Blueprint for Agent Success: Construction Business Insurance Insights

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Logo: Travelers. Text: General Contractors, What you need to know, A blueprint for success, Data Centers.
A large industrial building with multiple loading docks stands in the foreground. Construction equipment and materials scatter across the lot. In the distance, a sunset casts a warm glow over the landscape. Lights glow within a vast warehouse under construction. Text: Jessica Norcross, Director, Construction, Energy and Marine, Travelers.

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JESSICA NORCROSS: I'm the industry edge professional for Construction, Energy and Marine at Travelers Insurance.

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Jessica and another man walk through the construction site. Many contractors in reflective vests assemble a building.

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We are here in Texas with one of our general contractors, Brasfield & Gorrie, who's building a series of data centers.

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We fly into the data center through an open garage door. Text: Jerry Morgan, Project Director, Brasfield & Gorrie.

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JERRY MORGAN: This project started in 2021 and has since grown to 10 buildings over 2.5 million square feet.

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Chace Larson, Senior Superintendent, Brasfield & Gorrie. Jerry and Chace walk side by side.

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CHACE LARSON: Data centers are built at hyper-speeds due to the clients' demands.

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In an aerial time lapse, the data center assembles below.

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On any given day here, we'll have around 1,250 workers on-site.

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Two men carry a metal pipe on their shoulders.

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Most buildings will have about 40-plus subcontractors, so you see a lot of traffic in and out and around the site.

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Text: Jobsite safety. Adam Kallstrom, AVP, Construction, Energy and Marine, Travelers.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: So a jobsite like this, how do you see subcontractors fitting in?

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Adam and Jessica walk side by side.

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JESSICA NORCROSS: This is a very large project. So there's a lot of specialization.

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Men work atop three cherry pickers. A crane lifts a large wood panel.

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So we have electrical contractors, we have rigging contractors and we have concrete contractors.

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Men spread concrete. Adam points to a large yellow crane.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: This crane over here, what kinds of things do you see here that could potentially fall more in that high-hazard category.

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The crane lifts another large wooden beam.

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JESSICA NORCROSS: Well, the lifting of the item is going to obviously cause for some hazards, whether that be for the people around, or even the material that they're lifting. They do need to make sure that the area is secure and that they're watching what's going on and have great communication.

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The crane swings around a stone beam and places it horizontally between two vertical building posts.
A man saws through cables. One man hammers a wooden stake as another uses a drill. Another contractor uses a jack hammer. Text: Professional Risks. We pass through a stone beam on a rolling cart. Contractors examine a blueprint.

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So the general contractor is going to need to engage with the architects and engineers to determine if any changes are going to correspond with anything else that is going on with the project.

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Jessica smiles at Adam as they walk through the jobsite together. Two men twist a lever.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: And I think, when you do make significant changes like that, certainly construction defects can be very big.

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A man uses a telescope to eye the surrounding area.

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JESSICA NORCROSS: Yes, we could be changing walls or foundation work. And that is going to change the aspect of the project itself. And they do need to collaborate with the architects and engineers to get that done.

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Text: Builders' Risks. A man operates an excavator.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: You've got quite a bit of expertise when it comes to thinking about some of the hazards that general contractors have to deal with on a site like this.

JESSICA NORCROSS:

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Footage of a fire hydrant, a man walking past a puddle and a swirling hurricane flash past.

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Yes, we would need to be concerned about theft, vandalism, fire, water damage and severe weather.

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Contractors drill and sledgehammer on a construction site.

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The general contractor is going to secure the coverage, since they are overall responsible for the project.

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Text: Contractual Risk Transfer. Contractors sledgehammer, saw and shovel.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: Contractual risk transfer is probably the one exposure that general contractors have because they have to deal with so many subcontractors in building a project like this.

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A man eyes a blueprint.

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Our risk control professionals, as well as our underwriters, really work with general contractors so that we can best protect those general contractors. If there were to be a loss, that liability could be transferred to the appropriate party.

JESSICA NORCROSS: When it comes to Travelers, we really are dedicated and focused to the construction industry.

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Two contractors walk across the glossy data center floor.

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We have a dedicated risk control, underwriting and claim service.

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The sun sets over the completed data center.

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And with that, we work with general contractors and subcontractors in the industry to focus on the work at hand.

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Logo: Travelers. Text: General Contractors. Want to know more? Visit travelers dot com slash construction blueprint. © 2025 The Travelers Indemnity Company, All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.

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A red umbrella logo: Travelers. Text: General Contractor: What You Need to Know. Adam Kallstrom, AVP, Construction, Energy and Marine, Travelers. Workers in hard hats and reflective vests work on a construction site near train tracks.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: I lead a group of industry-edge construction professionals at Travelers. And our folks are really meant to empower our underwriters with deep construction expertise and knowledge, we provide training -- to really support the construction customer.

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Construction workers do exercises, swinging their arms together. A scaffold bridge spans a river. Heavy machinery is parked nearby. 

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We're here today in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the Walk Bridge project, and we're working with general contractors who are going to be replacing the existing bridge with a new hydraulic bridge.

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A silver train crosses the bridge. Matt Riley, Project Director, Cianbro.

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MATT RILEY: This corridor is the main commuter corridor for rail traffic from New Haven to New York City. The biggest challenge with train traffic is you can't just move it around like you can with interstate traffic and open up work areas.

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Workers talk near large pipes stacked on the ground.

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ADAM KALLSTROM: General contractors typically sit at the top of the food chain in any given construction project. They also assume a tremendous amount of financial responsibility on any given project.

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A train speeds on the tracks overhead. 

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The Walk Bridge project is a very unique operation. One, it's divided by a river. The second, because of the location, there just is a higher level of exposure to having things go missing from the job site.

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A large drill spins. Machinery floats on a barge beneath the bridge. 

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So securing the site is a key exposure that general contractors are responsible for. Our risk control consultants do a lot of site survey work to help contractors identify where they may have weaknesses in protecting their overall job site from theft and vandalism.

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Workers carry materials out of a shipping container.

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CRT, contractual risk transfer, this is for general contractors, really their key exposure that they face, right? Because they have so many different relationships on a project.

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A crane lowers parts over the construction site dug into the ground. Workers carry beams across a catwalk below the bridge.

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And so as they work with other subcontractors, they want to transfer that liability or that risk to those subcontractors.

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A machine lays down a large pipe on the barge. 

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Projects like the Walk Bridge are so complex. The biggest challenge is really making sure that all of the subcontractors that you have on site are qualified to do the work and to make sure that that work is executed appropriately.

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Workers direct a delivery van and measure pieces of wood. 

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They also are responsible to make sure that the project is completed in the manner in which it was designed and specified to prevent future construction defect risks from happening after a project is complete. We have dedicated underwriters. We have dedicated risk control consultants, and we have dedicated claims professionals so that we can help our customers, one, get their employees home safe, two, make sure that the contractual risk transfer for general contractors is done appropriately. 

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Workers don full bodysuits. 

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And we really want to help them identify critical exposures that they may face and better ways that they can help mitigate some of those exposures.

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A red umbrella logo: Travelers. General Contractors: Want to Know More? Visit travelers dot com slash Construction Blueprint. © 2024 The Travelers Indemnity Company. All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.