LGNA & Butler-Leavitt Insurance

08/28/2026

The certificate came back clean. The claim still landed on the general contractor.

A certificate proves a policy existed the day it was issued. It does not prove the limits are adequate, that the additional insured endorsement was ever actually added, or that the policy is still in force three months into the job.

Specialty work compounds that. Your crew is on someone else's property, some of the labor belongs to subs you do not supervise, and a permit skipped in month one can surface as a defect claim years after the punch list closed.

Coverage is one layer. Contract language is another. Safety that runs daily, not the binder version, is the third. Claims find the gap between them.

Buying a policy is a transaction. Managing risk is a process that has to keep pace with how the business is operating this year.

Four checks worth running before your next project, in the carousel.

08/26/2026

The policy paid. It just did not pay enough.

That is how underinsurance shows up. Not as a denial, not as a fight with an adjuster, but as a check that covers most of the rebuild and leaves the rest sitting on the homeowner.

A house that was insured correctly five years ago is not automatically insured correctly today. Materials cost more. Labor is harder to book. Code requirements have changed since the original build, and the new house has to meet the current ones, not the old ones.

Most policies carry an inflation guard to keep up. It helps, but it tracks general price movement, not what framing crews and lumber actually cost in northern Arizona right now. Those two numbers drift apart quietly.

Add wildfire underwriting to that. Pricing and coverage availability near wildland areas have tightened, which means the year to find out where your limit stands is not the year you need it.

The fire is the event. The gap is what you carry afterward.

Worth asking when your dwelling limit was last measured against an actual rebuild cost, not a market value or a purchase price. It is a short conversation, and it costs nothing to have it before something forces it.

08/18/2026

The business you insured three years ago isn't the one you're running.

You added a truck. Then two. You started doing a service you didn't offer before. You picked up a client whose contract requires higher limits than you carry. You bought equipment that lives in the truck overnight now.

None of it felt like an insurance event. All of it changed your exposure.

Policies don't grow with you. They renew at whatever was true the last time someone asked. The gap opens quietly, and it usually gets found by a claim rather than a review.

The fastest growing businesses are frequently the most underinsured ones, for exactly this reason.

If your revenue, headcount, or fleet is meaningfully different than it was at your last renewal, that's worth an hour of somebody's time.

08/14/2026

"He's a 1099, so he's not on my workers compensation."

Then someone falls off a ladder, files a claim, and the state looks at how the relationship actually worked. Who set the hours. Who supplied the tools. Whether he worked for anyone else.

If it looks like employment, it gets treated like employment, whatever the paperwork says.

Class codes drift the same way. A crew member coded as clerical who spends half his week on a roof is a misclassification, and it usually surfaces at audit as a bill nobody planned for.

Workers compensation isn't the policy owners get wrong on purpose. It's the one that goes stale while the business changes.

Ask when your class codes were last checked against what your people actually do.

08/12/2026

"We're too small to offer health insurance."

That's usually where the conversation ends. It shouldn't.

In Arizona, group health is available to employers well below the size most owners assume. Carriers do set requirements worth knowing: a minimum number of eligible common law employees, a minimum employer contribution toward the employee-only premium, and a minimum share of eligible employees actually enrolling once valid waivers are accounted for.

Contractors, temps, and volunteers generally don't count toward group size. That surprises people running lean.

Here's the part that changes the timeline. A new group doesn't wait for an open enrollment window. Coverage can typically start any month once paperwork, contribution, and participation requirements are met.

Most small employers up here aren't choosing not to offer benefits. They're assuming they can't.

If nobody has actually checked, that's worth an hour.

08/10/2026

Monsoon season leaves most of its damage where you can't see it.

Things worth walking once the storms taper: roof seams and flashing, drains and gutters that took on debris, HVAC units that sat in standing water, exterior sealant, and any grading that shifted around the building.

None of it looks urgent in August. All of it costs more in December.
Check your buildings and know your coverages!

07/24/2026

It's not hard to remember, but it's easy to forget. 🤯

Monsoon season doesn't check flood maps. A parking lot floods. A loading dock fills with water in under an hour. A storm drain backs up two blocks from the nearest wash, and a business that's never worried about flooding is standing in it.

Here's the part that catches people off guard. Flood damage is excluded from a standard commercial property policy, the same way it is on a homeowners policy. If floodwater gets into your building, that policy you've had for years was never going to respond to it.

And it's not just the building. If a flood shuts your doors for a few days, business interruption coverage is what replaces the income and payroll you're still on the hook for while you're closed.

This is the pattern every monsoon season. Most businesses aren't uninsured. They're insured for the storm they pictured, not the one that shows up.
The storm doesn't ask what you assumed your policy covered.

We put together a closer look at the coverage gaps businesses across Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott, and the Verde Valley run into most this time of year, including flood coverage's 30-day waiting period and why the timing matters.

Link in comments.


LGNA & Butler-Leavitt Insurance

07/01/2026

The 4th of July is a few days away!

If you are planning a backyard gathering this summer, your homeowners policy deserves a look before the guests arrive.

Most people do not think about liability coverage until after something goes wrong. A pool, a grill, a few fireworks, and a yard full of people creates more exposure than a standard policy may be built to handle.

We put together a guide for Arizona homeowners that breaks down what is and is not covered, plus a printable safety checklist covering pools, grills, fireworks, and general gathering safety.

Worth a read before the long weekend.

https://www.leavitt.com/lgna/blog/before-you-fire-up-the-grill-is-your-home-protected-this-4th-of-july

Before You Fire Up the Grill: Is Your Home Protected This 4th of July? | Butler-Leavitt & LGNA

06/21/2026

Good business, good w**e, good people, and a Father's Day to remember.

Shane, Alec, and I spent yesterday at Tilted Earth, Page Springs Cellars' summer celebration in the Verde Valley. We sponsored this one as the insurance broker behind it, but the best part was bringing our spouses along and getting to kick off Father's Day weekend together as a team, getting to know each other a little better outside the office.

It's been a week full of birthdays and milestones for our team, so there was plenty to celebrate. Great team-building, good w**e, and lots of laughter.

Thanks to Page Springs Cellars hosting, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

06/13/2026

Summer in Phoenix doesn't ease into anything. For businesses in the trades, the season brings a specific set of risks all at once: triple-digit heat that puts crews at risk, monsoon storms that can tear through a job site overnight, equipment pushed past its limits, and longer daylight hours that unfortunately give thieves more to work with too.

The good news is that every one of these risks is manageable with the right preparation. Hydration protocols and acclimatization plans protect your crews from heat illness. Daily site inspections and secured materials keep monsoon damage to a minimum. Preventive maintenance and surge protection keep equipment running when temperatures spike. And perimeter fencing, lighting, and secure storage go a long way toward protecting tools and materials after hours.

We put together this guide for trades businesses across the Valley, including the claim categories where we see summer losses show up most often, from heat-related workers compensation claims to wind and water damage on commercial property.

Proactive risk management protects your people, your projects, and your bottom line. If you'd like help reviewing your coverage before the season peaks, our team is ready at http://leavitt.com/lgna .