What each policy actually does.

Pays when someone outside your business says you hurt them or damaged their property: a customer who trips in your store, a ceiling your crew cracks, a product that fails in someone's kitchen. It also pays the lawyers, even when the claim goes nowhere.

Ask about commercial general liability

Covers the building if you own it, or your improvements if you lease, plus equipment, stock and furniture against fire, theft, water and wind. The limit has to keep up with what it would cost to rebuild today, not what you paid.

Ask about commercial property

Liability, collision and comprehensive for work vehicles, plus hired and non-owned auto for when staff use their own cars or a rental on the company's behalf. Fleets get priced on the drivers, the radius and what's carried.

Ask about commercial auto & fleet

Covers contractors' tools and mobile equipment against theft and damage on site, in transit and in storage. Rented equipment can be added so a stolen skid steer doesn't become your bill.

Ask about tools & equipment

After an insured loss shuts you down, it covers the profit you would have made and the bills that keep coming: rent, payroll, loan payments. It's attached to your property policy, and the waiting period and indemnity period are worth reading closely.

Ask about business interruption

Covers claims that your professional work cost a client money: a missed deadline, a design flaw, bad advice, an overlooked detail. General liability doesn't touch these because nobody was physically hurt and nothing was physically damaged.

Ask about professional liability

Covers the personal liability of directors and officers for decisions they make in the role: claims from investors, employees, regulators or creditors alleging mismanagement. It pays defence costs and settlements. Fraud and intentional wrongdoing are not covered.

Ask about directors & officers

Covers a building under construction or renovation, the materials on site and in transit, against fire, theft, vandalism and weather until the job is finished. A regular home or property policy often excludes major renovation, which is why lenders ask for this.

Ask about builder's risk

Covers the forensic team, legal advice, notifying affected customers, credit monitoring, ransom negotiation, lost income while systems are down, and claims from people whose data was exposed. Canadian privacy law makes reporting a breach mandatory, which is where the costs pile up.

Ask about cyber liability

A bond is a promise, backed by a surety company, that you'll finish the work and pay your trades. Bid bonds, performance bonds and payment bonds for trades and suppliers show up on almost every public contract and many private ones. Bonding is underwritten like credit, so clean financials matter.

Ask about surety & bonding

Covers injury or damage caused by a product you manufacture, import, distribute or sell, including after it has left your hands. Usually part of a general liability policy, but limits and recall exposure need attention for importers and makers.

Ask about product liability

Most general liability policies exclude pollution. This fills the gap for clean-up costs and third-party claims from fuel, chemical or contaminant releases, whether sudden or gradual.

Ask about pollution liability

Protects your receivables if a customer goes insolvent or simply stops paying. It can also help you extend terms to new customers with more confidence, and some lenders will advance more against insured receivables.

Ask about trade credit