How H. J. Russell & Company Saved $70,000 in Premium and Upleveled Project Management with Shepherd

About the Contractor: H. J. Russell & Company

H. J. Russell & Company is a $500M annual revenue commercial general contractor headquartered in Atlanta and one of the largest African-American-owned construction companies in the United States. Their portfolio spans commercial, civic, infrastructure, aviation, healthcare, and mixed-use development. The work speaks for itself: in addition to iconic projects at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, H. J. Russell & Company also supports a portfolio that includes mission critical data centers, medical, educational, and commercial projects. These projects are proof of an organization that operates at the highest level of complexity, accountability, and scale.

The Shepherd–Procore Partnership

Procore tracks everything from daily logs and subcontractor documentation to safety inspections, incident reports, and toolbox talks. It's a real-time record of how a jobsite is being run.

H. J. Russell & Company is a long-tenured Procore user, which sits at the center of how they manage safety and project performance across their jobs, with particularly exceptional metrics around on-time task completion, inspections, and task checklist documentation. Their Procore use qualified them for Shepherd Savings from their first placement and shaped how the broker and the carrier built the renewal conversation a year later.

At Shepherd, those factors get incorporated into Underwriting because builders should be rewarded for intelligent use of technology that increases accountability and propagates a consistent culture of safety. When safety observations are logged in real time, the gap between what's planned and what's happening on the ground closes fast, and a contractor who runs Procore consistently across their projects is generating data that shows how their safety culture performs over time.

The program

Shepherd and H. J. Russell & Company first partnered in September 2024 on their Primary and Excess Liability program:

• GL: $2M / $4M / $4M
• Auto: $2M
• WC (statutory)
• Lead $10M Excess

The entire program was underwritten through the lens of Shepherd Savings. H. J. Russell & Company's Procore usage translated into just shy of $70,000 in premium savings across two years with Shepherd, and that's only part of the story. As part of the program, H. J. Russell & Company gets value added advisory from Shepherd about how to improve their Procore use for improved project management and even further premium savings. 

How Shepherd Savings Works

Shepherd Savings runs on a straightforward premise: contractors who use modern technology on their jobsites get premium savings and value added benefits on their Shepherd policies in recognition of their evolved practices. The data they're already generating becomes evidence of better risk management, and Shepherd prices that evidence in, unlike any other insurance provider. H. J. Russell & Company qualified because of the practices they had already implemented in their business. 

The Procore Utilization Dashboard

Shepherd Savings goes far beyond providing a way for builders to save on insurance premiums. It's also a data partnership designed to help contractors use tools in the ways that actually move the needle on claims outcomes.

Shepherd has studied the relationship between Procore usage and claims data across our book. The findings are clear: consistent, disciplined use of the platform correlates with lower claim frequency, lower severity, and better overall loss experience. And Shepherd has identified certain behaviors that drive better outcomes than others. 

That's the power of the Shepherd Procore Utilization Dashboard. When contractors enroll in Shepherd Savings, their Procore metrics feed a monthly report showing how their current Procore usage compares to the patterns we've identified as drivers of strong loss performance. It gives project teams a tangible, actionable picture of where their practices work great and where there's room to improve. The goal isn't just to reward good behavior in this renewal cycle, it’s to help contractors build long-term habits that drive better outcomes for their employees, their jobsites, and their insurance costs.

The Outcome: Premium Savings & Stronger Project Management

“The program has delivered meaningful results for our team, including significant premium savings. We are also leveraging the Procore data to drive consistent use of the platform across projects. This has enabled stronger reporting, clearer visibility, and improved project management overall.” — Michael Swick, Senior Vice President, H. J. Russell & Company