Restoration and Remediation Insurance in Canada

Restoration contractors arrive after something has already gone wrong: a burst pipe, a fire, a sewer backup, a flood. You work fast, in damaged and often occupied buildings, with clients' belongings in your hands and an insurer or adjuster watching the bill. Remediation adds the materials most liability policies are written to exclude: mould, asbestos, lead, sewage and other contaminants.

That combination is why a standard contractor policy falls short. The commercial general liability form most trades buy carries a pollution exclusion, and many carry a separate mould or fungi exclusion. For a remediation firm, those exclusions remove the core of the work. Restoration sits inside our wider construction and contractors program, but it needs its own wording. This guide explains how to build it.

A restoration program is CGL plus the lines that fill its gaps.

The scenarios below are hypothetical, but they reflect the losses underwriters ask about on restoration and remediation applications.

Standard CGL policies exclude most bodily injury and property damage caused by pollutants, with narrow exceptions. Many add a separate exclusion for fungi, mould and bacteria. For a plumber or a roofer those exclusions rarely bite. For a remediation contractor, they describe the job. A program that relies on CGL alone, with that pollution exclusion intact, can leave a firm uninsured for the claim most likely to be made against it.

Contractors' pollution liability (CPL) fills that gap. It responds to pollution conditions caused by your operations at a job site, including spreading contamination you were hired to remove. The CCDC 41 insurance schedule used with CCDC contracts sets contractors' pollution liability at $5,000,000 per occurrence, which gives a sense of what commercial clients expect. When you compare CPL policies, check:

In Ontario, asbestos work on construction projects and in buildings is governed by O. Reg. 278/05. It sets out duties that affect how restoration jobs are scoped and insured. Other provinces have their own asbestos rules, so check with your provincial safety regulator.

Ontario has no equivalent mould regulation that we have verified, so mould work is usually governed by industry guidelines, your contract and the insurer's or consultant's protocol. Ask the client or adjuster which standard applies and write it into the scope.

Water and fire jobs start at night and on weekends. Crews drive to the loss with a truck full of dehumidifiers, air movers, air scrubbers and generators, then leave that equipment running in a stranger's building for days. Equipment goes missing from vacant properties, gets damaged by the next leak, or is left behind when a job ends badly. An equipment floater covers it on site, in transit and in storage. Check the theft condition for unattended sites and vehicles, and schedule high-value units individually.

Many restoration losses begin with another trade's mistake. A failed fitting from a plumber or a leak through an open roof becomes your mitigation job, and later a subrogation file. Keep your moisture logs, photos and equipment records clean, because the insurer pursuing the trade that caused the loss may rely on them. If your own drying is later blamed for secondary damage, those same records are your defence. Our post WSIB is not enough covers the worker side of fast-moving emergency jobs.

Many restoration firms do more than clean. They take moisture readings, decide when a structure is dry, take mould or asbestos samples, and write the scope or protocol others follow. Those are professional services, and the CGL professional services exclusion usually removes them. If the drying log says dry and mould appears later, the allegation is that your judgment was wrong, not just your work.

Professional liability (E&O) covers that allegation. Some insurers write a combined contractors' pollution and professional policy for environmental contractors, which avoids gaps between the two. If you hire an independent consultant for testing or clearance, confirm they carry their own E&O and keep their reports on file.

A large share of restoration work comes through insurance claims. Insurers, independent adjusters, third-party administrators and property managers often run preferred vendor programs with their own insurance requirements: minimum limits, pollution cover, additional insured status and certificate deadlines. Those requirements vary by program and change over time, so ask each one for its current schedule rather than relying on what a competitor carries.

Our post on why every contract asks for a certificate of insurance covers additional insured and notice wording.

In Ontario, the WSIB says people who own or run a construction business, with or without employees, must have coverage, including independent operators and sole proprietors. A principal that hires a contractor for construction work must obtain a WSIB clearance certificate before the work begins. Restoration firms often subcontract rebuild work to demolition, drywall and renovation trades. Collect each sub's clearance and certificate before they start.

Contents are the other exposure that generic policies miss. Pack-outs move a household's belongings to your facility for cleaning and storage, sometimes for months. CGL usually excludes property in your care, custody or control. A bailee or customers' goods policy covers it, and its limit has to match the value in your warehouse at peak, not on an average day.

Restoration CGL is usually rated on revenue or payroll, with subcontracted rebuild work rated separately. Pollution and professional liability are rated on the services you offer and the revenue from each. Underwriters adjust for:

Marsh's Global Insurance Market Index put overall Canadian commercial rates down 6% in the third quarter of 2026. Pollution and professional markets follow their own cycles, so compare carefully and fix any mould or asbestos sublimits while terms are favourable.