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Construction & Trades
Insurance that gets you onto the GC's site and keeps your tools working.
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A carpenter in Canada needs commercial general liability with completed operations for damage and injury caused by the work, a tool floater for tools on site and in vehicles, and commercial auto for the work truck. In Ontario, construction business owners must generally have WSIB coverage. Framers working for general contractors need limits and certificates that match the subcontract, and shop-based cabinetmakers add property and product liability.
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Carpenters build things people stand on, lean on and live with for decades, often under someone else's contract and with thousands of dollars of tools in the truck. The claims that matter are a deck guard that fails years later, a nail through a hidden water line, and a trailer emptied overnight. That makes general liability with completed operations and a properly scheduled tool floater the heart of the program.
We build programs for framers, finish carpenters, deck builders and cabinet shops around the work you actually do, the GC contracts you sign and your province's workers' compensation rules. We issue certificates that match each subcontract so you start on time. See the construction and contractor guide for the sector view.
A framer setting trusses on a new subdivision and a finish carpenter installing built-ins in an occupied home share a trade title and very little else. Insurers class carpentry by what you build, where you build it and how high you work. The application asks for the split, and the answer moves both the price and which insurers will quote.
The common thread is that carpentry is structural or permanent. A badly fastened beam, a guard that gives way or a stair that fails can injure someone years after you have left. Expensive tools travel with you every day. And most carpenters work under someone else's contract, so the certificate has to match the general contractor's list before you get on site. Carpentry sits inside the wider construction and contractor sector. This page covers what is particular to the trade.
Most carpentry programs have four to six parts. Liability and tools carry most of the risk.
| Coverage | What it answers | Points to check |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial general liability (CGL) | Injury to others and damage to their property from your work, during and after the job | Completed operations, framing or new residential restrictions, additional insured wording for GCs |
| Tool floater | Theft or damage to saws, nailers, lasers and hand tools on site, in vehicles and in storage | Per-item cap, the locked vehicle condition, rented equipment; see tools and equipment |
| Commercial auto | The truck, van or trailer carrying crew, tools and lumber | Business use declared, trailer listed, employees using their own vehicles |
| Installation floater | Damage to cabinets, millwork, stairs or materials before the client accepts them | Materials in transit and stored on site, and who insures the project under the contract |
| Shop property and product liability | For cabinet and millwork shops: fire in the shop, and injury from products you build and sell | Dust collection, finishing rooms, sprinklers, and products sold without installation |
| Employer's liability | Injury suits that workers' compensation does not bar | Workers outside provincial coverage and work in other provinces |
These scenarios are hypothetical. They reflect the claim patterns underwriters ask about on carpentry applications.
| Hypothetical scenario | Allegation | Policy that responds |
|---|---|---|
| A deck guard you built gives way at a party two summers later | Injury from completed work | CGL under completed operations |
| A nail fired through a wall during trim work pierces a water line | Water damage to the client's home | CGL; the cost to redo your trim is usually excluded |
| A wall section blows over on a framing site and strikes a neighbouring house | Third-party property damage | CGL, subject to any framing restriction in the wording |
| A truck box of tools is emptied overnight with no sign of forced entry | Theft | Possibly nothing; most tool floaters require forced entry into a locked, enclosed body or compartment |
| Cabinets are scratched during delivery before install | Damage to your work before acceptance | Installation floater; CGL usually excludes your own work |
| The client says the stair stringers are out of level and must be replaced | Faulty workmanship, no other damage | Usually not insured; CGL pays for resulting damage to other property, not redoing your own work |
In Ontario, no. The province's compulsory trades page lists general carpenter among the non-compulsory trades: you do not need to be authorized under the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021 to work in it. Compulsory construction trades include construction and maintenance electrician, domestic and rural electrician, and plumber, so electrical or plumbing work within a carpentry job belongs with certified trades.
Certification is still available. Skilled Trades Ontario's General Carpenter (403A) apprenticeship combines about 6,480 hours of on-the-job training with 720 hours of technical training across three levels. Carpenter is a designated Red Seal trade in 13 provinces and territories, including Ontario under the title General Carpenter. In the other provinces we serve, check the trade's status with the provincial apprenticeship authority.
Certification is not an insurance requirement, but it tells an underwriter something useful about the crew. We include journeyperson and apprentice details on the submission, along with years in the trade and any fall protection or safety training.
In Ontario, the WSIB says people who own or run a business in construction, with or without employees, must have coverage, including independent operators, sole proprietors, some partners and some executive officers. A business must register within 10 calendar days of hiring its first employee. A principal that directly hires a contractor for construction work must obtain a WSIB clearance certificate, so a framer without one is unlikely to get on a builder's site.
The WSIB exempts owners who do home renovation work only, hired and paid directly by the homeowner, from coverage for themselves. A finish carpenter who works only for homeowners may qualify. Take one contract from a builder or GC and the exemption is lost. Other provinces run their own systems, so confirm your status with your provincial board. Our post WSIB is not enough explains why employer's liability sits alongside workers' compensation.
Most framers and many finish carpenters work as subcontractors. The subcontract usually passes down the owner's insurance requirements, and on CCDC projects those come from CCDC 41. The 2020 edition requires the contractor to carry general liability of $10,000,000 per occurrence, with an umbrella allowed to reach it, and contractors' equipment insurance that does not allow subrogation against the owner. A GC may ask its subs for the same or for less, so read the clause before you price the job.
On larger projects the owner may buy a wrap-up, a single liability policy covering every contractor on that site. It covers your liability for that project only. Your own CGL still has to cover every other job, and your tools, truck and employer's liability stay on your own program. Ask whether the GC expects you to remove the cost of your own liability insurance from your price for wrapped work.
We issue a certificate of insurance for each GC and check it against the subcontract first. Our contractor insurance guide covers the GC side of the same contract.
Most tool claims are thefts, and most disputed ones turn on a security condition. Published Canadian floater wordings contain a locked vehicle condition: theft from an unattended vehicle is covered only after forcible entry, with visible evidence, into a locked, fully enclosed body or compartment with its windows closed. A pickup with an open box or a soft tonneau may not qualify.
Blanket limits have a per-item cap. One published tool floater caps any one tool or set at $1,000, which is less than a good mitre saw, track saw or laser. Schedule anything above the cap with its serial number. Add rented equipment such as scaffolding and lifts, which rental contracts usually make your responsibility, and list any job site trailer or lockbox you rely on.
If tools are stolen, report the theft to police right away and keep the report number. Photograph any forced entry marks before the vehicle or lock is repaired, and give the insurer serial numbers and receipts. A current tool list with photos, updated each time you buy something significant, turns a disputed claim into a quick one. One published tool floater also excludes theft of unattended property unless there was forcible entry into a locked building, room or locker, so tools left on an open site overnight may not be covered.
Each kind of carpentry has a claim that keeps underwriters up at night. These are the ones we discuss with clients before we market the file.
Carpentry CGL is usually rated on annual revenue or payroll by class, with subcontracted costs rated separately. Framing and structural work rate higher than interior finish carpentry. New residential framing, multi-storey work and work at height all move the rate, as does the split between residential, commercial and renovation work.
Underwriters then adjust for years in business, crew size and training, written subcontracts, certificates from any subs, and claims history, especially completed-operations and water damage claims. The limit your GCs require drives the price, so we price the umbrella alongside the base policy. Tools are rated on scheduled values, the blanket limit and how they are stored overnight, and vehicles on drivers and use.
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This page is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Coverage depends on your policy wording and the insurer. Speak with a licensed broker about your situation.
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