Contractors, Construction and Trades Insurance

Builder’s risk insurance is designed to cover projects (properties, homes, or buildings, both commercial and residential) that are under construction, renovation, or repairs, from direct damage. It is a form of property insurance that covers property owners and builders for projects throughout the project.

Similar to building and personal property coverage, this protects you against things like weather events that could affect your project, the difference of this one is it is specifically for during the construction project.

Commercial general liability insurance may cover you against claims for bodily injury or property damage to others arising from your contractor or construction activities.

Learn more about Commercial General Liability.

This coverage protects your licensed vehicles – we are talking about everything from your pick up trucks and service vehicles to dump trucks and tractor trailers. When contractors and construction businesses are on the road traveling from the shop to the job site and anywhere in-between, commercial vehicle insurance may cover your vehicles, so incidents don’t slow you down.

Over 5 vehicles? You may qualify for Fleet Insurance.
Which may result in a savings for having multiple policies.

WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) is mandatory in the construction industry.

Unlike Workers’ Compensation, employee liability is not mandatory, though it is highly recommended. Administration errors happen, and an employer’s liability option available can be worthwhile for these situations. Employer liability insurance is coverage that can be added to a Commercial General Liability policy and is designed to protect an employer from those costs of work-related illness, injuries, and deaths. If an accident happens, and your I’s haven’t been dotted and your T’s not crossed, think of employee liability coverage is your safety net.

Learn more and apply for WSIB for your construction business here.

Accidental spills from slip tanks or equipment leaks (oil or fuel) are risks on the job site.

We need to take precautions to protect the environment should a disaster or environmental incident occur. If they do, remediation of these incidents can be costly, and the process to clean up is more challenging, especially if the damage has leaked onto a third-party property. Environmental liability coverage can be added to help cover these kinds of scenarios.

Equipment and Tool Floaters have your tools of the trade covered both in transit and while off-site. There are a couple of ways to set up your coverage, for both tools and equipment:
1. A blanket amount with a maximum limit per individual piece of equipment/tool.
2. A scheduled limit per piece where you tell us what each item is worth, and we identify each item to the insurance company.

It is important to clarify that for insurance policies, “tools” are different from “equipment”. Tools are classified as items that are generally valued up to $1000-2500 (think hand saw, and cordless drill), while equipment includes items that are valued above that (like your bulldozers, and power generators).

Installation floater insurance covers any materials or items that are yet to be installed (e.g. cabinets, countertops, sinks, etc.) in the event that they are lost, damaged, or stolen—regardless if they have made it to the site of the project or if they have been in transit.

More jobs are requiring bonds. This means contractors need to start looking to set up their bond facility in advance to help ensure a successful bid on projects. 

We understand the impact and importance of timely delivery of bonds for your business projects. The initial setup is the most time-consuming, it takes a great deal of information and documentation to secure a bonding facility. Our relationships with our various surety partners helps create trust which streamlines the bonding process. 

Learn more about Surety Bonds.

Wrap Up Liability protects the team involved in a construction project against third party and general liability exposure associated with their project. From owners, developers, engineers and architects to project managers and contractors – it’s an all-encompassing insurance for larger scale projects.