Business insurance for people who build, make and move things.
Most of what we do is commercial. Construction, professional firms, manufacturers, wholesalers and the businesses that supply them, including the ones other brokers found too complicated.
What insurance does my business actually need?
Almost every business needs three things: liability cover for harm you cause to other people, property cover for the things you own or occupy, and cover for the income you would lose if you had to stop trading. Everything else depends on what you do, the tools you carry, the advice you give, the goods you ship, the data you hold.
The wrong question is “what is the cheapest policy?” The right one is “what would actually put me out of business, and is that covered?” That is the conversation we have.
Start where your business fits.
Each of these has its own risks, its own contract requirements and its own markets. Pick the closest, if nothing fits, tell us what you do and we will work it out.
Contractors & construction
Certificates, builders risk, liability, tools and fleet, for trades of every size.
Construction insuranceArchitects & engineers
Professional liability for design firms, with structural and geotechnical work included.
Professional liabilityManufacturing & wholesale
Plant, stock, equipment breakdown, product liability and the downtime that follows a loss.
Manufacturing insuranceShops, offices & services
Retail, restaurants, salons and offices, including the cover your lease demands.
Small business insuranceMarine & cargo
Goods in transit, hull and cargo exposures for importers, exporters and operators.
Marine & cargoDeclined or cancelled
Send us the declined letter. We read it and tell you honestly whether we can place it.
Difficult risksWhat a commercial policy is made of.
Business insurance is not one product. It is a set of covers assembled around what your business actually does, which is why two companies on the same street can need very different policies.
Commercial general liability
Injury or damage you cause to other people or their property. The cover most contracts and leases insist on, usually at a stated limit.
Commercial property
Your building, contents, stock and equipment, against fire, water, theft and storm.
Business interruption
The income you lose while you cannot trade. The cover people most often skip and most regret skipping.
Equipment breakdown
Machinery, refrigeration, HVAC and electrical systems, the failures that stop a business without any fire or flood involved.
Professional liability (E&O)
Claims that your advice or professional work caused someone a financial loss.
Cyber liability
Ransomware, funds transfer fraud, data breach response and the costs of getting running again.
Directors & officers
Personal liability for the people who run the company, including non-profit boards.
Commercial auto & fleet
Vans, trucks and trailers, with the ICBC work handled at our counters.
Twenty-one more we write every week.
Builders risk
Cover for a project while it is being built. Our single largest line of business.
General liability
The policy your lease, your client or your general contractor keeps asking you to prove.
Cyber & directors
Ransomware, payment fraud, and personal liability for the people running the company.
Strata & property managers
Buildings, council liability and the deductible conversation owners need to have.
Non-profits & societies
Volunteer boards, programs and events, cover for organisations that exist to help people.
Restaurants & food
Kitchens, spoilage, liquor liability and the months you cannot open after a fire.
Structural & geotechnical
Professional liability for structural and geotechnical work, with no discipline excluded.
Event insurance
Weddings, festivals and markets, the certificate the venue demands.
Commercial vehicles & fleet
Vans, trucks, trailers and cargo, plus the rate class that decides what a claim pays.
Consultants & professional services
Errors and omissions for consultants, IT, marketing, bookkeepers and recruiters.
Commercial property
Buildings, fit-out, contents and stock, insured at what it costs to rebuild today.
Business interruption
The income you lose while you cannot trade. The cover most often set too low.
Wholesale & distribution
Stock valued seasonally, goods in transit, off-site storage and product liability.
Surety bonds
Bid, performance and labour & material bonds, and why they are not insurance.
Equipment breakdown
Machinery failing on its own, no fire, no flood, and no cover under a property policy.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limits above your existing policies, at far less per million than the first.
Crime & employee theft
Most business theft is not a break-in. It is someone trusted, over time.
Environmental & pollution
The exclusion sitting in almost every liability policy, fuel, silt, dust and tanks.
Associations & unions
Cover for the organisation, and negotiated programs for the membership.
The three gaps we find most often.
When we review a business policy that someone else wrote, the same problems come up again and again. None of them are exotic. All of them are expensive.
The limit does not match the contract
A lease or a client agreement demands a limit the policy does not carry. Nobody notices until someone asks for proof.
No business interruption
The building is insured and the stock is insured, but the six months of lost income while it is rebuilt is not.
Cover that never grew
The business doubled; the policy did not. Values, payroll and equipment lists are years out of date at the moment a claim happens.
What happens when you get in touch.
Tell us what you do
In your own words. Not a form full of jargon, what the business actually does day to day.
We read what you have
Your current policy or renewal notice, and any contract or lease that demands cover.
We go to market
To the insurers that fit your class, and tell you who they are before you decide anything.
You get it in plain English
What is covered, what is not, and what we would change. Then it is your call.
What business owners ask us.
How much does business insurance cost?
It depends on what you do, your size, your claims history and the limits your contracts require, a one-van trade and a manufacturing plant are not comparable. We will tell you the likely range early rather than after a long process, and we will tell you what drives it up or down.
My landlord says I need liability insurance. What limit?
Send us the lease. The required limit and the exact wording are usually written into it, and they vary. Guessing at it is how people end up either underinsured or paying for cover they were never asked to carry.
Do I need business interruption cover?
If your business stops earning when your premises are unusable, then almost certainly yes. It is the cover people most often leave out and most often wish they had.
Can you review the policy I already have?
Yes. Send us the current policy and any contracts that demand cover. We will tell you what is missing, what is duplicated and what would not respond the way you expect, whether or not you move to us.
My business does something unusual. Will you cover it?
Tell us what it is. Unusual operations are ordinary work here, and if we cannot place it, we will say so quickly rather than leave you waiting.
Do I have to come into an office?
No. Call, email, or walk into any of the three branches, whichever suits you. Tell us how you want us to get back to you and that is how we will.
Tell us what your business does.
That is the whole starting point. No forms full of jargon, no obligation.
Run an association, union or society? See Associations & unions for board cover and member programs.
Make, pack or distribute goods? Manufacturing & wholesale covers plant, stock and the downtime that costs most.
Try the free risk snapshot, four questions, no name, no email, and you get a plain list of what you are actually exposed to. Or see how we work.