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Testimonials
S.W. Cole has been a Terra owner/insured since 1986. As an owner, we appreciate Terra's sound underwriting practices and successful financial management strategies.
As an insured, we appreciate the company’s outstanding service; they understand our business and our needs. We frequently take advantage of Terra's contract review services. Our questions are always answered promptly, and that can be crucial during contract negotiations. Terra also promotes and reimburses the cost of participating in organizational peer review. S.W. Cole has been through the process six times and we have derived great value from each.
Terra is an industry leader. I look forward to a continued partnership for many years.
Bruce P. Gray, P.E.
President
S. W. Cole Engineering, Inc.
Terra was GCI’s first professional liability insurance provider and, for 25 years, Terra has been our only professional liability insurance provider. Various brokers have told me that GCI could “do better” elsewhere, because “elsewhere” offered lower rates. But professional liability insurance is not the only thing Terra provides. What’s even more important is Terra’s staff. Competent, concerned, and committed are good words to describe them. They respond quickly and well to questions about contracts, and they provide reassuringly effective guidance on navigating potential claims. Terra also offers outstanding education programs and provides excellent information on its web page. Terra genuinely wants to help its owner/insureds become better firms, which is one of the reasons I so strongly recommend Terra to younger firms that need help up the learning curve. Terra is also the company to call for those who have no interest in playing “musical insurance companies” or who are tired of nonrenewal notices and/or wildly fluctuating insurance rates. Bottom line: Terra is really good at what it does.
Daniel G. Longo, P.E.
Chief Executive Officer
Geotechnical Consultants, Inc
It takes more than good service to have a client for life. Terra has more. That’s why Duffield Associates has been with Terra for 30 years. For one thing, the companya has outstanding products. We’ve had a “retro” policy for about ten years and it’s worked out great for us financially. So have Terra’s Active Remediation Management and Engineer-Led Design/Build coverages. They’ve permitted us to provide turnkey services for a number of our clients and allowed us to expand into new service areas. Terra is also supportive of our business. On several occasions, Terra has given us funding to support leadership transition and participation in professional development activities, like Fundamentals of Professional Practice. And while it takes more than good service, having a client for life cannot be done unless the service is extraordinary, and Terra’s is just that. The company’s legal staff assists us with contract reviews and gives us guidance on how to negotiate key issues that arise. And in those rare instances when a claims situation seems to be developing, Terra is by our side, doing whatever it can to mitigate the impact on our firm. There’s no other company out there that does what Terra does.
R. David Charles, P.E.
Chief Executive Officer
Duffield Associates, Inc.
Terra has always been there for our firm. The company has stood beside us
when times have been difficult and continually works with us to find ways to reduce
liability exposure and contain professional liability insurance costs. Terra acts more like a trusted advisor than an insurance company. For Schnabel, Terra is a true business partner.
Gordon M. Matheson, Ph.D., P.E., P.G.
President/CEO
Schnabel Engineering, Inc.
2008 marks NTH Consultants’ 40th year in business. Terra Insurance Company has been our strategic partner for the last 25 of those years. We remain loyal to Terra because of its:
- exceptional responsiveness, guidance and support, loss-prevention programs, and investment returns;
- valuable contract advice, especially in the area of contract review, including Terra’s sample contract provisions and Risk Management Advisories; and
- outstanding guidance and practical suggestions on how to keep small problems from growing into larger ones.
Terra also supports programs that bring significant value to our business practices and bottom line, by:
- underwriting our participation in ASFE’s Peer Review program, and offering premium credits for participation in ASFE’s Fundamentals of Professional Practice and rebates for attending ASFE meetings, and
- offering its own Staff Educational Opportunity grants to support project management and loss-prevention training efforts, like NTH’s internal Technical Project Management Academy.
Terra continues to be one of the best business partners NTH has ever had!
Kevin B. Hoppe, P.E.
Chief Financial Officer
NTH Consultants, Ltd.
The care and skill that we experience in every interaction with Terra are unmatched. Terra is more than just a professional liability insurer; it's a partner in risk management. The people there are our trusted advisors and educators. They have redefined the very meaning of "value-added" in the insurance industry.
Kurt Fraese, L.G.
CEO
GeoEngineers, Inc.
French & Parrello has been a Terra insured and shareholder since 1983, a time when it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get professional liability insurance coverage for a geotechnical practice. Little did we know that our $10-per-share investment would increase to nearly $243 per share by the end of 2008 or how profound an impact Terra would have on how we do business. Terra has continually been way ahead of the curve with regard to risk management and the need to educate their insureds. As our practice evolved from geotechnical to our present multi-discipline engineering mix, Terra was there with us. To us, Terra is far more than an insurance vehicle: It’s our friend, sharing in the good times, supportive in the tough times, and singular in its commitment to improving our practice.
Laurence E. French, P.E.
Chairman
French & Parrello Associates, P.A.
Terra is an important part of our everyday business operations, and not just because it’s the provider of our professional liability insurance. Most importantly, Terra interacts with our staff and advises us on client-developed contracts with language that appears out of the ordinary. When we ask for advice, Terra assigns an experienced attorney who reviews the contract and gives us confidential guidance about language that could be problematic. The attorney also explains the issues, addresses the nuances of the language and what they mean in a court room, and provides talking points for discussion with the client. If we need more assistance than that – attorney-to-attorney discussion, for example – Terra provides that, too.
Terra also helps us focus on quality. The company encourages us to undergo Peer Review and pays almost the entire cost. The findings of Peer Review and the recommendations we receive help us manage the firm more effectively, for the benefit of our clients, our employees, and our principals. The impact has been substantial, in both planning and implementation.
Terra also makes it clear that we're not just another insured; that we're as important to them as they are to us. The CEO visits us often, to get to know our people better and to reinforce the fact that Terra genuinely wants to help us succeed.
Terra is a great company to do business with.
Paul C. Rizzo, Ph.D., P.E.
President / CEO
Paul C. Rizzo Associates, Inc.
Stellar returns on our investment. Unequalled risk management guidance and education. Responsive contract review and assistance with negotiations. A genuine interest in the success of our firm, recruitment of a Peer Review team whose competencies and experience were ideally suited to focus on our most pressing needs. A staff that is responsive, professional, and downright friendly. You might think I was describing an outstandingly good management consultant. In fact, I’m describing Terra Insurance Company, an organization whose business is to write professional liability insurance policies that meet the specific needs of its owner/insureds.
BSK has enjoyed its relationship with Terra for nearly four decades. In my two years at the firm’s helm. I’ve come to understand why. Terra demonstrates the high performance standards that it expects of its owner/insureds by providing the guidance, programs, funding, and assistance required to create and maintain an extraordinary loss-prevention/risk-management culture. By adopting that culture, we do things the right way and we save money directly and indirectly on our insurance costs.
Possibly the single best thing about our relationship with Terra is the individual attention and care given to each of its insureds. Everybody on Terra’s staff knows who we are, knows our business, and works tirelessly to help us find the appropriate solution or remedy when the need arises. Terra is so much more than just an insurance company. Terra works for us and with us as a trusted advisor.
Richard E. Johnson, P.G., C.E.G.
President
BSK Associates
DOWL HKM has been in business for more than 40 years, beginning as a small, Alaska-based engineering and surveying company with one office in Anchorage. We’ve been insured with Terra RRG for the last 20 years, a period that’s seen our initial investment in Terra grow 20-fold. DOWL HKM has grown, too. Today we are a company that consists of 420 top-flight professionals who work in 15 offices throughout the western United States and generate annual revenues of more than $50 million. Because of our strong revenue growth and diversification, we have been courted by other PLI carriers promising lower rates and better service. Not once have we been tempted to price shop or leave the program for supposedly greener pastures. Why? Because Terra is our business partner. The company provides a quality service and has worked diligently with us since “day-one” to craft an evolving risk-allocation product uniquely suited to our needs and preferences. Today, that “best-fit product” recognizes DOWL HKM's appetite for risk and our desire to keep our rates low and be rewarded for good risk-management performance.
Terra has won our loyalty by going the extra mile with programs such as:
- financial support for risk-management and project-management training,
- pre-claim advice,
- contract review and consultation services,
- financial support of organizational Peer Review, and
- state-of-the-industry presentations and consultation on emerging
issues and trends.
While the marketing terms "clients for life" and "trusted professional advisor" are tossed around in the consulting world, in the case of Terra and DOWL HKM, we mean it.
Stewart G. Osgood, P.E.
President
DOWL HKM
GeoConcepts has worked with Terra since our inception in 1999. Terra’s value goes beyond providing insurance coverage when a problem occurs. Terra works proactively with us to reduce our business risks, and it’s a particularly valuable resource when we enter a contract negotiation. In many cases, Terra has given us effective discussion points to challenge poorly written agreements or one-sided terms. That assistance has resulted in more favorable terms and conditions with our clients. All Terra staff members are dedicated to responding quickly to our needs, and its senior staff – from the CEO on down – do a great job of getting to know the people who represent their insureds.
All Terra insureds are also Terra stockholders, and that’s another important aspect of our relationship with Terra: Ownership creates an extra incentive for all owner/insureds to work hard to reduce the risk of claims, because fewer claims improve the bottom line of our Terra investment.
Identifying Terra’s contributions to our firm’s growth and success is easy. Terra’s emphasis on Peer Reviews, its promotion of ASFE involvement, and its financial support of staff education and development have helped us become a better, more successful firm than we otherwise could have been. We value Terra’s expertise and experience. Terra’s willingness to share them with us has really helped separate us from our competition.
Tadeusz W. “Ted” Lewis, P.E.
Principal
GeoConcepts Engineering, Inc.
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