Five Business Pack Declines. One Occupation Label.

A NATA-accredited geotechnical firm based in Western Sydney approached us for a full insurance programme. The business operated a laboratory and field testing operation, specialising in pre-construction geotechnical work for large commercial building sites, aged care facilities, and industrial developments.

They needed three policies: Professional Indemnity, Public Liability, and a business pack covering contents, glass, and business interruption. With an existing PI arrangement through another insurer approaching renewal, the client was looking for a competitive alternative and a broker who understood the geotechnical sector.

The scope of work was predominantly commercial and industrial - not high-rise residential. That distinction would turn out to be critical in the PI placement.

We took the PI to market across several specialist underwriters active in the geotechnical space. The key insurers approached included Ocean Underwriting, About Underwriting, and the client's incumbent insurer who was running a competing quote to the end.

For the business pack, we approached a broader panel including major insurers typically comfortable with commercial occupations.

Each submission included details of the NATA accreditation, the commercial and industrial project focus, revenue profile, and the specific mix of laboratory and field investigation work.

The PI market was competitive but came with a specific condition. The best-priced insurer was comfortable covering geotechnical work on commercial and industrial sites, but imposed a restriction: high-rise exposure (buildings of ten or more floors) had to stay below 20% of the book. The client confirmed that virtually all of their work was on industrial and commercial sites, not high-rise, so this wasn't a practical limitation.

The real story, though, was the business pack. Five out of six insurers declined a standard business pack for a geotechnical firm. Not on claims history, not on revenue, not on location - purely on the occupation classification. A NATA-accredited laboratory operation with a clean record couldn't get basic contents and business interruption cover from five of Australia's largest insurers.

This is the kind of gap that surprises business owners. You can run a fully accredited, well-managed operation and still find that most of the market won't quote you on a straightforward business pack because of how your occupation is coded.