By Tami S. Scott
In the vast, ever-changing construction industry, OneGroup offers companies of all sizes access to experts who understand the risks, demands, and opportunities that come with running a construction business. A leading independent provider of insurance, surety services, risk management, employee benefits and HR consulting, OneGroup provides tailored protection and business solutions for individuals and businesses.
“Contractors don’t need another insurance broker,” said Pierre Morrisseau, OneGroup CEO. “They need an adviser who understands [that] risk, insurance, financial strength and surety intersect with the way they actually run and grow their businesses. Much has changed in the contractor’s world, especially risk, but risk isn’t a silo. We look holistically at the business so it’s a relationship, not a vendor transaction as individual agencies have in the past.”
The Syracuse, New York-based firm launched in the late 1980s when two reputable family-owned insurance agencies joined to form Bailey & Haskell Associates Inc., bringing a combined century of experience serving clients. In 2000, another agency strengthened the firm further by expanding its regional reach. Thus, Bailey, Haskell & LaLonde (BHL) was born.
As clients’ needs evolved, so did BHL. The company expanded beyond insurance, offering employers employee benefits and human resources consulting through a new Benefit Consulting Group (BCG). By 2014, with multiple agencies now part of its core, the company brought them together under one culture and rebranded as OneGroup.
“Over the years, OneGroup has evolved from an insurance agency into a broader advisory partner because our clients’ needs have evolved,” said Morrisseau. “Our goal is to bring the right expertise to the table and, just as importantly, understand how those areas connect. For contractors, that means looking beyond the policy or the bond and understanding the business as a whole, so we can help them manage risk today and prepare for where they want to go tomorrow.”
Today, OneGroup employs over 250 people and serves clients from across the country and internationally. It prides itself on being “a mile wide and a mile deep,” offering contractors access to specialized areas of expertise while understanding how those areas intersect.
That philosophy is also behind OneGroup’s expansion of its surety capabilities with the addition of Chris and Kelly Shea to the team. With a combined 75 years of experience in surety bonding, commercial insurance and risk management, the Rochester-based team adds another layer of expertise for contractors, navigating the connection between risk, bonding capacity and growth. The goal is not simply to secure a bond when a project requires one, but to help contractors understand how their overall risk and financial picture can affect their ability to compete for new opportunities.
OneGroup works with contractors seeking their first bond as well as established firms looking to strengthen an existing program. The goal is not simply to issue a bond, but to help the contractor understand what a surety partner will evaluate and to build a credible case for capacity.
That breadth also extends to the insurance marketplace. As an independent broker, OneGroup works with more than 250 insurance carriers, giving its professionals the ability to evaluate multiple options and develop solutions tailored to each client’s needs.
A relationship, not a transaction
Personable, gracious, sincere, loyal — and deeply rooted in the construction industry. Those are the qualities clients repeatedly use when describing their experience with OneGroup.
Take Lovett Mechanical Inc., a commercial mechanical and plumbing contractor based in Syracuse. In 2010, it had four employees. Since then, it has grown to just under 40.
When asked about OneGroup and its customer service, Owner and President Thaddeus Lovett described it as “excellent.”
“Other companies we’ve dealt with seemed to have a revolving door of representatives. With OneGroup, Brett Findlay has been our main contact from day one, and the office staff who handle our day-to-day needs for both business insurance and employee benefits have stayed remarkably consistent,” he said. “That continuity makes everything run smoother.”
Since 2013, OneGroup has handled Lovett Mechanical’s corporate insurance, workers’ compensation and employee health benefits.
“From our very first conversation, Brett took the time to understand my business and showed a real interest in what we needed,” Lovett added. “That kind of attention isn’t something you find everywhere, and it made the decision to choose OneGroup easy.”
For Findlay, that kind of relationship is rooted in something more than insurance experience. It began with construction itself.
Findlay joined OneGroup in 2012 as a Commercial Insurance Account Executive. He now leads the construction unit as Senior Vice President, Construction Practice Leader. Before entering the insurance industry, he worked in construction for his father, a contractor.
In fact, Findlay was literally sitting in an excavator digging a hole when he encountered John Haskell, principal of Bailey, Haskell & LaLonde, the predecessor of OneGroup. Haskell recognized Findlay’s business acumen and asked to meet with him.
“He says, ‘Hey, I really want to grow construction out. It’s not an area we focus on a ton, but we do have business there.’ So I met with them,” Findlay recalled.
The conversation ultimately convinced Findlay to take a chance on the agency and its vision for construction. At the time, construction was about the agency’s eighth-largest practice area. Today, he said, it is the agency’s second- or third-largest.
A significant part of that growth, Findlay said, came from the agency’s willingness to invest in the construction unit before it had the clients or revenue to support it.
“Pierre gave us the means to build the infrastructure out for the unit before we had clients or revenue to do it,” Findlay said.
Findlay approached that development from the perspective of a contractor.
“What do I need?” he asked. “I need certs and ID cards quickly. I need super-responsive service. We need quick turnaround times. We need expertise with contracts.”
Those needs became the foundation for OneGroup’s construction service model.
“Our service model has been built upon understanding the very specific needs of a construction company,” Findlay said. “Everything we’ve done has basically been built around that premise: What can we do to better serve the client?”
But construction isn’t the only area in which OneGroup’s professionals bring firsthand industry experience to the table.
Megan Coville has more than 15 years of experience in safety and risk management. Her background in occupational therapy at The Arc of Ulster-Greene, a private nonprofit serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, eventually led her to OneGroup, where she began as a Risk Management Consultant and now serves as Vice President of Risk Management.
Initially, Coville’s primary responsibilities included consulting with New York Arc chapters to improve their safety and workers’ compensation programs. She also focused on safe patient-handling programs within health care organizations and coordinated the implementation of OneGroup’s EmploySmart: The Informed Hiring System with clients to improve their hiring processes.
“Many of us have worked in the industry. I worked for one of our clients,” she said, referring to her time at The Arc of Ulster-Greene. “We can think through being in the business, in the operations. What’s important to us? What is the political environment, the economic environment that a traditional insurance person may or may not be able to recognize just because they don’t have their feet in those work boots?”
That same service model extends to other departments.
Senior Human Resources Consultant Brittani O’Connell said her department’s entire existence is built around customer service — a reflection, she said, of OneGroup’s philosophy about the importance of serving its clients.
“My whole role is to support clients,” she said. “I’m here to help them understand the many changes that are happening in the regulatory space, the employment law space. I’m spending a lot of time just talking clients through these changes and helping them understand how it affects their business.”
That support also comes with an emphasis on responsiveness.
“Not only do you typically know who you’re talking to, but we’re really committed to turnaround time as well,” O’Connell said. “A lot of times, the questions that come my way tend to be critical, timely, time-sensitive. It’s not only the fact that they know who they’re talking to, but they know that they’re going to get an answer. We may have to spend some time researching it, but we’re going to turn that around as quickly as we possibly can.”
That responsiveness is an agency-wide standard. Findlay said that if an inquiry comes in before 4 p.m., the client receives a response that day.
“That doesn’t mean you have what you need or an answer before the end of day, but you have a response,” Findlay said. “You know somebody’s working on it.”
Sun Environmental Corp. specializes in environmental services, including industrial cleaning, remediation, waste management, abatement and spill response. The company employs more than 150 people and operates throughout New York State, with locations in Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Albany, as well as in the Philadelphia and New Jersey region.
Having been a client for almost seven years, Sun’s President Matt Notaro can attest to OneGroup’s accessibility.
“OneGroup’s customer service is second to none,” Notaro said. “Their team is responsive and available whenever we need support — 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”
The company utilizes OneGroup’s insurance, risk management and business solutions services and credits Findlay’s expertise and the team’s extensive understanding of its industry and unique needs for why it chose OneGroup.
“We established an immediate connection, and their team took a proactive, strategic approach to understanding our insurance requirements and helping manage our risks,” Notaro said. “Their commitment to customer service, combined with their experience and industry knowledge, has made them more than just a vendor, but a trusted partner for our business.”