Claims portfolio review & management
Where most engagements start
We review every open claim, challenge reserves with the adjuster and drive stale claims to closure before the valuation date that sets your mod.
Construction safety & claims consulting
Fewer injuries. Faster claim closure. A lower cost of risk.
West Consulting works with residential and commercial subcontractors in California and Nevada on the two things that drive insurance cost: the claims already open, and the injuries that haven't happened yet.
- Independent: no coverage placed, no commissions
- Claims and prevention in one engagement
- Cal/OSHA and Nevada OSHA experience
CA + NVTwo states, two different jobs
Residential & CommercialSubcontractors are our focus
Claims + PreventionBoth halves of your mod
Captive fluencyFrequency funds and refunds
Services
Five service lines, each built around the moment you need it
Nobody buys a safety program because it is a good idea. Contractors call the week something forces the question. Engagements run from a one-time portfolio review to ongoing retained advisory.
Experience mod analysis & reduction
Timed to your valuation date
Your mod is arithmetic, and the worksheet shows the inputs. Most we audit carry at least one misapplied payroll classification or one claim valued at a reserve that no longer matches reality.
Cal/OSHA & Nevada OSHA citation response
The most time-sensitive work we do
Most contractors abate correctly and document it badly, then pay the full penalty anyway. The informal conference turns on the package, not on the fix.
Safety programs & training
Assess, build, train, hand off
A written program nobody trained on is worse than no program, because it proves you knew the standard. We deliver the program, the training that makes it real and the records that prove both.
Captive readiness & advisory
Retained on your renewal cycle
In a group captive, every open claim is your own money sitting in the frequency fund. Claims management stops being an insurance task and becomes a treasury task.
Retained advisory
Most engagements continue after the first project. Retained clients get a monthly claim review with written reserve and closure commentary, direct engagement with the adjuster, quarterly loss analysis by entity and division, renewal and captive meeting preparation, and a call when an inspection or incident happens.
Talk about a retainer →When to call
The calendar decides what can still change
Most of the leverage on your insurance cost sits inside a few windows. Miss them and the number is set for another year.
Renewal − 90 to 120 days
The only window where anything can still change the submission your broker takes to market.
Valuation date − 6 months
The last point where closing a claim still moves your next mod. Most contractors do not know this date.
Citation received
You have 15 working days to contest in both California and Nevada. The documentation you build in the next two weeks matters most.
Serious injury
Getting the investigation, the first report and the return-to-work plan right in the first days shapes the claim for years.
Prequalification rejection
A GC's EMR gate at 1.00 turns an abstract number into lost revenue overnight.
Crossing the state line
A California contractor taking Nevada work, or the reverse, faces a different OSHA authority, comp system and mod.
Captive entry or refund year
Loss cost lands on a specific date, and every open claim is counted against the fund.
New entity or acquisition
Mods, classifications and programs all have to be rebuilt, and nobody inside has the time.
Why West Consulting
What makes the difference
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01
The consultant who does the work writes the report
No junior auditor with a checklist. The person who walks your site and reads your loss runs is the person who signs the findings.
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02
Prevention and claims, not one or the other
Safety firms stop at the program. Claims consultants stop at the adjuster. Your mod is made of both, and the handoff between them is where money leaks.
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03
California and Nevada are two different jobs
Different OSHA authority, different comp systems, different rating bureaus and separate mods. We know where the line falls.
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04
Portfolio and captive fluency
Multi-entity groups, combined and separate mods, frequency fund mechanics and refund timing: the conversation that matters most to an owner.
Who we work with
Built for the trades that carry the most risk
Residential subcontractors
Production and custom home trades with high-frequency exertion, slip, trip and fall exposure.
Commercial subcontractors
Ground-up commercial, tilt-up and data center work with heavy lifts, work at height and tight schedules.
Two-state operations
Crews working both sides of the state line, with two OSHA programs, two comp systems and two mods.
Multi-entity groups
Several operating companies or divisions whose loss data has never been cut apart.
A strong fit if you are
- A residential or commercial subcontractor with roughly 50 to 500 field employees in California, Nevada or both
- Carrying a mod above 1.00, or below it and defending it
- In a group captive, entering one or being pitched one
- Coming off a serious citation, a serious injury or a prequalification rejection
- Relying on a safety person who is overloaded, or on nobody and you know it
What each seat gets
- Owner
- A mod that keeps you bondable and eligible to bid
- CFO / Controller
- Lower premium and less cash tied up in reserves
- Operations
- No shutdowns and no crews standing around after an inspection
- Safety Director
- Backup, and someone to carry the argument for budget upstairs
- Risk Manager
- Loss data you can defend and a clean renewal submission
About the firm
An independent practice that has walked the jobsite and read the loss run
West Consulting LLC is an independent safety and claims practice based in Gardnerville, Nevada, serving residential and commercial subcontractors in California and Nevada. We are not a broker and we are not paid by a carrier or TPA, so there is no commission and no conflict.
We are not a full-time safety manager either. We work alongside whoever owns safety inside your company and take on what one person can't do alone: the portfolio view of the loss data, the claims side, and documentation that holds up in front of a compliance officer.
Representative engagement
Our longest-running engagement is a multi-entity construction group operating in California and Nevada: residential and commercial subcontracting, several operating companies, all members of a group captive. We manage the claims portfolio across the entities, analyze loss data by division, and produce the safety programs and training the field actually uses.
We don't name clients. Yours would get the same treatment.
Questions
What contractors ask first
Our broker's loss control already does this for free.
A loss control visit is a report to the carrier about you. It is useful, and we'd want to read it. What it won't do is call your adjuster and argue a reserve down, build the abatement package after a citation, or sit on your side of the table at the captive meeting. If your broker is doing those three things, you don't need us, and we'll tell you so.
We already have a safety manager.
Good. The engagements that work have someone inside who owns safety. We are not a replacement. We handle what one person can't do alone: the portfolio-level look at the loss data, the claims side, and documentation that has to hold up in front of a compliance officer. Your safety manager usually ends up our best ally.
Can you guarantee our mod will come down?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. Your mod is arithmetic on claims already reported. What we can do is show you which open claims are still costing you, which payroll classifications are misapplied, and which exposures are generating the frequency that sets next year's number. We show you that math before you spend anything more.
Our mod is what it is. Those claims are from three years ago.
The closed claims are locked. The open ones aren't. Anything still open is counted at its reserve, not at what it will eventually settle for. Closing a handful of stale claims before your valuation date can move a mod more than a clean year in the field.
The last consultant handed us a binder. How is this different?
A program nobody trained on is worse than no program, because it proves you knew the standard. We deliver the written program, the training that makes it real and the records that prove both. At the end of every phase, ask us what a compliance officer would ask for, and we'll show you the file.
Isn't this the insurance company's job?
Loss control exists to price your risk and document the carrier's file. The adjuster manages the claim inside the carrier's interest, which is not always closing it. Neither of them works for you. That gap is the whole practice.
We're slammed right now.
That is when injuries happen: more crews, more new hires, more overtime. The first phase is desk work with your loss runs and mod worksheet, and it doesn't cost you a superintendent's hour.
Get started
Let's look at your numbers
The useful first conversation happens with your data open. Send what you have and don't worry about what's missing:
- Loss runs, three to five years, all entities
- Your current experience mod worksheet, not just the number
- Any open citations and their abatement records
- Your written safety program as it stands today
- A payroll summary by classification
We'll come back with what we're seeing and what we'd propose. If we can't move your numbers, we'll tell you that instead.
- rick@westconsultingllc.net
- Gardnerville, NV · Serving California and Nevada