Your business is wherever the van is parked.
Two S&S counters sit about the same run from the Tri-Cities, Main Street in Vancouver and Fraser Highway in Surrey. Walk into either without an appointment to go through certificates, tools, liability on site and the work vehicles, 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 Coquitlam?
Our Main Street office is at 6607 Main St, Vancouver, and our Fraser Highway office is at 104A-19151 Fraser Hwy, Surrey. Both are about the same distance from the Tri-Cities, so use whichever suits your run. Walk in during opening hours with no appointment to sort certificates, tools and equipment, liability on somebody else’s property, and the work vehicles. 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.
A lot of business here has no shopfront. It runs out of a van, a garage and a phone, and the risk travels with it:
Liability on somebody else’s property
You are working in a customer’s home or on a site you do not control, and the limit was written by somebody else. General liability insurance.
Tools and gear that move
In the van overnight, on a site at the weekend, or in a locker that is not yours. Contractor insurance.
Running it from the house
Stock in the garage, a client at the door, and a home policy that was never written for either. Home insurance.
Vans, trailers and the borrowed car
Owned units, hired units, and the apprentice who takes their own car to the supplier. Commercial vehicle and fleet insurance.
Small shops and offices
Contents, the limit in the lease, and the certificate a landlord or a customer is waiting on. Small business insurance.
Declined or hard to place
A claims history, high hazard trades, work at height, older buildings. Send us the letter.
Five places the risk sits, and none of them is an office.
A trade business is insured by what it does and where it does it, not by an address. Here is where the exposure actually lives.
One
The driveway
The van loaded up overnight, outside the house. Where it is parked and how it is secured changes what a policy will do.
Two
The drive over
Owned vehicles, rented ones, and the staff member using their own car for work. Three different answers.
Three
On site
Damage to the customer, damage to their property, and damage to the work itself. Three different covers again.
Four
After you leave
Work you finished months ago can still produce a claim. That is a specific part of a liability policy, not an afterthought.
Five
The paperwork
Certificates, the limit the contract names, and whoever has to be added to your policy before you get paid.
Where the risk actually sits
A trade business is insured by what it does and where it does it, not by an address. Here are the five places the exposure lives on an ordinary day.
Four of these are risks. The fifth is the paperwork that decides whether you get paid.
| Where the risk sits | Vehicle policy | Liability policy | Tools and equipment |
|---|---|---|---|
| The drivewayA van loaded up outside the house overnight is covered by the vehicle policy for the van itself. Tools inside it are usually a separate cover, and most wordings set rules about how the van is locked. | Vehicle policy: Usually answered here | Liability policy: Not what this policy is built for | Tools and equipment: Usually a separate cover or endorsement |
| The drive overOwned and rented units sit on the vehicle policy. A staff member who uses their own car for work is a different question. That is usually a separate cover, added on, not one that comes with the policy. | Vehicle policy: Usually answered here | Liability policy: Usually a separate cover or endorsement | Tools and equipment: Not what this policy is built for |
| On siteHurting someone, damaging their property, and damaging the work itself are three different questions. A liability policy does not answer all three the same way. | Vehicle policy: Not what this policy is built for | Liability policy: Usually answered here | Tools and equipment: Usually answered here |
| After you leaveWork you finished months ago can still bring a claim. That is usually part of a liability policy, not a separate one. It is worth checking that yours names it. | Vehicle policy: Not what this policy is built for | Liability policy: Usually a separate cover or endorsement | Tools and equipment: Not what this policy is built for |
| The paperworkCertificates, the limit the contract names, and who has to be added to your policy are not cover at all. They are what you have to get right before you get paid. | Vehicle policy: Not what this policy is built for | Liability policy: Not what this policy is built for | Tools and equipment: Not what this policy is built for |
In British Columbia the rate class on a vehicle has to match how it is actually used. ICBC allows business use on a pleasure rate class up to six days in a calendar month. 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 decides.
Bring the contract and tell us how the crews actually work. That is a short conversation and it decides most of this.
Three things that catch trades out here.
Being added to somebody’s policy
Contracts ask for it, it is not automatic, and it changes what your policy is doing. What additional insured actually means.
The letter versus the certificate
A WorkSafeBC clearance letter and a certificate of insurance are different documents answering different questions. Which one is being asked for.
Working out of the house
A home policy is written for a home. Stock, tools and a customer at the door sit outside it. Running a business from home.
General information only. What is covered is decided by the wording of the policy actually issued to you.
Getting to us from the Tri-Cities.
6607 Main St in Vancouver, or 104A-19151 Fraser Hwy in Surrey. No appointment needed at either.
Main Street 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 trades and small operators.
A contractor wants a certificate of insurance before I can start. How does that work?
Send us the clause from the contract. It names a limit, sometimes a specific wording, and a company that has to be added to your policy. Once we have that we can tell you whether your current cover already answers it or what needs changing. The reply arrives the next business day.
Are my tools covered if they stay in the van overnight?
Not automatically, and the conditions decide it. 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.
I run the business from my house. Does my home policy cover it?
A home policy is written for living in a home, not for trading from one. Stock in the garage, tools, and anyone visiting for business reasons sit outside it, and a claim can be refused on that basis. Putting it right is normally a change to the policy rather than a new one.
Someone used their own car for a work errand and had an accident. Whose insurance answers?
Their own policy comes first, but the business can still be drawn in, which is what non-owned auto cover is written for. It is worth checking whether you carry it.
Is there an insurance broker near Coquitlam 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 Mandarin?
Yes. Our team speaks Punjabi, Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as English, Hindi and Italian.
The guides that matter most to a trade.
Tools off the site
What a policy asks of you in return, and where cover stops once the tools leave the yard. Tools and equipment theft.
The car that is not yours
Staff running errands in their own vehicles, and where the business sits if it goes wrong. Non-owned auto liability.
The job you already finished
Completed work can produce a claim long after the invoice was paid. Completed operations cover.
Who is the prime contractor
On a site with more than one trade, somebody carries the overall duty. It matters who. Who is the prime contractor.
When a sub causes the damage
Your subcontractor breaks something. Whose policy answers, and what your contract said about it. Subcontractor damage, who pays.
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 the Tri-Cities.
The Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce put the region at roughly 250,000 people, with 14,747 business licences issued across Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and the villages in 2023. Construction alone employed 11,860 people across the region at the 2021 Census.
Source: Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce, 2024 Economic Profile, drawing on city records and the 2021 Census. It opens in a new tab. The figures are theirs, not ours.
Nearly twelve thousand people in construction, and close to fifteen thousand licences among a quarter of a million residents. That is a region of small operators rather than head offices, and small operators carry their risk around with them instead of leaving it in a building overnight.
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, or 104A-19151 Fraser Hwy, Surrey. No appointment, no ticket, no call centre.
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