for the pros of this site:

Date 12-04-2002 12:21

I'm certain it is nothing personal. I looked quickly and see you asked about liability insurance. This is a topic that has been covered before and is very difficult for anyone to tell someone else exactly what they need. I own a business with 9 employees and my insurance needs are very different than what you would need. I always suggest to people that you sit down with several local insurance agents and have a long discussion with each one about what you want to do. Please don't take it personally that no one answered you, look at it this way, at least you didn't offend anyone.

Mike Sherman
Shermans Welding

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 12-04-2002 12:55

The questions you have about insurance may be hard for insurance agents to answer. I tried to obtain prices for commercial liability and professional liability and when I explained I performed contract inspection work the professional liability became something that they didn't handle.

Your insurance questions may be better asked to some of the various insurance companies. There is also a search utility that you can use to search for keyworods wiithin the text of this forum. It may shed some light on your previous questions.

The glove question could probably be answered by using a search engine such as

http://search.dogpile.com/texis/search?q=%22Gloves%22+and+%22Purchase+Online%22&cat=web&top=1

Most questions that I have seen here get answered. You're not doing anything wrong that I can see. As far as worthy goes, some people may not feel "worthy" to answer certain questions. I have passed on questions because I as not confident my response would help the person.

Have a good day.

Gerald Austin

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 12-04-2002 14:07

I too would give an honest answer if I could to your question, but my experiences with insurance will be different as well, because we employ 150 employees at this loction and 50 more at another location. A small business that is just getting started may not need the types of coverages that some other larger companies need to stay out of trouble.
Wish I could help,
John Wright

By DGXL

Date 12-04-2002 17:01

mc:
I looked back a ways in the archive post's, your post's have not always been vacant. Your last inquiry rergarding liability insurance has had numerous posts as noted above in previous postings. But, the last time the insurance issue was in here it was for inspection services and not for performing welding, particularly on vehicles.

I tried to obtain liability insurance during the short time (3 years) I owned my own welding business. In the early 80's, insurance was several thousand bucks. As they discovered I was repairing heavy equipment, gas tanks, and other "hazardous" operations, the insurance quote more than doubled. (Now I was looking at around $5K or so.) Of course I could not affford that being a one man show working out of a small shop.

The liability insurance for those who do not perfom ANY type of construction/modification/addition/fabricate/erect for anything road worthy or on structures (an inspector), the insurance is less than $1K per year which I posted months ago. Actually my insurance went down again this year for no accidents.

I would not feel left out, people ignore or do not respond what I say on a daily basis. I didn't even get a Happy Thanksgiving, boo hoo...

;-)

By mcavana (**)

Date 12-05-2002 03:17

dgxl, happy thanksgiving, merry christmas, and a happy new year to you!!!! thank you everyone for your responces. I had no idea that i had asked such a difficult question. This liability insurance is a lot more complicated then i thought it would be. I will try to find an insurance co that can answer my questions... but it looks like something i won't be able to afford, not for a side job that only pays a couple hundred bucks a month.

thanks again

mcavana
"crybaby"

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 12-05-2002 14:24

mcavana,
If you don't know ask the question, it can't hurt a thing. That's how I figure things out, ask questions and if I don't understand, I'll ask again.
There are alot of intelligent folks that montitor this BBS on a regular basis, Ask lots of questions! You'll might be able to impress someone you work for someday! Problems arise at our shop and I've taken credit for the info I found right here!(but not without a special "thanks" to the replies)
Have a good day,
John Wright

By mcwelding (**)

Date 12-06-2002 00:59

hey crybaby,
just kiddin, no seriously, i thought about posting an answer to yer question about insurance but being i just got my first welding insurance policy last month and i have read the 80 pages in the book i was given 10 times and have no idea of what it means of what is covered and what is not, i thought not to post. the policy i got is 1,000,000 coverage, 500,000 each occurance. it covers my welding operations for me the sole proprietor. it is 1159.00 per year. the agent has been our family bussiness' agent for a very long time and i know what he got me is in my best interest. im still getting my list of questions ready to ask him. since my welding is after i give my dad 40hrs. im not doing something everyday or week. sometimes i feel not worthy of some of my posts because im not a full time welder. even though i have some asme sec9 certs for mig steel and stainless and tig zirconium, i try to remember thats why we are here asking questions. no one can see when my face turns red when i realize im not as knowledgable as i thought i was. keep firing away with questions and make as many sparks as you can.
rich
oh, as far as the side job making only a couple of hundred a month, you gotta start somewhere. 5 years ago i only had a lincoln sp125+ little mig box. now i got a miller trailblazer 301g, hi freq box, super s32p wire feeder, spectrum 2050 plasma cutter, gas powered compressor, maxstar 140 str inverter, trailer, torches, etc. with no overtime at the family business anymore, i gotta make a living doin sumptin. dont get discouraged , if you like welding and it makes you feel good, then dew it!

By mkulikow (*)

Date 12-09-2002 18:43

Ok,

I am trying to start a one man show building boat docks, I plan on bringing in close to $10k/year profit and $1k in insurance seems a bit much. Any idea or tricks of the trade to get these things lowered?

I know it's probably a dead end but why not try.

And since its a business expense some of it is deductible I assume :)

Thanks,

- Mike

By DGXL

Date 12-09-2002 18:47

It's all deductable.

By mkulikow (*)

Date 12-09-2002 18:49

Well then,

Worse case scenario I am poor-ass (pic of me next to the definition in the dictionary) that is in the 28% bracket, I pay $1k a year and get $280 back, thats only $720 a year, I guess that's not too bad to cover your ass.

- Mike

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 12-09-2002 18:53

Insurance is all about "what if's". What if something happend to one of your docks and a 100 grand boat gets damaged. Will you be glad you spent the 1 grand on insurance (that you took off your taxes anyway)?
Just a thought,
John Wright

By mkulikow (*)

Date 12-09-2002 19:37

Well see, that's just it. The recreational boat docks I build are "not engineered" to withstand the weight of anything more that the people on it. In fact, all these people that tie their boats to the docks don't usually realize this, their boat could float away and the dock manufacturer will laugh at you. That's why they never sell you cleats to tie your boat to, you have to put them on yourself.

I also used my mechanical engineering knowledge to do the work and show that I can support 1300lbs on one section of dock with only 2 pipes.

I have a good friend with a business degree helping me write the fine print to cover my ( | ) but I see what you are saying.

I am getting insurance quotes as we speak.

- Mike

By mcavana (**)

Date 12-10-2002 03:52

let me know what kind of quotes you get

By mcwelding (**)

Date 12-10-2002 23:41

hey mike,
you might wanna talk to an accountant about becoming incorporated in some way. if you have a major problem and you get sued and the insurance doesnt cover it or all of it, well quess what they come after next? i talked to my person a few months ago and she said if i start to do more than i am now to get incorporated. you can also get an umbrella policy to cover beyond the normal insurance. when you are incorporated, you as a person are safe if you have all yer t's crossed and i's dotted. this is the first year i have insurance and am turning everything into the tax person. im sure im gonna keep evolving as time goes on. maybe make a product of my own when times are slow. good luck
rich

By mkulikow (*)

Date 12-11-2002 12:30

Rich,

I was going to do an LLC or something like that but to start off that way seems like overkill. I was even going to start off under the table and decided to at least take the first few steps. I imagine my first few years will at best gross around $10k which after taxes, materials, consumables, only nets me around $3k.

That is also until I get some real customers, like boat shops etc that will buy 30 sections a year, then I can look into things like incorperating.

After looking over the numbers the business insurance I am going to get should easily cover any liability that I would "actually" be responsible for.

Thanks,

- Mike