Fire Resistive

Insurance answer

What is fire resistive? The definition of fire resistance is the measure of time that material or an assembly has withstood a standard fire exposure. Insurance underwriters view buildings for fire resistance with a premise that if part of the structure is wood frame then the building cannot be classed as fire resistive. This would explain why your building would be classed as "frame" when you do have portions that are fire resistive.

Of course there is no one answer in insurance. When the underwriter is rating for your commercial insurance only a part is determined by the construction of the building. Even so a building with cement floor, steel walls and roof will be a lower rate then a building with cement floor, metal clad walls and a wood frame roof.

Some buildings are constructed to stop a fire from spreading within a building - fire barriers. If your building has fire barriers then share this with your broker and insurance underwriter. This could make your business more acceptable and might help reduce rate. Different companies have different rating methods so this is another good reason to use a broker to shop the markets for you.

Insurance help

Most insurance companies regard fire resistive construction as a structure that has its floors, exterior walls, and roof constructed of masonry or other fire resistive materials. Some insurance companies will do inspections on properties. This is to help you reduce claims. The recommendations that come out of such an inspection must be completed if you wish to continue insuring with that company. Depending on the severity of the hazard you could have a set time period to complete then necessary changes or until renewal date.

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