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Sometime in my twenties, I started to receive advice from my Dad. As a general rule, my father was not very involved in my early years, partly because in my day, Dads didn’t help with homework, shuttle kids, or go to school meetings and partly because he was often driving a truck, or later, on the road, both as a field man for a regional Work Comp carrier and as a state legislator. By the time I started high school, he had started the Tuscano Agency, and though he worked 12-16 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, he would take a break to attend most of my high school games and events. So, naturally when I started working at the agency, he made up for lost time.

There are many Bill Tuscano-isms those of us who worked with Dad are fond of repeating. One that I was often on the receiving end of was, “If it was easy anybody could do it”. Bill’s work ethic is legendary and I believe it is what continues to fuel him today. If you don’t believe me, just stop at Longbridge Station west of Ligonier, PA and you’ll likely find him moving Amish furniture, running his skid loader or hauling Amish Sheds to a customer’s site.

My contractor, Jerry, is cut from the same mold. Jerry is a one-man operation who will hire helpers, but he can’t keep employees because no one is willing to work as hard as he does. There is nothing quite as reassuring as knowing you have the right person on the job and the confidence that they’ll do the job right. I know this about Jerry because I was his first customer. When he got laid off from the local coal mine, Teri hired him to do the first remodel on my dilapidated farmhouse. Since then, Jerry has done all the renovations and expansions at the Tuscano Agency office building, as well as subsequent expansions at the Rob Tuscano farmstead.

Now that I think about it, we have quite a few Jerrys working at the Tuscano Agency. They are hard working, no-nonsense and trustworthy. I know when I ask them to get something done or when I add another task to their to-do list, they won’t balk. My hope is that you too will come to know them this way – as people that will take care of you and that you know you can count on - because if it was easy, anybody could do it.

Since I’m talking about contractors and renovations, I ought to pitch our ability to write your contractor and vacant property business. We have several excellent markets for writing your ‘Jerry’, whether he (or she) is a general contractor or a tradesman. We don’t just limit ourselves to writing GL on contractors either; we can usually add a tool floater to the policy and we’d be happy to see if we can help on the worker’s comp. Think of us too for writing the building coverage that is under renovation, whether it is vacant or partially so.

We continue to expand our worker’s comp markets, because there continues to be a need. While there is no shortage of carriers willing to write mono-line work comp, finding the right one for your exact risk can be a challenge. Each carrier seems to have their own sweet spot, be it the class like trucking, tree trimming or demolition work, or the right experience mod or premium size. We have several (10 at last count) different carriers writing this class and each one likes something a little different. Before you go to the trouble of sending us a submission, give an underwriter a call and they will be happy to talk through the risk, and advise you on the options we have.

I’ll leave you with another Bill Tuscano-ism – “Everyday I wake up is a good day”. Have a great one!