Somebody else already chose your liability limit.
Our Main Street office in Vancouver is the closest S&S counter to Burnaby, a straight run along Marine Drive. Walk in without an appointment to go through your lease, your unit, your equipment and the limits other people are asking you to carry, or call and we will handle it from there.
Call 604-324-5711 Branch details and hours Build your fileWhere can I find a business insurance broker near Burnaby?
Our nearest office to Burnaby is at 6607 Main St, Vancouver, at the Vancouver end of Marine Drive. Walk in during opening hours with no appointment to go through leases and strata bylaws, contents and equipment, liability limits, tools on site, and the certificates other people are asking you for. Call 604-324-5711, or use our Delta branch if you need somewhere open in the evening or on a Sunday.
What we are asked for most here.
Most business here runs out of a unit, leased or owned, in a building somebody else looks after. That is where the questions start:
The limit written into your lease
A landlord names a figure, a customer names a different one, and neither asked what you actually do. General liability insurance.
Your unit, not the whole building
The roof and the structure sit with somebody else. What is inside your four walls is yours. Commercial property insurance.
Equipment, and what is inside it
Compressors, chillers, forklifts and production kit. The breakdown itself is a separate question from fire and theft. Equipment breakdown insurance.
Trades on somebody else’s site
Certificates for a job starting Monday, tools in the van, and the limit the general contractor demands. Contractor insurance.
Vans, and the errand car
Owned units, hired units, and the staff member who runs to the supplier in their own car. Commercial vehicle and fleet insurance.
Declined or hard to place
Older buildings, a claims history, high hazard operations, recycling and waste. Send us the letter.
Who owns what in a unit you do not own outright.
A leased or strata unit is five layers stacked on top of each other, and a different policy answers for each one. Most arguments after a loss are about where one layer stops.
Layer one
The structure and the roof
The landlord or the strata corporation carries this. You are rarely the one insuring it, and you are often the one paying toward it.
Layer two
Walls, floor and fixtures
Where the building stops and your space begins is a line the lease or the bylaws draw, not a line you can see.
Layer three
The improvements you paid for
New wiring, a mezzanine, a cold room. Whose they are on paper is a question the lease answers, not a question of who wrote the cheque.
Layer four
Equipment and tools
Yours, and mobile. A forklift in the unit and a tool bag in a van are two different conversations.
Layer five
Stock, contents and what happens to people
Everything you brought in, plus the liability for anyone who comes through the door.
Where the building stops and your space begins
A leased or strata unit is five layers stacked on top of each other, and a different policy is written for each one. The two in the middle are the ones a document decides.
That line is drawn by the lease or the bylaws. It is not a line you can see in the unit.
| Layer of the unit | The building policy | Your own policy |
|---|---|---|
| The structure and the roofThe structure and the roof are what the building policy is written for, whether the landlord or the strata corporation holds it. | The building policy: Usually answered here | Your own policy: Not what this policy is built for |
| Walls, floor and fixturesWalls, floor and fixtures are where the line sits. Under the Strata Property Act, a strata must insure fixtures that were built in at the start. In a lease there is no set rule, so the lease decides. | The building policy: Depends on the lease or the bylaws | Your own policy: Depends on the lease or the bylaws |
| The improvements you paid forAnything you added and paid for is usually yours to insure. A strata can choose to cover fixtures put in later, but it does not have to, so they usually fall to the owner. | The building policy: Depends on the lease or the bylaws | Your own policy: Usually answered here |
| Equipment and toolsEquipment and tools are yours. A forklift inside the unit and a tool bag in a van are two different conversations. | The building policy: Not what this policy is built for | Your own policy: Usually answered here |
| Stock, contents and peopleStock, contents and the liability for anyone who comes through the door are what your own policy is built for. | The building policy: Not what this policy is built for | Your own policy: Usually answered here |
These sentences say what each policy is built to do. They do not say a claim will be paid, and they do not say one will be refused. Your own wording, your lease and your bylaws decide.
Bring the lease or the bylaws with you. Half an hour with the actual document settles more than any amount of guessing at it.
Three things that catch people out here.
The certificate somebody is waiting on
A lease names the limits, the wording and who has to be added to your policy. It is easy to sign it and read it later. What a lease makes you carry.
The strata deductible
When the building’s policy pays, the deductible does not vanish. Who it lands on is set by the Act and the bylaws. Who pays the deductible.
Property steps around the motor
A property policy answers for what happens to the machine, not for what happens inside it. Why property skips the motor.
General information only. What is covered is decided by the wording of the policy actually issued to you.
Getting to us from Burnaby.
6607 Main St, Vancouver, at the Vancouver end of Marine Drive. No appointment needed.
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 9:00 to 18:30, Saturday 10:00 to 18:00.
Open later?
Our Delta office is open seven days a week, until 9pm Monday to Saturday and 8pm on Sunday.
Rather not come in?
Call 604-324-5711 or send us what you need and choose how we reply.
From businesses working out of a unit.
Who insures the building if I only lease a unit in it?
The owner or the strata corporation insures the structure. Your policy is written for what you brought in, what you built, and what you are responsible for. The dividing line comes from the lease or the bylaws, so that document is the place to start.
What does a commercial lease make me carry?
Leases commonly name a general liability limit, cover for the space you occupy, and a requirement to add the landlord to your policy. The wording differs from lease to lease. Send us the clause and we will tell you what it is asking for.
I own my unit in a strata. What does the strata policy cover?
The corporation’s policy covers the building as the Strata Property Act and the bylaws define it. Your own policy deals with your contents, your improvements, your liability, and the deductible that can be charged back to you.
Are tools covered if they stay in the van overnight?
Not automatically, and the conditions matter. Where the van is parked, whether the tools are locked down, and the limit on the policy all change the answer. Tell us how your crews actually work and we will match the cover to that.
Is there an insurance broker near Burnaby open on a Sunday?
Our Delta branch at 2-8195 120 St is open seven days a week, Sunday 10:00 to 20:00.
Do your brokers speak Punjabi or Cantonese?
Yes. Our team speaks Punjabi, Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as English, Hindi and Italian.
The guides that matter most in a unit.
Your lease wrote your policy
What a commercial lease names, and what each one means in practice. Read the clause properly.
Water is the fussiest peril
Sprinkler heads, roof drains and the pallet on the floor. Some water, not all of it. What water damage cover does.
How your contents are valued
Actual cash value pays what it was worth on the day, not what it costs to buy again. Replacement cost or actual cash value.
Tools off the site
What a policy asks of you in return, and where cover stops once the tools leave the site. Tools and equipment theft.
The email that changes the bank details
A payment sent on a fake supplier instruction is not a break in, and a policy treats it differently. The fraudulent instruction sub limit.
What liability does not do
The exclusions people are most surprised by, in plain words. What general liability does not cover.
Why so much of this work runs through Burnaby.
The City of Burnaby says it added more than 16,000 jobs between 2021 and 2025, and that its population grew 15.6 per cent between 2020 and 2024, more than 40,000 new residents. Its own long range plan expects more than 50,000 new jobs by 2050, and describes high demand for industrial land against limited supply.
Sources: City of Burnaby, 16 January 2026 and the Burnaby 2050 policy guide. Each opens in a new tab. The figures belong to the City, not to us.
Limited supply is the part that reaches a policy. It means businesses take the unit they can get, in buildings of every age, sharing walls and sprinkler systems with neighbours they did not choose. That is a conversation worth having before renewal, not after a loss.
Not sure what you are carrying and what you are not? Run the Risk Snapshot, or read the insurance guides.
Come in, or call us.
6607 Main St, Vancouver. No appointment, no ticket, no call centre.
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