Experiential Fabrication Insurance · Nationwide
Placed correctly. Serviced like it matters.
Specialized commercial insurance for experiential marketing fabricators, set and scenery builders, and brand activation companies. Most brokers code that as construction and move on. We classify it correctly, place it with carriers who want the risk, and stay on the account long after it binds.
Most fabrication shops get coded as construction, and they overpay for it. Wrong class codes mean inflated premiums, exclusions that don't belong in your policy, and carriers who decline the account before they've read a word about what you actually build. It doesn't stop at price. A risk placed with a carrier who thinks they're insuring something else is a risk that can lose its coverage at renewal. We fix the classification, and we place it where it belongs.
New to vetting a broker for a shop like yours? Here's how to tell if one actually gets the work.
Industries We Serve
If your shop designs and builds physical things that put a brand in front of people, we built a practice around you. That means we understand your operations, your contracts, and the exposures that come with the work.
Design-and-build shops producing custom physical activations, installations, and branded environments for marketing clients.
Scenic fabricators producing custom set elements for live events, touring productions, retail environments, and branded experiences.
Agencies and production companies executing large-scale experiential activations for consumer and B2B brands.
Shops handling on-site installation and removal of custom builds — where property-at-work exposure and install risk live.
Custom prop houses and specialty fabricators serving experiential, retail, film, and entertainment clients.
Studios integrating AV, technology, and physical fabrication to build immersive brand environments and interactive experiences.
The Classification Problem
The single most expensive insurance mistake a fabrication shop can make is letting a broker code their operations as construction. We spend more time getting the story right than most brokers spend on the entire account.
Our Approach
We don't shop a GL/WC quote and call it done. We build an insurance platform that matches how your company operates today and grows to fit where you're going.
We start with a detailed understanding of your operations — what you build, how you build it, where you install it, and who your clients are. That story becomes your underwriting narrative: a precise, high-fidelity document that tells carriers what your risk actually looks like and why it's controlled. This is where we find premium.
We place each line with carriers who have real appetite for fabrication risk — not carriers who'll take it at inflated rates because they don't know the difference. Workers' comp, GL, auto, inland marine, installation floater, umbrella: each line is placed with the right market, at the right limits, with the right terms for your contracts.
We help install the safety infrastructure that makes your loss history better: shop controls, a designated safety leader, PPE compliance, return-to-work programs, fleet telematics and driver coaching. At renewal, we don't just re-market — we show carriers what improved and why. Year over year, you become a better risk.
Coverage
Every line positioned specifically for fabrication and experiential operations — not boilerplate packages built for other industries.
Often the biggest premium driver for fabrication shops. We fight for correct classification codes across all job functions and build a documented safety program that gives carriers confidence.
// Biggest premium leverPlaced with careful attention to how your operations are described — fabrication vs. construction framing matters enormously for both pricing and carrier appetite.
Trucks, vans, and transport vehicles — paired with driver-centered controls including dash cams, telematics, driver coaching, and progressive discipline programs.
// Fleet controls reduce premiumsYour shop, tools, equipment, raw materials, and work-in-progress inventory. Structured for fabrication environments where equipment values are high and stock fluctuates by project.
Coverage for tools and movable equipment whether they're in your shop, in transit, or on a job site anywhere in the country.
Protects custom-built property from the moment it leaves your shop through delivery, installation, and client acceptance — essential for high-value builds.
// Critical for install exposureMajor brand clients and venues routinely require $5M or more. We structure umbrella limits that satisfy contract requirements without overpaying for limits you don't need.
COIs, additional insured status, waivers of subrogation, and venue requirements, handled as core work rather than an afterthought.
// Operational friction, solvedWhy Shops Work With Us
We understand how a fabrication shop actually operates, so we classify it correctly, represent it accurately, and negotiate from real knowledge of the risk. The result is lower premiums and better coverage.
We help shops formalize what they already do well and fix what they don't: written load-in and load-out procedures, cleaner housekeeping, tighter driver selection and onboarding. Fewer claims, less severe claims, and premiums that follow the improvement down.
COIs go out same day, correct the first time. Questions get concrete answers, no jargon, no hedging. New clients tell us they feel understood for the first time, that the process is finally organized, that they've stopped chasing their broker to get things done.
Client Results
Real outcomes for experiential fabrication and set building companies that came to us misclassified, underserved, or overpaying.
Sets & Effects came to ISSI with unexplained premium increases, difficult audits, and a broker who told them they had no other options. A full coverage review revealed serious gaps that would have left them exposed to major uninsured losses.
ISSI petitioned the NYCIRB to correct misclassified Workers' Comp codes — resulting in a 47% WC premium reduction — and connected them with a service to recover retroactive refunds from prior policy years.
Production Theory had been with the same carrier for years — renewals arriving late, premiums rising with no explanation, and an umbrella limit their carrier couldn't increase. It was creating a hard ceiling on the business they could pursue.
ISSI uncovered strong risk controls that had never been presented to underwriters. That narrative gave carriers a reason to compete — delivering a 39% premium reduction and umbrella limits that finally matched their client requirements.
Get Started
Tell us about your shop, your clients, and the kind of work you take on. We'll start with the story and build the program from there. If you're already in good shape, we'll tell you that too.
[email protected] · A division of Insurance Solutions & Services Inc. (ISSI) · issi-nj.com