Some underwriters are reporting an increase in broker submissions from civil construction projects. After recent years of declining project numbers and workforce shortages, the news could be a sign of the sector’s recovery.
“Most of the opportunities for us are coming in the civil construction sector,” said Andrew Reid (pictured above), executive director of TLC Insurance, an underwriting agency focused on insuring heavy machinery through brokers. Reid said many of the insurance requests brokers are bringing in concern quarrying, mining and earth moving projects.
The recent National Infrastructure Pipeline (Pipeline) report, published Tuesday, could also suggest that civil construction projects are showing tentative signals of rebounding. The latest update included $125 billion of public and privately funded initiatives underway, representing an increase of $13.5 billion relative to the March 2025 Pipeline update.
Reid suggested that a big driver of broker submissions is investment like this.
“It's driving more growth and more construction projects and we're starting to see that come through [in submissions from brokers],” he said.
Much of this Pipeline investment is coming from the government and being used to fund a range of national and local projects. These include state highway maintenance, prison redevelopments, bridges, water and wastewater upgrades and public facilities. These projects can bring in significant work for insurance brokers because of their construction risk, asset value and contractual complexity. Each requires comprehensive and tailored insurance solutions for construction, liability, plant and equipment - and workforce safety.
A major government-funded civil construction project is the redevelopment of Christchurch Men's Prison and the Hawke's Bay Prison. The exact dollar value of these redevelopments is not known but could run into many millions. Other projects in the 2025 Pipeline that are bringing in work for brokers include maintenance of the state highway network for 2024-2034, worth billions of dollars.
Insurer competition from the soft market is helping facilitate this construction sector uptick. Brokers can now place cover for high-risk natural disaster exposures, unusual construction types and complex infrastructure projects, often at more competitive rates than in previous months.
In response, some underwriters are gearing up for more work. Reid said TLC is increasing its resourcing from a staff numbers perspective. The firm has added two additional underwriting development managers to cover the South Island and Lower North Island.
“So we're making sure that as we see an increase in influx in quotes, we can service those quotes that come in through from brokers,” he said.
Are you a broker currently working in the civil construction sector? What are your most challenging insurance issues? Please tell us about the projects you are involved with below.
