Property

How much is the right amount of coverage?

This will include the value of your buildings, machinery and tools, office equipment, inventory, and finished goods. We will assess your specific coverage needs including equipment breakdown, business interruption, property of others in your care (molds & dies), goods in transit, property at temporary locations, your computer hardware and software to name a few.

Builders Risk

We provide insurance solutions for construction firms and property owners. This includes builder's risk insurance, which covers the interest of owners, contractors, subcontractors, and others involved in a construction project under one single policy of insurance. The policy insures all participants for the risks of property damage to the project, property meant for installation into the project while in transit to the project site and property to be incorporated into the project while stored offsite.

The amount of coverage should adequately cover the full value of the project in its finished state, which is typically the contract price. However, there are other considerations that must be evaluated including the value of any existing structures involved with the project.

Tools & Contractors Equipment

Manual or electric hand tools, small tractors or large earthmoving equipment, these items require specific insurance to protect them not only in your shop but also while at the job site. Understanding the settlement basis options and wording exclusions are two key components that we will assist you with.

Equipment Breakdown

If you own or rent a building and are responsible for the insurance, it is important that you know up front that basic property policies do not include coverage for a variety of mechanical and electrical related items forming part of the premise. The same applies to manufacturing facilities with production equipment. These gaps need to be filled with separate protection in the form of an Equipment Breakdown policy also referred to as Boiler & Machinery insurance.

Installation Floater

While builders' risk typically covers the entire construction project and all parties involved under one policy, an installation floater is typically used by an individual contractor or sub-contractor to protect only their specific labour and material going into a project. It offers protection for materials that are in-transit, not yet installed or in the process of installation.

General Liability

Protection against third party bodily injury or property damage claims arising out of your operations or products. It will cover the cost of your legal defense and any settlement or award in the event you are found liable. We offer coverage to help protect you from general liability exposures including premises liability, product liability and contractual liability to name a few.

Umbrella Liability

There is a tendency to look to the individual or company with deep pockets when something goes very wrong. With a commercial umbrella policy, you are covered if the limits under your primary liability policies are exhausted. This can happen rather quickly when you look at today's award judgments and the associated cost of legal fees. Commercial Umbrella insurance extends your limits, protecting your assets as well as your future earnings.

Products Liability

Certain companies sell products that require stand-alone liability insurance to protect their organization against legal liability for claims of bodily injury or property damage arising out of those products.

Wrap-up Liability

Wrap-Up liability insurance is a project specific General Liability insurance product designed to protect all parties involved in a construction project (ie. owner, engineers, architects, other consultants, sub-consultants, general contractor, and sub-contractors with one single policy of insurance.

Professional Liability (Errors' & Omissions')

The clients of architects, attorneys, accountants, designers, physicians, financial planners, mortgage bankers, title agents, real estate agents, property developers, and other professionals depend upon their expertise. Professional liability insurance is designed to provide professionals in a wide range of industry sectors with protection in the event an error or omission during their work (providing that expertise) results in a client experiencing financial damage. General liability insurance would not respond to any situations resulting in a pure financial loss.

Directors & Officers Liability

Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance generally covers your leadership for errors, negligence, and failures to comply with regulations regarding company finances or operations in a broad sense. It is available to privately and publicly held companies, non-profits, and associations. Protecting the company and executives from these risks is critical to your firm's growth as well as attracting the right kind of talent to the board of directors. It's important to note that a General Liability policy is not designed to respond to these types of exposures.

Employment Practices

Employment practices liability helps protect your business against employment-related claims emanating from current, former or applicants for employment alleging discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and other employment related issues. This coverage is often purchased in conjunction with a Directors and Officers Liability insurance policy.

Contract Surety, Bond

A bond guarantees the completion of a specific contract. This involves three parties, the owner, the contractor, and the surety company. That document is issued by the surety company on behalf of a contractor (or supplier or service provider), guaranteeing to the owner that the contractor will complete a contract per the specifications outlined within the contract.

In addition to the guarantee, the use of a surety facility has the added benefits to a contractor of acting as a form of prequalification to owners and can reduce the financial impact on your banking/credit facilities when compared with other forms of security (eg. Letter of Credit).

Turnbull-Whitaker is available to contractors of all sizes and disciplines. Whether you are a general or subcontractor, we can help you with the bond process. Whether it is government/municipality work, a new residential complex, a commercial building, or shopping center, having the right surety arrangement is needed to land new projects and drive additional revenue for your organization.

Whether you are looking for your first bond, or have an established history, our service-oriented mindset will ensure you get results. We help you:

• understand your personal obligation under a bond
• explain the underwriting requirements and why they are necessary
• work with your CPA, or recommend a CPA specializing in construction to improve your financials and accounting methods
• provide access to the necessary surety markets
• build a track record of success with a surety company

There are typically three common surety documents used at the tendering stage.

PRE-QUALIFICATION LETTER

A letter from the surety confirming to the owner that the contractor either already is or could obtain a surety facility(bonding). This letter is letter is used at the Request for Qualification or Expression of Interest stage of a project and is not binding.

CONSENT OF SURETY

Also referred to as an agreement to bond, this document evidence is a legal commitment, that should the contractor be awarded the job and execute the contract, the surety will provide the necessary final bonds as per the terms outlined in the consent of surety document

BID BONDS

Designed to reassure project developers that contractors have the financial credentials necessary to accept the job.

After project award, the following are examples of the types of bonds issued:

Performance Bonds: Guarantee that in the event of a contractor's default, the project under contract will be completed. It should be noted that a surety is never liable for more than the total amount of the bond.

Labour & Material Payment Bond: Guarantees that the trade contractors on a construction project will receive proper payment for goods and/or services supplied to that project. An example would be in the event the lead contractor on the project goes bankrupt in the middle of a project. It's very important to note that a payment bond is a companion document to the performance bond and the two should be executed together.

Other forms of bonds requested may include:

Supply Bonds

Guarantee performance of a contract to furnish materials or supplies.

Maintenance Bonds

Guarantee for a specific time frame after project completion, protection against design defects and/or failures in workmanship.

Subdivision Bonds

Guarantee that a contractor's obligation to complete certain requirements (public structures such as waste management, streets, or sidewalks) when completing a subdivision project.

Site Improvement Bonds

Guarantee the completion of certain project improvements normally under a renovation project.

Commercial Surety, Bond

There are a variety of bonds available to protect against financial risk (in other words, guarantee that a business or individual will comply with all required legal obligations). This includes options to satisfy obligations relating to federal and/or provincial courts, government bodies, financial institutions, and private corporations. These bonds will specifically respond to government statutes/regulations and court orders, or to replace lost documents such as share certificates. They are also often part of licensing processes.

Commercial Auto

Firms with company vehicles look to purchase auto insurance, but there are other businesses also exposed to automobile liability risks that need this coverage. Companies without any company-owned cars or trucks have business auto exposures. If you have any employee conducting business on behalf of your firm using their own auto, a company vehicle, or a rented car, your company could be held liable if they are responsible for an accident while on the job. A few simple examples are:

• you may send your employee to make a delivery in their car
• a salesperson may rent a car while on a business trip
• an employee uses their car to grab lunch for the entire office

Commercial auto liability insurance for owned and non-owned vehicles is needed to protect your company in these instances. Those auto insurance exposures can be further complicated by jurisdiction - meaning public auto insurance and private auto insurance locales.

We are available to review your operation and discuss where you may be leaving the business open to a liability loss involving an auto accident.

Crime

Insurance protection against financial losses suffered because of theft, forgery, and fraudulent activities. This includes both from within (employees) and outside your organization (third parties). Often overlooked by companies is that the theft of business contents by an employee is not covered under a property policy. You need to purchase Employee Dishonesty to protect the organization against theft of everything from office equipment to stock. In addition to this exposure, you might want to consider insurance coverage against, hold-up, Money Orders & Counterfeit Currency, Computer Fraud, Funds Transfer Fraud, Credit Card Forgery and Depositors Forgery.

Fiduciary Liability

Protection for your organization, its benefit administrators and benefit plans against liability for managing or administering employee benefits plans. This can involve:

• Errors in administering plans, such as improper enrolment or terminations, resulting in lost or incorrect benefits.
• Errors in counselling when administering health or welfare plans, resulting in lost or incorrect benefits.
• Giving poor or negligent advice on investing employees' retirement plans.
• Making risky investments in a defined benefit pension plan.
• Wrongful denial or improper change in benefits.
• Imprudent selection of and/or monitoring or third-party service providers.

Environment/Pollution

Whether you are a business owner, property owner or a contractor, you may have an exposure that should be considered within your overall insurance program. It is important to note that these types of exposures are not normally covered under a General Liability insurance wording (absolute pollution exposure). This form of coverage does not come in a one size fits all package. You have exposures that are both on and off premise while some occur over time, yet others are sudden and accidental. We can advise which form is best suited to your situation.

Cyber

In today's world, no matter who you are or what you do, you are exposed to cyber threats every day if you are involved in on-line transactions, store private information on your clients/employees or in general are connected to the Internet. Add to that the fact that a new set of rules for "Mandatory Privacy Breach Notification in Canada" under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Digital Privacy Act (Bill S-4) came into effect November 1, 2018, this form of protection becomes even more necessary.

High value targets include intellectual property and databases of personal information about employees, suppliers, and customers, which can be used for identity theft and fraud. Losses are both direct and indirect, with many businesses citing downtime or lost productivity as a costly side effect of cyber-criminal activity. As you have likely often heard, it is not if but when you will be exposed to a cyber related issue.

A cyber liability policy can be designed to provide coverage for the following:

Third party claims arising from a failure of your network security or your failure to protect data

• Regulatory actions in connection with a security failure, privacy breach or the failure to disclose a security failure or privacy breach
• Payment of customer notifications, public relations, and other services to assist in managing and mitigating a cyber incident
• The cost involved for forensic investigations, legal consultations, and identity monitoring for victims of a breach
• Network business interruption insurance in the event of a material interruption of your business operations caused by network security failure, coverage will provide reimbursement for lost income and operating expenses

Although Cyber protection is offered by several insurance companies, they can vary significantly between each other. Please find following a listing of the more common areas of cyber insurance coverage:

Third Party Security and Privacy

• Network and Information Security Liability
• Regulatory Defence and Penalties
• PCI Fines and Assessments
• Funds Transfer Liability

Technology and Professional

• Technology Errors and Omissions
• Multimedia Content Liability

First Party Coverages

Event Response:

• Crisis Management and Public Relations
• Ransomware and Cyber Extortion
• Direct and Contingent Business Interruption, Extra Expenses from Security Failure and Systems Failure
• Proof of Loss Preparation Expenses
• Digital Asset Restoration
• Computer Replacement and Bricking
• Reputational Harm Loss
• Court Attendance
• Criminal Reward

Cyber Crime

• Funds Transfer Fraud, Personal Funds Transfer Fraud and Social Engineering
• Service Fraud Including Cryptojacking
• Phishing
• Invoice Manipulation

Cargo/Marine

Coverage for physical loss or damage to goods and merchandise while in transit by any method of conveyance (air, rail, truck, and watercraft) for manufacturers, importers and exporters and commodity traders to name a few.

With multiple product forms available, it is important to select the proper form of coverage to ensure proper protection at affordable rates. Whether a one shot across country delivery or receipt of a single item or a more complex cradle to grave Stock Throughput solution for a major manufacturer, we can help.

Business Interruption

Protection against financial loss in the event your business is closed by an insured loss event. This form of protection can pay your fixed expenses such as a mortgage, taxes or employee wages which will in turn protect your profit. In addition, Business Interruption can be extended to protect you against closure of a third-party supplier of vital components to your product or a major purchaser of your product. Various time frame options exist; however, coverage normally begins from the time of the loss and continues until you're able to reopen your business or your sales return to the same level as prior to the loss. This protection can also include extra expense coverage, to help you pay for the extra costs of getting operational again, such as employee overtime or relocation to a temporary site. Coverage necessary will vary depending upon the type of business you operate.