This may not be the hardest insurance market ever, but it sure feels like it. Almost 17 years of ever-easing terms and conditions erased the collective memory of the last crisis in 1985 and the deep dip in costs since then makes the current market's rocketing rates seem so much steeper.
The roller-coaster ride for contractors and design firms already was starting before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as insurers wracked up big losses due to escalating frequency and severity of claims, declining investment income and natural disasters, such as last summer's massive flooding in Houston. Some insurance experts predict that it may be 2004 before the market eases and many years before a soft market reappears.