A wrap-up covers the project. It does not cover your company.
On a wrapped project one policy insures the owner, the general and the trades together, for that job. The mistake that costs money is treating it as a replacement for your own liability policy rather than an addition to it. Every other job you touch that year is outside it.
Build the contractor file The short answerThe parties the policy names, for work on that project
Your other jobs, your yard, your vehicles, your ordinary business
Letting your own policy lapse because the project has one
If the project has a wrap-up, do I still need my own liability policy?
Yes. A wrap-up is written around one project. It answers for work on that site, for the parties named on it, for the period it runs. The moment you are working anywhere else, quoting anything else, or being sued about anything else, it is not the policy that responds.
Wrap-ups exist because they solve a genuine problem. When every trade carries its own policy, limits differ, wordings differ, and insurers spend years arguing about which of them pays. One policy across the whole project removes that argument, because there is one insurer for everyone on the job. That is worth having. It just is not a policy for your business.
A trade that cancelled its own cover for the year of a wrapped job, and then had a claim from a different customer, has no policy at all for that claim. The Province of BC’s own construction contracts require the wrap-up to say it in one line: the insurance “does not extend to any activities, works, jobs or undertakings of the insureds other than those directly related to the Work of this Contract”. Wrap-ups on private projects are worded by their own insurers, so the words on your project are in that policy. Everything else you do that year is on your own policy. Read the Province’s supplementary conditions to CCDC 2 (opens in a new tab).
One project policy, or everyone brings their own.
Wrap-up
Arranged by the owner or the general. Consistent limits for everyone, no gaps between wordings, and far less scope for one party’s insurer to go after another party on the same job, because they are insured under the same policy. Simpler for the owner, and usually a condition of getting on the site.
Each trade insured separately
Every party answers for itself. Simpler to arrange and much messier when something goes wrong, because a serious claim can spend a long time on the question of whose policy is on the hook.
Three things that decide how much the wrap-up actually does.
How long completed operations run
The building outlives the project. Claims about the work can arrive long after everyone has left the site, and how far past completion the wrap-up keeps answering varies between programs. The Province of BC’s own contracts require it to run for a further twenty-four months past Ready-for-Takeover. Ask for the period on your project in writing before the first invoice.
Who is actually named
Being on site is not the same as being an insured party, and some kinds of work are left out by category. The Province of BC’s own construction contracts require a wrap-up that covers the owner, the contractor, subcontractors, the consultant and sub-consultants. The same clause leaves out all professional services, even though the consultant is named. It also leaves out suppliers whose only job is to supply or deliver products to the site, and site security. So a trade doing design or shop drawings can be on the schedule and still have that part of its work outside the policy. Check that you are named, and check what your work counts as.
What sits outside it
Your tools, your vehicles, your own premises and products you sell away from this project generally stay on your own policies. A wrap-up is a liability policy for a project, not a package for a business.
What trades ask us about this.
The general says the wrap-up covers everything. Can I reduce my own policy?
Reducing cover because of a project policy is how trades end up uninsured for their ordinary work. If the aim is to avoid paying twice, the conversation to have is about how your own policy is rated for wrapped work, not about cancelling it.
Do I still get charged for the wrap-up?
Usually indirectly. The cost normally sits in the project budget and is reflected in what trades are paid. That is why it is worth knowing what it does and does not cover, because you are contributing to it either way.
What happens if the wrap-up limit is used up by someone else’s claim?
Wrap-up limits are usually written with an aggregate shared across the insured parties, so a large claim by another party can reduce what is left for everyone. Whether the limit on your project is shared or dedicated is set out in the policy. It is one reason to know what your own policy does on a wrapped job rather than assuming the project one is the whole answer.
The project finished two years ago and a claim just arrived. Who answers?
It depends on whether the completed operations period was still running, and on whether your own policy was in force. Two policies, two different questions, and the answer is in the wordings rather than in what anyone remembers being told.
I was brought on by another subtrade, not the general. Am I covered?
Not automatically. Check that you appear as an insured party on the wrap-up rather than assuming that working on the site is enough. Ask for confirmation in writing, the same way you would ask a subtrade for a certificate.
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: how long your own policy stays on the hook after the job is finished.
Send us the wrap-up certificate you were given.
We will tell you what the certificate shows, what appears to sit with your own policy, and whether you are named on it. The wording decides any actual claim.