Your subtrade broke the neighbour’s window. The neighbour is calling you.
On a BC job site the person who gets phoned is the name on the sign, not the trade who did it. Whose policy answers depends on the contract and the wording as much as on who is at fault. That is the part that surprises people, and the contract and the wording are settled long before anything gets broken.
Build the contractor file The short answerThe general contractor, because that is the name on the sign
The subtrade’s liability policy, if it exists and if it responds
The one whose policy is left standing
If a subcontractor causes damage, whose insurance pays?
The subtrade’s own liability policy is meant to answer for the subtrade’s work. The claim can still land on the general contractor, because the injured party sues the name they know. Three things decide it: whether the subtrade’s policy was in force on the day of the damage and covers that work, whether you were added to it as an additional insured, and what your subcontract says. The certificate you collected before the work started is your proof of what existed on the day it was issued.
Fault and payment are different questions. A subtrade can be entirely at fault and still leave the bill with you: if their policy lapsed, if the work sat outside what their policy covered, or if nobody kept the paperwork. All of that is decided by what was in force on the day of the damage and what you collected before the work started, not by what anyone says afterwards.
Property damage on a job site can run well past the first thing broken. A window is a window. A window plus water through a finished floor plus two weeks of delay is a different conversation. An owner’s contract can push the insurance requirements down the chain. The Province of BC’s own conditions for its contractor-insured ministry projects put it this way: “As may be applicable, the Contractor must cause all Subcontractors to comply with the insurance requirements” set out in that contract. Your own contract decides what you have to collect, and that is why the first question after damage is whether the sub actually carried what it asked for. Read the Province’s supplementary conditions to CCDC 2 (opens in a new tab).
How this usually resolves.
The subtrade was properly insured
Their insurer takes the lead. Your own insurer is still told, and on the standard wording your policy sits behind theirs. This is how it generally goes when the subtrade’s policy was in force, you were added to it, and the work matches what the policy covers.
The subtrade was not, or cannot prove it
Your policy is the one left standing. You carry the deductible, the claim goes on your record, and your renewal reflects it. If your insurer pays, it can go after the subtrade in your name, and what it recovers is shared between you and the insurer. Anything else is a question for a lawyer.
Three things that settle the argument before it starts.
Added as an additional insured
Being added to the subtrade’s policy by endorsement is not the same as being handed their certificate. Added properly, their insurer generally has to defend you too, for claims that come out of their work. Not added, you have no rights under their policy, and the claim comes to your own.
The work matches the description
A policy is rated on the operations described, and some carry endorsements that limit cover to those operations or exclude hot work. A subtrade who took on different work may or may not be covered for it, and their insurer will check.
The dates line up
Damage is dated by when it happened, not when it was noticed. A policy that expired in June does nothing for a leak that started in September, and a leak can be noticed months after it started.
What contractors ask us about this.
The subtrade admits it was their fault. Is that enough?
It helps and it does not settle it. An admission is evidence of fault, and most liability wordings tell the insured not to admit fault without the insurer. Whether an insurer pays is decided by the policy wording and whether cover was in force.
Will claiming on my own policy raise my premium?
It can, and a paid claim becomes part of the claims history insurers ask about at renewal. That is the real reason to collect certificates. It is not paperwork discipline, it is keeping other people’s claims off your own history.
Can I just deduct it from what I owe the subtrade?
The contract may allow it, and it may not cover the whole loss. It also turns an insurance question into a dispute between two businesses that still need to work together. Whether you can deduct is a contract and lien question for a construction lawyer. Tell your insurer before you settle anything with the sub yourself.
What if the neighbour sues both of us?
Both policies get put on notice, and which insurer defends you and who pays in the end is sorted out between them. Your position in that argument rests on what your subcontract required and what the sub’s policy actually gave you.
Does my liability policy cover damage to the building I am working on?
Partly. While the work is going on, the particular part you or your subs are working on is generally excluded. What the policy does for the rest of the building depends on its exclusions and on whether a builders risk policy was meant to carry the structure. After completion your own work is excluded, but the standard wording gives that back where a subcontractor did the work. Send us yours and we will tell you what it says.
Not the question you had? Build the contractor file and set out your own situation in plain words. A licensed broker reads it and replies in writing.
Worth reading next: who is the prime contractor on your site.
Tell your insurer as soon as you can, and tell us the same day.
We will read your policy and the certificates you hold and say what it says. This page is general information, and your policy wording and your contract decide any claim.