The coverage I place.

Insurance gets bought badly when the policy comes first and the operation comes second. I work the other way round: what the business actually does, what its contracts oblige it to carry, then which markets write that risk properly.

I hold access to more than 60 carriers, which covers the major insurers writing in Ontario. That range is the whole point: your file goes to the markets that genuinely want your class of risk, instead of the one company an agent happens to be tied to.

The lines below are what I place most often. Plenty of businesses don't sit neatly inside any one of them, so if yours doesn't, tell me what you do and we'll sort out what applies.

Commercial general liability

Third-party injury and property damage tied to your operations. Nearly every client contract and commercial lease names it, so for most businesses it's the first thing on the program and the limit everything else gets built around.

Commercial property

Building, equipment, stock, contents. On manufacturing and distribution risks this is usually the biggest number on the policy, and after a few good years it's also the number most likely to be sitting well below what a rebuild would actually cost.

Contractors & trades

General contractors, roofers, mechanical and HVAC, demolition. Liability, tools and equipment, and completed operations, checked line by line against the additional insured and waiver of subrogation wording your subcontracts demand before you get paid.

Manufacturing & distribution

Wholesale distribution, food and beverage processing, metal fabrication and machine shops, wood manufacturing. Property, liability, equipment breakdown and business interruption, scaled to throughput rather than to a generic class code.

Commercial auto & fleet

A personal policy will not respond properly once a vehicle is being used for the business. Commercial auto, fleet programs and IRCA, rated against the units you run, who drives them and how far they go.

Business owner's policy

Liability and property written together on a single policy. For a smaller operation working out of one location with uncomplicated exposures, it usually prices better than assembling the same cover piece by piece.

Landlord & rental property

Rental property held anywhere in Ontario, residential or commercial. The structure, the liability that comes with being the owner, and the rent you stop collecting if the place can't be lived or worked in. One door or a whole portfolio.

Professional liability (E&O)

For anyone paid for their judgement: consultants, accountants, bookkeepers and the like. It answers the claim that your work or your advice cost a client money, including the claims that turn out to be baseless.

Directors & officers (D&O)

The people running the company can be pursued personally for the decisions they make on its behalf. D&O responds to that, and it matters as soon as there is a board, outside investors, or a not for profit relying on volunteers to serve as directors.

Environmental & pollution liability

Most general liability wordings cut pollution out, which leaves a real gap for contractors disturbing ground, anyone storing fuel or chemicals, and operations working on someone else's site. Written separately, for both the sudden release and the one nobody noticed for years.

Surety & contract bonds

Bid, performance, and labour and material payment bonds, plus the licence and permit bonds a municipality or regulator asks for. Bonding capacity is underwritten on your financials rather than your loss history, so it is worth setting up before the job you need it for goes to tender.

Coverage descriptions on this page are general. What is actually covered depends on the issued policy wording, and every operation is underwritten on its own facts.