Homebuilders feuding with their insurer They say the board pads its

0 Comments | Florida Times Union, May 24, 2008 | by WALTER C. JONES

ATLANTA — Already reeling from a credit crunch and economic slowdown, residential contractors now find themselves in the middle of a fight between their trade association and the company that sells the worker’s compensation coverage they are required to carry.

This week, members of the board of the Home Builders Association of Georgia voted to sponsor a coup to topple the leadership of the insurance company the trade group spawned in 1992. They’ll urge their members to use their positions as policyholder-owners of the mutual insurance company to vote out Builders Insurance’s board for padding their compensation, reducing dividends and withholding money from the association.

For its part, Builders Insurance says the fight is over the association’s inability to charge yearly dues of $400-750 once the insurer stopped requiring policyholders to join the trade group in April. Now they can buy coverage if they pay dues of just $60 to a rival organization, the Contractors Benefit Association.

Also in April, the company stopped paying royalties to the Home Builders, a 28 percent loss in the association budget.

Bill Beazley, owner of Bill Beazley Homes Inc. of Augusta, is among those revolting because he contends Builders Insurance directors — including four former association presidents — are looting the company through their overcompensation. Beazley served on the insurance board when it was founded to provide a reliable and affordable source of coverage for contractors during a weak economy.

He said association members weren’t paying attention as the company changed because of who the directors were.

“You can’t imagine how these guys were respected, so respected you didn’t question them,” he said. “… Greed is like dope
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