Commercial property: Staying in the picture

Ask any broker how they can add value for their commercial property clients and the chances are their first answer will be: provide a great claims service. However, while there is no denying that a prompt claims service matters to the client, the value add actually starts right at the beginning, at the point when the broker tells the insurer and underwriter exactly what it is they are insuring.

Richard Wyatt, property underwriting manager at Ecclesiastical, speaks for just about all underwriters when he says: "What we want is as clear a description of the risk as we can get." Unfortunately, he adds, in the real world, even for a specialist niche insurer like Ecclesiastical - which does about half its business providing all-risks cover for churches and church halls - a really clear view of the target property is hard to come by.

For large contracts, Ecclesiastical will often want to use