Coverage built around the project from start to finish.
From Builder’s Risk and liability to subcontractors and contract requirements, we’ll help you structure the insurance around the project.
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WHO WE INSURE
Builders we place.
Every builder type below is placed by a HIFA commercial broker. Not listed? Still worth a call.
General Contractors
General Contractors
Wrap-up, subcontractor certificates, and the limits the contract demands.
Home Builders
Home Builders
Course-of-construction cover, until the day the keys change hands.
Commercial
Commercial Builders
Plaza, industrial and institutional builds, each with the owner’s insurance schedule attached.
Developers
Developers
Long builds, phased values, and lenders with their own requirements.
Renovation
Renovation Companies
Work inside a structure someone else already owns and insures.
Design-Build
Design-Build Firms
You carry the drawings as well as the build, so design liability follows.
Project Mgmt
Project Managers
Advice and oversight. Professional liability, not only site cover.
Construction Mgmt
Construction Managers
Acting for the owner, named on their programme, holding the schedule together.
PROJECT STARTING SOON?
Send the contract before you send the crew.
Send the insurance schedule from the contract, the project value and duration, and your current declarations pages. A broker reads what the owner and lender require, then builds the placement around it.
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WHO THIS IS FOR
Is this you?
If any of these describe your business, a commercial broker is worth the conversation.
1
You are managing several subcontractors on one site and their work becomes your responsibility to the owner
2
Project values are large enough that the contract, not the insurer, dictates the insurance you carry
3
A lender or an owner wants Builder’s Risk in place and evidenced before funds are released
4
A wrap-up is being considered on a project, or the owner is demanding one and expecting you to fund it
5
You run residential and commercial work under the same company, on one policy that was rated for neither
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
The claims we see most in construction.
Common risks
Fire, wind or water damage to a structure still under construction
Significant third-party liability on an active job site
A subcontractor’s work causing damage that surfaces after handover
Theft of materials, fixtures and appliances before the building is locked up
Damage to the existing structure during a renovation or addition
Delay in completion causing financial loss
Failing to meet the insurance requirements written into the contract
Design and specification responsibility taken on under a design-build contract
Coverage to discuss
Builder’s Risk / Course of Construction
Wrap-Up Liability
Contractors Equipment
Professional Liability (design-build)
Availability, limits and extensions vary by insurer and by operation. A broker confirms what applies to yours.
WHAT WE’LL ASK YOU
The questions that change the policy.
An online form asks what you are. We ask how you operate before approaching insurers.
01
What project types do you take on, and what are your typical and largest project values?
02
How much of the work is subcontracted, what limits do you require of your subtrades, and do you collect certificates?
03
Where are the projects, and is any of the work performed outside Ontario?
04
Is the work structural, does it involve excavation, or does it touch an existing occupied building?
05
What is your annual revenue, and the value of work in progress at any one time?
06
What do your contracts, lenders and owners require you to carry, and is a wrap-up expected of you?
Rather work through these with a broker?
REAL CLAIM EXAMPLES
Two situations worth understanding.
Water loss during construction
A supply line is opened before the building is closed in. Water runs overnight through two floors of new flooring, drywall and millwork, and the schedule slips by six weeks. A Builder’s Risk policy may respond to the physical damage, and where soft costs and delay in start-up were purchased, to the interest, fees and extended site costs that follow.
Illustrative only. Subject to policy limits, the deductible and course of construction terms, including any testing and commissioning conditions.
Subcontractor incident on site
A passer-by is injured near the hoarding, and the claim alleges one of your subs caused it. As the contractor in control of the site, you are named in the action regardless. Your CGL may respond to defence and to any award against you. Whether the sub’s own insurer picks up the file depends on the certificate you hold, the limits behind it and whether the additional insured and cross-liability wording was actually endorsed.
Whether a policy responds depends on its wording, limits and exclusions.
WHY HIFA
What a specialist broker does differently.
We read the insurance schedule before you sign
The insurance schedule, additional insured wording, waiver of subrogation and the completed operations period are what the owner will actually hold you to. We work through those clauses before the site starts, not after a certificate is rejected. Where a contract asks for something the market will not write, you hear it while the terms can still be negotiated.
Builder’s Risk, wrap-up and CGL placed as one programme
We arrange course of construction cover around the project’s value, duration, construction type and site protection, not a standard template. The three policies are coordinated so the gap between course of construction and completed operations is planned rather than discovered after a claim. Bid, performance and labour and material bonds are arranged alongside, built around your firm’s financial position and experience.
We manage the subcontractor chain
Requiring subs to carry proper limits and to name you as additional insured is one of the cheapest protections a general contractor has. We help you set and enforce the standard. Certificate control is then an ongoing job, because expiring certificates and missing endorsements are what turn a sub’s loss into your claim.
WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICE
Two builders running similar projects can price very differently.
What affects your premium
Total project value and duration
Construction type — frame, non-combustible, and so on
Site location and security measures
Experience and claims record of the general contractor
How much of the work is subcontracted, and the limits you require from subs
Whether a wrap-up is in place, and who it is intended to cover
Excavation depth, structural work and proximity to existing buildings
Annual revenue and the value of work in progress at any one time
What to have ready
Project plans, budget and schedule
Details of site security: fencing, lighting, watchman
List of subcontractors and their insurance requirements
Contract documents specifying insurance obligations
Current declaration pages and a five-year loss run
Completed value, hard and soft costs, for each project under way
Lender or owner insurance requirements, and any wrap-up notices
Schedule of owned equipment with serial numbers and values
WHERE WE WORK
The western GTA.
Residential and commercial projects across Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga and Hamilton, from infill and renovation to plaza and industrial builds.
Common questions
What builders ask.
Who is responsible for purchasing Builder's Risk insurance?
What is a Wrap-Up Liability policy?
Do you provide performance bonds?
Are soft costs covered if a project is delayed by an insured loss?
How does subcontractor insurance affect my coverage?
READY TO TALK?
A builder programme that matches the contracts you are signing.
Send your current declaration pages, the contracts or insurance schedules on your live projects, and the values of work in progress. You get back where your programme falls short and what the market will write.
Want to talk now?