Commercial property insurance

Coverage to protect your physical assets from perils such as fire, water, vandalism, earthquakes and more. If your business owns physical assets like a building or office equipment, you should insure them. If your company rents or leases equipment, the rental company may require you to have your own individual policy.

Property insurance is divided into several subsections:

• Building
• Contents (like office equipment)
• Stock (products in storage waiting to be sold)
• Equipment (like machinery)
• Tools (for example, if you’re a contractor)

There is no fixed cost for business property insurance; it depends on several factors:

• Factors for building property insurance:
  • Your tenants – restaurant tenants are considered higher risk, meaning more expensive premiums in comparison to a metal shop.
  • Construction material of the building – concrete buildings pay less in insurance compared to a wood structure given the risk of catching fire.
  • Congestion – A building located downtown Montreal will pay a higher insurance cost than a standalone building in the suburbs.
• Factors for contents, stock and equipment property insurance:
  • The type of assets you carry – if you sell cell phones (high theft items), you can expect higher insurance premiums than the business selling industrial shelving.

If possible, don’t store high-theft items like golf clubs, clothes, cell phones, computers and laptops. If you do store them, make sure they are hidden and locked away.

Increase your deductible.

Install a central monitored theft alarm that also includes motion sensors.

Try to avoid making small claims.

• Fire
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Water
• Flood
• Earthquake
• Hail / wind
• Lightning
• Smoke

It depends on the lease agreement; sometimes it’s the tenant and sometimes it’s the landlord.

Any company that owns physical assets should purchase a commercial property insurance package.

There are too many to choose from! Companies that have a solid financial standing and rank high in terms of customer satisfaction when it comes to claims include:

• Intact Insurance
• Economical
• L’Unique
• Lloyd’s
• Desjardins
• La Capitale

It’s becoming commonplace for commercial property insurance companies in Canada to offer online quotes. However, not all companies offer this service. Here are two that do:

• Intact Insurance
• Desjardins

KBD works closely with Intact Insurance, so get your online quote by clicking the link on this page!

Have good credit – Businesses with good credit pay less on their insurance.

Shop around – Before you buy a policy, shop around online and inform yourself. Premiums can vary greatly from one insurer to the next.

Be informed – The more information you can provide about your business’ contents, building, stock, equipment and tools, the better. Insurance underwriters who don’t have a clear picture of what they’re insuring are less likely to give cheap commercial property insurance rates.