Fitz Owen: Why the Best Trades Companies Are Becoming Their Own Insurance Owners
Trades Talk PodcastShow Notes
This week on Trades Talk, Justin White sits down with Fitz Owen from Garnet Captive Insurance. Fitz runs business development for one of the most respected group captive programs in the country, working with trades operators who are done watching their insurance premiums balloon 20 to 30 percent year over year despite running safe, well-managed companies.
Justin brings Fitz on to demystify what a group captive actually is, walk through how K&D just joined Garnet’s landscape captive, and unpack the shift from being an insurance customer to being an owner of a for profit insurance company alongside a peer group of the industry’s best operators.
In this episode:
Captive Insurance 101: what a group captive actually is, how members become owners of a for profit insurance company, and how premium dollars stay working for the members instead of the carriers The nuclear verdict trap on auto insurance, why 20 to 30 percent annual premium increases are the new normal for well run trades companies, and how the captive breaks that cycle The math on getting paid back: 45 to 50 percent of premium returning via profit distributions in a zero claim year, plus investment income on loss funding, plus distributions starting 18 to 24 months after your first program year expires How the captive rewires safety culture from the inside: telematics, dash cams, real-time claims handling by a TPA that works for you (not the carrier), and the loss control library built into the captive’s expense load The peer group inside the captive: ~100 members per program capped at ~150, all in the same industries, sharing operating playbooks alongside the insurance conversation
Fitz’s trade secret is simple. Belief in and deep understanding of your product is what separates the operators who win from the ones who just work hard. Whether you are selling landscape services or selling insurance, once you fully understand what you are offering, everything gets easier.
If you are a trades operator watching your auto premium balloon every year, a CEO tired of your insurance carrier winning while you do the safety work, or a leader looking for a peer group of top performers wrapped inside a real financial structure, this one is required listening.
JW Group Website: https://www.jwhitegroup.com/ Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-white-%E2%98%85-35b7a210b/ Justin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinwhiteceo/ Justins Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@justinwhiteceo Fitz Owen (Email): [email protected] Garnet Captive Insurance: https://www.garnetcaptive.com/ K&D Website: https://kndlandscaping.com/ K&D Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanddlandscaping/ Disruptors Community: https://www.skool.com/disruptors Disruptors Advantage Newsletter: https://disruptors-advantage.beehiiv.com/
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