've hired some people for contract or consultant work (both open source projects and more general stuff) -- generally these people have been independent, one-man shops found by word of mouth and reputation, as opposed to hiring someone from an agency. I'm getting pushback now from the administrative side of my company saying that any contractor I hire needs to have proof of insurance. I understand the legal reasons for this, but I'm wondering how many of you out there actually have business/contractors insurance? Do companies you work for insist on it, or not? And how many of you are formally set up as LLCs or sole proprietorships or such? [while this is likely a US-centric issue from the hiring side, I'm interested in international responses too since I've hired some foreigners as well over the years] -mpg ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors?
Well, the small business I work for has the professional liability type of insurance. Additionally, the IEEE offers professional liability insurance at a pretty low cost, or so I'm told. I'd imagine many of the members subscribe to that form of insurance, otherwise it wouldn't be offered. I can't speak to the prevalence in the Open Source sector, but in the computer engineering sector this is pretty common. R Michael P. Gerlek wrote: In the past I've hired some people for contract or consultant work (both open source projects and more general stuff) -- generally these people have been independent, one-man shops found by word of mouth and reputation, as opposed to hiring someone from an agency. I'm getting pushback now from the administrative side of my company saying that any contractor I hire needs to have proof of insurance. I understand the legal reasons for this, but I'm wondering how many of you out there actually have business/contractors insurance? Do companies you work for insist on it, or not? And how many of you are formally set up as LLCs or sole proprietorships or such? [while this is likely a US-centric issue from the hiring side, I'm interested in international responses too since I've hired some foreigners as well over the years] -mpg ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] Insurance for contractors?
In the past I've hired some people for contract or consultant work (both open source projects and more general stuff) -- generally these people have been independent, one-man shops found by word of mouth and reputation, as opposed to hiring someone from an agency. I'm getting pushback now from the administrative side of my company saying that any contractor I hire needs to have proof of insurance. I understand the legal reasons for this, but I'm wondering how many of you out there actually have business/contractors insurance? Do companies you work for insist on it, or not? And how many of you are formally set up as LLCs or sole proprietorships or such? [while this is likely a US-centric issue from the hiring side, I'm interested in international responses too since I've hired some foreigners as well over the years] -mpg ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss