Contractor insurance built around the work you actually do.

Tell us your trade, the jobs you take on and what your contracts require. We’ll help you compare the coverage options that fit.

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Trades we place

Every trade below is placed by a HIFA commercial broker. Not listed? Still worth a call.

Electricians

Fire and faulty-workmanship risk, plus tools that live in the van.

Plumbers

Water damage travels. One fitting can reach every floor below it.

HVAC

Rooftop units, hot work, and equipment left on site between visits.

Framing

Framing and drywall

Height work, subcontracted crews, and the certificates a GC will ask for.

Roofers

Height and hot work narrow the market. Placement is the whole job.

Concrete

Pours that cannot be undone, and heavy plant moving between sites.

Excavation

Buried services, shoring, and damage to what you did not dig.

Landscapers

Seasonal crews, trailers, and machinery stolen from open sites.

Painters

Overspray, solvent storage, and working inside occupied buildings.

Carpenters

Tools, site liability, and finished work you are still answerable for.

Specialty trades

Unusual work needs a market that understands it before it prices it.

DON’T SEE YOUR TRADE?

We probably still place it.

Tell us what you do and how you work. A commercial broker can confirm the markets and coverage options available for your operation.

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905-573-7471

WHO THIS IS FOR

Is this you?

If any of these describe your business, a commercial broker is worth the conversation.

Trades working as subcontractors for general contractors who set the insurance requirements

Owner-operators with one truck and a trailer full of tools

Crews of five to fifty working residential, ICI or municipal projects

Trades that have just been asked for $5M limits, additional insured status or a waiver of subrogation

Contractors who have started subcontracting portions of their own work

WHAT CAN GO WRONG

The claims we see most in contracting.

Common risks

Third-party property damage or bodily injury during a project

Theft of tools and equipment from a truck, trailer or unsecured site

Faulty workmanship claims arising months after completion

A subcontractor’s inadequate coverage falling back onto your policy

Failing a contract’s insurance requirements and losing the job

Coverage to discuss

Commercial General Liability

Commercial Property

Commercial Auto

Builder’s Risk

Which coverage applies depends on the work you do and what your contracts require.

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 percentage of your revenue is residential versus ICI versus municipal?

02

Do you work above three storeys, and do you do any roofing, hot work or excavation?

03

What is the total replacement value of tools and equipment, and where do they sleep at night?

04

Do you subcontract any of your work, and do you collect certificates from those subs?

05

Are any of your contracts requiring $5M limits or wrap-up coverage?

06

Do you do any work in the United States, even occasionally?

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REAL CLAIM EXAMPLES

Two situations worth understanding.

Site property damage

A concealed supply line is struck during a bathroom renovation, flooding the unit below. Commercial General Liability may respond to the third party’s damage and defence costs.

Illustrative only. Whether a policy responds depends on its wording, limits and exclusions.

Tools stolen overnight

A locked trailer is broken into and tools are taken. Tools and equipment coverage may respond at replacement cost, subject to the scheduled limit and any requirement that the trailer be secured or alarmed.

Many policies limit or exclude theft from an unattended vehicle unless specific conditions are met.

WHY HIFA

What a specialist broker does differently.

We read the insurance clause before you sign

Send us the contract’s insurance section. We will tell you line by line what your policy satisfies and what it misses — additional insured wording, limits, cross-liability, waiver of subrogation. Finding out afterwards is expensive.

We know where trades policies actually leak

The ‘property being worked upon’ exclusion, tools left in the truck overnight, a residential policy when half the revenue is commercial, subcontractors carrying limits below yours. We check these four first because they are a common reason claims get declined.

Certificates when the job needs them

A certificate you cannot produce is a job you cannot start. Certificate and additional-insured requests from active clients are treated as urgent.

WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICE

Two contractors doing similar work can price very differently.

What affects your premium

Trade classification and the scope of work actually performed

Annual gross receipts and payroll

Split between residential, commercial and industrial work

Value of tools, equipment and mobile plant

Subcontractor spend and whether certificates are collected

Claims history over the last five years

What to have ready

A plain description of the work you perform and do not perform

Estimated gross annual receipts for the coming year

Schedule of tools and equipment with replacement values

Annual subcontractor costs and your certificate-collection practice

Any contracts specifying insurance requirements

Letter of experience or loss runs from your current insurer

WHERE WE WORK

The western GTA.

Serving contractors across Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga and Hamilton, including Halton and Peel municipal work.

Common questions

What contractors ask.

Do I need my own insurance if I only work as a subcontractor?

In almost every case, yes. General contractors normally require subcontractors to carry their own Commercial General Liability before allowing them on site, and they will ask to be named as additional insured. Relying on the GC's policy also leaves you exposed if a claim is directed specifically at your work rather than at the project as a whole.

Does my commercial auto policy cover the tools in my truck?

Generally no. Commercial auto covers the vehicle and liability arising from its use. Tools and equipment carried in or stolen from the vehicle normally need a separate Tools and Equipment or Contractors Equipment coverage, and that coverage often carries conditions about how the vehicle is secured.

A contract is asking for $5M in liability. Can I get that?

Usually yes. Where a primary $2M policy is in place, the additional limit is often most economically arranged through an umbrella or excess liability policy sitting above it. Send us the clause and we will confirm what the contract actually requires — the wording sometimes asks for more than the headline number.

How quickly can I get a certificate of insurance?

For active clients we treat certificate requests as urgent and typically turn them around the same business day. For a new client, the certificate follows binding, so the timeline is really the quoting timeline — which for a straightforward trade is usually a couple of business days once we have your information.

What is the difference between CGL and Builder’s Risk?

Commercial General Liability responds to injury or damage you cause to third parties. Builder's Risk (course of construction) covers the project itself — the structure and materials — while the work is underway. A contractor doing substantial new build or major renovation typically needs both.

Does my policy cover mistakes made by my employees?

Liability arising from work performed by your direct employees is generally covered under your CGL, provided the operations fall within what you declared to the insurer. This is exactly why an accurate description of operations matters: work you did not declare may not be covered when it goes wrong.

READY TO TALK?

Let’s make sure the policy matches the work.

Tell us what you do, where you work and what your contracts require. A commercial broker will review the operation before approaching insurers.

Get a Contractor Quote

Book a Call

Want to talk now?

905-573-7471