Straight answers to the questions people actually ask us.
No forms, no email wall, no downloading a whitepaper. Everything we know, written the way we would explain it at the counter, because a client who understands their policy is a better client to have.
Ask us something else Browse by topicWhy do we publish this for free?
Because most insurance problems are caused by a gap nobody explained, and most of those gaps cost more to fix after a claim than they would have cost to cover. We would rather you found the gap here than found it at the worst moment. If you take this and fix your policy elsewhere, that is a fair outcome.
Commercial guides.
Why certificates of insurance get rejected
The four reasons a general contractor sends yours back, and how to get it right first time.
What builders risk actually covers
Who buys it, when it ends, and the handover gap that leaves finished buildings uninsured.
Three things to check in your E&O policy
Discipline exclusions, retroactive dates and whether defence costs eat your limit.
What cyber insurance actually pays for
Mostly people, not technology, and the email fraud that comes with it.
The three numbers behind a plant claim
Rebuild cost, stock value and indemnity period. Get one wrong and the claim disappoints.
What insurers ask about your kitchen
Hood cleaning, suppression servicing and open flame, the answers that set your price.
Read the insurance clause in your lease
The limit, who must be named, and what happens if cover lapses. It varies more than people think.
Is your cargo actually insured?
Carrier liability is capped per kilogram and only applies when they are at fault.
The questions behind the questions.
Longer pieces on the parts of a policy that decide a claim. Written for the person who has already read the basics and wants to know how it works in practice.
Clearance letter or certificate of insurance
Two documents that look alike and answer completely different questions.
When a subtrade causes damage
Whose policy pays, and why the certificate you collected on day one decides it.
Wrap-up liability on a project
It covers the project, not your company. The gap that leaves trades bare.
Staff driving their own cars for work
The claim can still reach your business. The cover that is not in the basic policy.
How professional liability limits work
The regulator sets a floor. Your client contract sets the number that binds.
The retroactive date
One line on the schedule decides which years of your work are insured.
What happens when a practice closes
The claims do not stop when you stop. Run-off, and the deadline attached to it.
What errors and omissions covers
Your general liability policy does not cover bad advice. This one does.
What a data breach obliges you to do
Report, notify, and keep a record of every one. It is not only an IT job.
When builders risk ends
Not on the expiry date. At the first of several triggers, usually occupancy.
Why surety bonds get declined
A bond decline is a decision about the file, not the company. What to change first.
What the carrier owes you for lost freight
Paid out by weight, not value. Why that is not insurance, and what BC does differently.
How long business interruption pays
Not until you reopen. For the months on your policy, and twelve is usually short.
When a fridge fails on its own
Spoiled stock is not a property claim. What answers it, and the limit to check now.
Can a volunteer director be sued personally?
Yes. Incorporation protects the society, not the person who made the decision.
Replacement cost or actual cash value
Same fire, two very different cheques. And the declared value matters more than either.
When the tools are taken
A shop policy stops at the shop. The auto policy covers the van, not what is in it.
The clause that outruns the policy
You can promise more in a contract than any professional policy will pay for.
The homework inside a builders risk policy
Hot work, fencing, freeze protection. What the site has to do to keep the cover.
What cyber insurance will not cover
Tricked is not the same as hacked, and the sub-limit is where that shows up.
What an umbrella policy sits over
A named list of policies, and professional liability is almost never on it.
Where the building stops and your condo begins
Your building defines the standard unit. Everything above it sits on your own policy.
What general liability does not cover
Not your advice, not your own work, not your staff, not property in your care.
Personal guides.
What strata deductible coverage is
Why a loss starting in your condo can leave you with a bill in the tens of thousands.
Insure for rebuild cost, not what you paid
In the Lower Mainland the two numbers are very far apart, and one of them is useless.
What tenant insurance covers
Your things, your liability, and somewhere to live. The liability is the part people underestimate.
Renting out your home changes everything
A homeowner’s policy is written on the basis that you live there. Once you do not, it may not respond.
When acreage becomes a farm
Outbuildings, animals and anything you sell at the gate move you outside a home policy.
Are you in the right ICBC rate class?
Carrying tools or driving between job sites can change it, and affect a claim.
What to do in the first hour after a loss
What helps, what hurts, and why you call your broker before the insurer.
Why insurance gets declined
About one insurer’s appetite, not about you. And what to do next.
The five-minute policy check.
You do not need us to do this. Open your current policy tonight and look at three things.
The limit
Does it match what your lease, contract or lender actually requires?
The water
Overland water and sewer backup are separate. Are they there?
The value
Was the rebuild or stock figure set years ago and never revisited?
If any of those look wrong, send the policy to us and we will read it properly, whether or not you move your business over.
The declined files, explained.
Declined after water damage
Why one claim can sink a renewal, and what turns the file around at a different market.
Cancelled or lapsed cover
The flag every application asks about, and the boring, reliable way back from it.
Oil tanks, above ground and buried
The environmental question insurers ask hardest, and the paperwork that answers it.
Wood stoves and the one report
Wood heat is insurable every day of the week. The WETT inspection is what makes it so.
Knob-and-tube wiring
The two words that stall character-home purchases, and what reopens the market.
Empty buildings
Cover quietly narrows after about thirty days empty. A vacant policy keeps it in force.
Want us to read your own policy? Send it over with any contract or lease that demands cover, and we will tell you what is missing.
Ready to quote? Each file below turns your answers into a complete submission, one question at a time. Build yours → Cyber and directors → Cargo and marine → Property and interruption → Small business → Errors and omissions → Architects and engineers → Manufacturing and wholesale → Restaurants and food service → Strata and property → Non-profits and associations → Vehicles and fleet → Builders risk → Surety bonds →
What people ask about these guides.
Do I have to give my email to read these?
No. Everything here is open. We do not gate guides behind a form, and we do not ask who you are before answering a question.
Are these guides specific to British Columbia?
Yes. They reflect BC rules, ICBC, BC strata law and the markets available here, which is why they differ from general Canadian advice.
Can you review a policy I bought elsewhere?
Yes, and we will tell you honestly if it is well arranged. Send it with any contract or lease that demands cover.
How often are these updated?
When the market or the rules change. Insurance wording moves, and a guide that is three years old can be actively misleading.
Not covered here? Ask us.
If you have a question we have not written about, send it. If it comes up twice, it becomes a guide.
Try the free risk snapshot. A few quick questions shaped to your exact situation, no name, no email, and you get a plain list of what you are actually exposed to. Or see how we work.
Going away? Read why travel claims get refused before you book.
Business owner? Work out how long you could survive not trading.
Which water your policy actually covers
Inside, outside and up through the drains are three separate items. Most buildings hold one.
When the person who took it works for you
Property cover steps back the moment the thief is an employee. This is the policy that does not.
What your lease actually requires
The limit, the additional insured, the waiver and the fit-out. One paragraph that sets your whole policy.
Who is entitled to rely on your report
It travels further than your fee agreement does, and reliance is where the claim comes from.
Whether your chapters and volunteers are insured
The named insured is the start. The definition of insured person is what actually decides it.
Liability for goods you did not make
When the manufacturer is overseas or gone, the distributor is the party a claimant can actually reach.
How wide the pollution exclusion runs
A leaking hose, silt after rain, or mould behind a wall. Broader than the word suggests.
The sub-limit on fraudulent instruction
Money wired on a fake instruction is paid under a separate, smaller cap. Where to find yours, and what the policy expects you to have done first.
Running a business from your home
Home policies cover business property in a small way and only indoors, and they are not written for business liability. What to declare and what to add.
What your landlord’s policy does not cover
The owner insures the building, not your belongings and not the damage you cause. What a tenant policy is actually for, and why liability is the bigger number.
Who must be listed on your ICBC policy
ICBC insures the car, not the driver, but household members, employees and regular borrowers have to be named. Who to add, and what an unlisted driver crash costs.
Renting out a suite in your own home
A home policy is written for the owner and the owner’s family. What changes the day a tenant moves in, and why not telling the insurer risks the whole house.
What a house policy misses on an acreage
Barns, tractors, fencing and livestock sit outside an ordinary home policy. What an acreage needs listed on its own, and why liability is the wider gap.
Three things travel insurance must cover
Medical evacuation, pre-existing conditions and repatriation. What the Government of Canada says a travel health policy needs, and where a credit card benefit stops.
Does home insurance cover a boat or RV?
Watercraft and recreational equipment are optional cover, not automatic. What a boat, a trailer and an RV each need, and where the liability actually sits.
Who pays the strata insurance deductible
In BC an owner can be required to pay the building’s deductible even when not at fault. How the charge works, and how an owner policy is built to answer it.
Serving alcohol at your event in BC
A Special Event Permit puts the responsibility on whoever holds it. What host liquor liability answers for, what venues insist on, and why a permit is not insurance.
Why property insurance skips the motor
A property policy answers for fire, storm and theft, not for a machine failing on its own. What equipment breakdown covers, and why the downtime is the real loss.
What counts as a professional for E&O
Your policy contains a description of the services it covers, and work outside it is not insured. Four ways a firm quietly grows out of its own wording.
Who is the prime contractor on your site
WorkSafeBC expects a written agreement naming who coordinates safety when two or more employers share a site. What the role adds, and what it means for your cover.
Completed operations on your own policy
Your liability for finished work does not end when you leave the site. What completed operations cover does on your own CGL, and what switches it off.
Product recall is not product liability
Product liability pays for the harm a product causes. It does not pay to pull the product back. What recall cover does, and why Health Canada reporting matters.
Client data leak, which policy answers
A consultant loses a client’s data. Cyber claim or E&O claim? How the two policies split the loss, and what the Privacy Commissioner says you still own.
What additional insured status actually gives someone
Adding an owner or general as additional insured covers their share of a claim from your work. It does not cover their own mistakes. What to check on a BC job.
When to report a circumstance to your insurer
Professional liability is claims made, so reporting is what triggers cover. When a client complaint becomes a circumstance you must report, and what to write.
Sub-consultants and whose cover answers
If a sub-consultant’s work fails, your policy usually answers first. What to check on their limit, retroactive date and run-off before you rely on their work.
Do defence costs come out of your limit?
On most E&O policies the lawyer is paid from the same limit as the settlement. The two numbers to ask for, and the sentence that decides what they are worth.
The standard of care in your contract
Professional liability answers for negligence, not for guarantees. Which contract words lift the duty above the standard of care and straight out of the policy.