Business liability insurance for contractors & trades in Canada

Generally speaking, a tradesperson is a sub-contractor who specializes in a particular trade. When you’re building a home, for example, you require professionally installed wiring. If your general contractor is not qualified for that particular job, they’ll hire the specialist in that particular trade, an electrician.

If you work in the province of Quebec, yes. Without an RBQ license, no insurance company in Canada can provide you with the right coverage. Not only could an insurance claim be denied, you may also receive supplementary fines from the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec.

The easiest way is to call a broker like KBD, who’ll ask you a few questions particular to your trade.

Yes, we do! We partner with Intact Insurance to give online commercial insurance quotes to all types of contractors. It takes about 5 minutes, and then we follow up with you to answer any additional questions you may have.

This is a question we get asked a lot! Here are a few tips:

• Avoid making small claims.
• Increase your deductible.
• Educate employees on risk management.
• Keep your tools in secure areas and make sure they’re locked away.

Yes! Business insurance for plumbers in Montreal can be difficult to find, so it’s best to speak with a broker as opposed to a direct insurance company.

Yes. We place the majority of our electrician businesses with Lloyd’s Insurance.

Yes, the two terms are used interchangeably. When we say tradesperson, we are referring to a trade specialist, like an electrician or plumber.

As with all other business insurance products, your annual liability insurance cost depends on several factors. Here they are in order of importance:

• Claims history – The fewer claims you have on file, the lower your contractor liability insurance cost will be.
• Annual revenue – The higher your annual revenue, the higher your insurance cost; more revenue means more customers are receiving your service, which increases the chance of causing damage to another person or someone else’s property.
• Experience in the field – Contractors with decades of experience and no liability insurance claims will pay less annually.
• Your trade – Some trades pay more for liability insurance than others because the job is more dangerous. An example would be a welder (higher cost on average) vs a painter (lower cost on average).

Depending on your trade specialty, it can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes.

It’s possible to tailor an insurance policy to fit your business needs and budget. Some contractors only require commercial general liability insurance while others require much more. Here are the most common insurance protections we offer:

• Liability Insurance – Covers you during your business activities if you cause damage to someone else’s stuff.
• Contents Insurance – Covers the belongings inside your office from fire, theft, vandalism and water.
• Tool Floater Insurance – Covers your tools from theft and mysterious disappearance wherever you go.
• Installation Floater – Covers the materials and labour during the course of a project.
• Commercial Automobile – This insurance works the exact same way as your regular Car Insurance policy. You can buy “one-way” or “two-way” insurance.
• RBQ Bond – In order to work in your trade, you need to have the proper licensing as well as a bond issued by any tradesperson business insurance company in Montreal or Canada.

Yes! KBD has a great business insurance program with Lloyd’s of London for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) contractors.

Absolutely! Painters don’t pay very much in annual premiums in comparison to the other trades.

Yes we do, with a minimum deductible of $10,000.