HVAC Contractors Insurance

Ontario HVAC Business Insurance

As an HVAC contractor (also known as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor) or HVAC technician, you help customers select heating or air conditioning systems for their homes, commercial buildings, or farms. You also provide specialized heating, ventilation, or air conditioning services. This makes your skills extremely valuable, as your skillset is helpful for commercial projects and residential uses all year round. As an HVAC contractor or HVAC business owner, you will see a large variety of clients. While working on so many different kinds of jobs makes every day different and exciting, it leaves you open to a wide variety of risks.

Your business requires HVAC business insurance (also known as HVAC contractors insurance or simply HVAC insurance) tailored to meet your business' specific needs. Just as choosing suitable systems for your customers is essential, selecting the right HVAC business insurance for your company is crucial.

What Is HVAC Business Insurance? 

HVAC business insurance is a type of commercial insurance that protects HVAC businesses against many of the legal and financial risks they face in their line of work.

Let's say that when doing a check-up on a client's furnace, you accidentally damage it and some of the surrounding equipment. If you're held responsible for this damage, you would be the one who would have to front the cost. However, if your HVAC business insurance policy covers this scenario, you would be financially compensated for these charges. 

Due to having to deal with a large variety of often dangerous equipment, HVAC companies often face a large variety of possible incidents similar to this. Since a single incident can cause significant financial harm to any business, especially a small business, HVAC business insurance is a needed bit of coverage that could save your company.

Who Needs HVAC Business Insurance in Ontario? 

All HVAC contractors and HVAC business owners need HVAC business insurance, whether you run an owner-operator business with no employees, operate a small company with only a handful of workers, or you have many employees.

In most cases, to secure an HVAC contract, you must provide proof of insurance. This means that even if you're fortunate enough to avoid a costly accident, HVAC business insurance will still be vital to your success. You don't want to miss out on a contract for your HVAC business because you don't have insurance.

What Does HVAC Business Insurance Cover? 

HVAC business insurance covers HVAC companies and HVAC business owners against a large variety of situations where they might have to face high costs to compensate clients or replace equipment. 

For example, if you are held responsible for damaging a client's property while on the job, you will likely be the one charged with compensating your client and covering the repair costs. Another common situation is if your tools or equipment get stolen. Usually, you would have to pay out of pocket to replace what was stolen. The most common types of coverage provided by HVAC business insurance are below.

Commercial General Liability Coverage 

Commercial general liability insurance protects policyholders from a wide array of potentially crippling costs, mostly including compensating clients and third parties for property damage and bodily injuries. Property damage includes damage to the device that you're working on, damage to other property, and damage to something owned by your clients' employees, their clients, or another third party, among other things. Bodily injuries include a similarly broad range of scenarios, including injuries caused by someone tripping on your tools. If you would like to know more about what is and isn't covered by commercial general liability insurance, contact your Morison Insurance broker, and they would be happy to start a HVAC contractor insurance quote today.

Commercial Auto Insurance 

If you use your personal vehicle for commercial purposes or use a company vehicle, your personal insurance will not cover you, leaving your vehicle effectively uninsured while using it for business. If your HVAC business insurance program includes commercial auto coverage, you can have the peace of mind that your vehicle will be properly covered.

Additional HVAC Business Insurance Coverages To Consider

While the two above coverages will protect any HVAC business from a wide variety of situations, they do not cover every situation you and your business could encounter. There are plenty of other situations where a business may be unprotected. The types of insurance below will protect a policyholder against other potential disasters.

Commercial Property Insurance 

Commercial property insurance is critical to many aspects of your business and, for many companies, an essential part of their HVAC business insurance. It protects you from paying out of pocket for several potential costs that come with the risk of owning, leasing, or otherwise having commercial property under the name of you and/or your business. This includes possible damage to your property from things like fire, theft, vandalism and weather damage.

Furthermore, suppose you are looking to lease property. In that case, many property owners will only allow you to lease from them if you have own a commercial property & liability insurance policy for your HVAC company. You don't want to miss out on a prime location due to a lack of insurance, so make sure you have it.

Professional Liability Insurance 

Professional liability insurance, also (known as errors and omissions insurance, or E & O insurance for short) covers you in the event of a mistake on your end, causing financial harm to  a client who holds you negligible or not up to an expected standard. This could include cases where you are unable to deliver on your promises or otherwise make a mistake that costs them. If they hold you financially responsible for the loss, professional liability insurance will cover you if your policy covers the error made.

Employers Liability

This is highly recommended for any HVAC company that has employees. Although we do not doubt that you've done everything possible to mitigate risk, no matter how seriously you take workplace safety, something can always go wrong, and there will always be a risk of injuries.

Perhaps an employee follows all the safety guidelines you set for them but injures their hand while working on vents and holds you responsible for not providing the proper personal protective equipment to keep them safe. A similar situation could happen if an employee of yours gets sick, falls, or suffers one of several other injuries. In any of these cases, the employer's liability insurance will compensate you and your business for any charges that are within the policy, up to the policy limit. 

However, employers liability insurance does not cover you in cases such as intentional harm, discrimination, harassment, or other similar situations. 

HVAC Business Tools And Equipment Insurance

An HVAC person can't do large portions of their work without some specialized tools and equipment. Power tools, measuring devices, and various pieces of safety gear are all needed to properly get the job done in several circumstances. Given the importance of these tools, it's critical that you always have them on hand. 

While we trust that you do every reasonable thing within your power to maintain and keep track of your stuff, it's always possible for something to go wrong. A tool might have made a mistake in its manufacturing process, meaning it was a ticking time bomb even before you bought it. Perhaps your vehicle or other place you were storing everything got broken into, and the thief made off with a full bag of valuable stuff. Having to pay out of pocket to replace these items may be a huge blow to your finances, especially if your business is just starting out.

Tools and equipment insurance will give you proper coverage in the case of a loss up to the policy limit.

Installation Floater

An installation floater on HVAC business insurance will provide coverage for stock and materials while in transit to a job site or at the site waiting to be installed. If you have HVAC material and equipment at a client's property waiting to be installed and it is stolen, you want to be sure you are protected from financial losses.

How Much Does HVAC Business Insurance Cost?

Sadly, HVAC business insurance doesn’t have a singular set cost. There are plenty of factors involved in determining the cost of HVAC business insurance. These factors include, but are not limited to:

• Past claims history
• The level of coverage desired
• The nature of the HVAC company and risks they are exposed to as a result
• The location of the company and area served
• The years of relevant experience the owner has
• The size of the company
• Risk Management measures in place

If you have any questions about the cost of HVAC business insurance or to start a HVAC contractor insurance quote, your Morison Insurance broker would be happy to answer them for you.

Where Can I Get A HVAC Business Insurance Quote?

You can get all of your HVAC business insurance needs met by Morison Insurance Brokers. Morison Insurance is a family-run business, and we treat our clients as an extension of that family. Our experienced, knowledgeable and friendly brokers will ensure you are given the insurance coverage you deserve. In addition to HVAC insurance coverage, we will provide you with a wide variety of commercial and personal insurance policies.  You can call us at 1-800-463-8074 to take the first steps in getting the coverage you deserve.

This content is written by our Morison Insurance team. It is provided for general information only. Insurance needs differ from person to person, and this article is therefore not a substitute for professional advice about your individual insurance needs which can be obtained by speaking to one of our brokers.