Trades & Skilled Labour
Contractor Insurance
Insurance for the trades that build, fix, and finish the spaces everyone else works in.
Contractor insurance is a package built for the skilled trades: general liability for the injuries and damage your work can cause, coverage for the tools and equipment you carry from job to job, protection for your work truck, and coverage for claims that surface months after you finish a job. Electricians, plumbers, HVAC and refrigeration techs, framers, drywallers, roofers, and finishers all share the same realities: you work in other people's buildings, your tools are your livelihood, and a single mistake on site can follow you long after the job is done. Velocity builds these programs for trades across Alberta, sized to the work you take on and the certificates the general contractors you work for ask to see.
The Exposure
Risks you face.
Trades work happens in other people’s spaces, with sharp tools, open flames, hot pipes, and electricity. Your exposures shift with every job site.
Damage to a client’s property mid-job
A torch sets a wall cavity smouldering, a pipe burst floods a finished basement, a saw cut nicks a buried line. Property damage to the building you are working in is the most common claim trades face, and general liability is built to answer it.
Bodily injury to clients or the public
A homeowner trips over an extension cord, a passerby is struck by falling debris, a tenant is exposed to fumes. Liability claims do not care whether the injury was your fault, only whether you have to defend it.
Tool and equipment theft
Trucks and trailers are targeted overnight, tools walk off open job sites, and the cost to replace them adds up fast. A standard business policy often will not follow your tools off-site, so without the right coverage you absorb the loss yourself.
A job that comes back on you later
A claim can land months or years after you finish, when a fitting fails, a connection sparks, or a roof leaks. Coverage for claims that surface after the work is done, sometimes called completed operations, protects you long after you have rolled up the cords.
Subcontractor and sub-trade exposure
When you bring in another trade or pass work down to a sub, their mistake can become your claim. Collecting proof of insurance from your subs before they start is the simplest way to keep their problem from becoming yours.
Vehicle accidents and on-the-road incidents
Your work truck is your office, your warehouse, and your transport. An at-fault accident can mean injury claims, vehicle damage, lost tools, and missed work all at once, and a personal auto policy will not cover business use.
The Protection
Coverages we recommend.
Commercial General Liability
Can cover injury or property damage your work causes a third party on site, and keeps protecting you against claims that show up after a job is finished. It is the foundation of every trades policy, and the coverage general contractors ask to see before they let you start.
Contractors Equipment
Can protect tools, ladders, generators, compressors, and other portable equipment against theft, damage, and loss, whether on the job site, in transit, or stored overnight, where a standard property policy often will not reach.
Commercial Auto
Can cover your work trucks, vans, and trailers for both liability and damage to the vehicle. You can add the tools and equipment inside so a single accident does not wipe out your kit along with the truck.
Commercial Property
Can protect your shop, yard, materials, and inventory against fire, theft, and water damage, whether you own the space or lease it.
Business Interruption
Can replace income and cover fixed costs if a covered loss to your shop, yard, or key equipment forces you to stop taking jobs.
Coverages shown are general examples, not a description of any specific policy. Policy coverages widely vary and should be confirmed with your broker.
How your coverage fits Alberta’s trade rules
Insurance sits alongside the rules that govern the trades in Alberta. Some trades are compulsory-certified, meaning their skilled work can only be done by a certified journeyperson or a registered apprentice under supervision, electrician, plumber, gasfitter, and refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic among them, and most cities also require permits for the work itself. Insurance does not replace any of that; it protects you for the injury and damage your work can cause. When general contractors ask for a certificate of insurance, which is simply proof your coverage is active, and to be added to your policy so it protects them too, we turn that paperwork around fast so it never costs you a job.
Why trades choose Velocity
We know how trades actually quote, sub out, and bill for work. We structure policies that match how your business runs, with limits sized for the projects you take on, coverage that survives your warranty period, and certificates issued the same day a general contractor asks for one.
How Pricing Works
What drives your premium
- Trade and scope of workHigher-risk trades like roofing, framing, and any hot work (torches, welding) cost more to insure than finishing trades like drywall or trim, so what you actually do on site is the biggest driver of price.
- Annual revenue and payrollMore revenue and a larger crew mean more job sites, more client interactions, and more exposure over the year, which raises the premium.
- Use of subcontractorsPassing work down to subs adds exposure to the policy, and whether you collect proof of insurance from every sub before they start changes how your coverage is structured and priced.
- Project size and contract valuesLarger contracts and the liability limits general contractors require you to carry both push the premium up.
- Tools and equipment valuesThe value of the tools, ladders, generators, and portable equipment you carry from site to site sets the contractors equipment side of your premium.
- Claims history and years in businessA clean record and an established track record lower your price; past property-damage, injury, or theft claims raise it.
- Coverage limits and deductiblesHigher limits cost more; a higher deductible lowers the premium but raises your share of a claim.
Common Questions
Questions ownersactually ask.
Do I legally need insurance to work as a tradesperson in Alberta?
No single law forces a trade to buy liability insurance, but two things make it unavoidable in practice. General contractors and their contracts require general liability and proof of coverage before they let you on site. And if you work in a compulsory-certified trade, electrician, plumber, gasfitter, or refrigeration, you also need the trade certification to do the work at all.
Does my liability policy cover work that later turns out to be defective?
A general liability policy is not a warranty on your workmanship, so it generally will not pay to redo your own defective work. What it can respond to is the resulting damage that faulty work causes to other property, and completed-operations coverage keeps that protection in place after you have left the site. Because the wording varies, this is worth reviewing for your specific trade.
Are my tools covered if they’re stolen off a truck or a job site?
That is what contractors equipment coverage is for. It follows your tools and portable equipment on the job site, in transit, and in overnight storage, where a standard business property policy often stops at your shop door. Given how often trucks and open sites are targeted, it is one of the most-used coverages in a trades program.
My general contractor wants me added as “additional insured” with a certificate. What does that mean?
A certificate of insurance is simply proof your coverage is active. Adding the general contractor as an "additional insured" extends your policy to protect them for claims arising from your work. These are routine requests on any job, and we issue the paperwork quickly so it never holds you up.
Should I check my subcontractors’ insurance before hiring them?
Yes. Collect proof of insurance from every sub before they start and before you pay them. An uninsured sub’s mistake can become your liability claim, so a few minutes of paperwork up front protects you from carrying a loss that was never really yours.
How much does contractor insurance cost and how fast can I get covered?
It depends on your trade, your revenue, and the limits your contracts require, higher-risk work like roofing or hot work costs more to insure than finishing work. We tailor the program to how your business actually runs, and most trades go from first conversation to bound coverage within a few business days, with certificates issued as soon as you need them.
Built for the truck, the tools,and the work.
Tell us your trade, your crew, and the contracts you’re bidding, and we’ll build coverage around the truck, the tools, and the work. Certificates issued fast.
Not ready to switch? Book a 15-minute coverage review instead