McGriff has served clients for more than 100 years. In 1982, several turn-of-the-century financial service companies merged to form McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc. (McGriff). As McGriff grew and expanded from its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, new offices were strategically opened in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Antonio, Seattle, and St. Louis.
In February 2004, McGriff merged with BB&T (NYSE: BBT) Insurance Services to form what is now the 5th largest insurance brokerage in the nation. McGriff elected to partner with BB&T because of their commitment to support and enhance the culture that led to McGriff’s success. We have maintained our independence, customer focus, and exceptional management team. The backing of BB&T, one of the nation’s largest financial holding companies, allows McGriff the platform and resources to continue to grow and expand its operations nationally and globally.
CONSTRUCTION RISK SERVICES
Our risk practices group include: construction risk services, surety, energy/marine, commercial, financial services, transportation, and aviation. With more than $3 billion of group annual premiums placed into the market, McGriff enjoys an excellent relationship with all major underwriting partners.
The construction risk services practice group engages with clients at all levels, from smaller contractors needing risk transfer products to the more sophisticated risk financing options, such as captive insurance companies, self-insured programs, and contractor controlled insurance placements.
Our organizational structure supports its client-centered approach to doing business. It is an extremely flat organization staffed with employees that are first and foremost in the insurance and risk management business, regardless of what leadership level they have obtained. We operate with a minimum of bureaucracy—each group is geared to respond immediately to customer requests. We understand that our viability as a company depends solely on our ability to meet client needs. The entire organization is structured to fit the customer, because customer satisfaction is our most important objective.
RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Just as design is important to a construction project, program design is equally vital to a risk management program. MSW integrates best management practices with innovative and traditional risk solutions to achieve the optimum cost-effective approach for our clients. The following are some key strategies that we utilize when tailoring your risk management program. These proven strategies are very effective in reducing the overall cost of risk for our construction and industry clients.
Risk Financing: We evaluate financing options that make practical sense for each client, whether it’s a captive insurance alternative, a highly leveraged guaranteed cost placement, or a Consolidated Program approach for the construction team.
Safety Management Consulting: Reducing losses is the only sure way to control long-term insurance expenses. From pre-job assessments to drafting a safety manual, from substance abuse to orientation and training, MSW’s safety professionals will work with clients to implement a comprehensive safety program. A hallmark of our program is our focus on prevention—we work closely with the project teams to identify and prevent losses before they occur.
Claims Management: With properly managed claim efforts in place, the results of losses can be mitigated. This requires both knowledge of the claims business and knowledge of the contracting business.
Risk Allocation: Risk management services include a Best Practices audit on contract documents to insure that risks are allocated properly, and in our client’s best interests. This involves contract reviews as well as subcontract audits for risk allocation compliance. This aspect of the business is often overlooked by our competitors.
Loss Analysis: We work with a client’s existing loss history to not only compute expected losses, but to understand how and why the losses occurred. This analysis is a critical step in overall program designs.
THE SURETY GROUP
McGriff, Seibels & Williams’ Surety Group focuses exclusively on meeting the contract and commercial surety bond needs of our clients. We provide surety programs for a wide range of industries, including construction, energy, financial, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and real estate.
Our surety programs are tailor-made for each client, and we work hard to make each relationship a long-term partnership. We know that every client is different, and we work closely with each of them to understand their unique needs. Awareness of strategic goals is a critical prerequisite for development of a successful program. n
For more information about McGriff, Seibels & Williams and the services offered, visit www.mcgriff.com.
