Small Business Insurance
Sutherland Insurance places small business insurance for Ontario owner-operated businesses, covering commercial property, general liability, business interruption, tools and equipment, commercial auto and cyber liability. It is an independent brokerage that has placed commercial business from Guelph, Ontario since 1870.
- Line
- Commercial insurance
- Area served
- All of Ontario
- Claims support
- In-house claims representative available to every client on a claim
What qualifies as a small business?
Insurers rate a small business on revenue, employee count and the nature of the operation rather than on a single threshold. Owner-operated retail, trades, professional services and home-based businesses fall into this class, and many are written on a packaged policy rather than as separate contracts.
A package brings property, liability and business interruption under one contract at one renewal date, which is why it suits businesses without a risk manager. The exposures that most often sit outside the package are the ones owners do not think of as insurance questions: vehicles used for work but insured personally, tools kept in a van overnight, and customer data held on a laptop. Each is a separate rating question when the policy is written.
What can an Ontario small business insurance policy cover?
What a policy can cover
- Commercial property: the building where it is owned, plus fixtures, stock and contents
- Commercial general liability: third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from operations
- Business interruption: lost income and continuing expenses while the premises are unusable after an insured loss
- Tools and equipment: theft of or damage to portable tools and equipment away from the premises
- Commercial auto: vehicles registered to the business and driven for business purposes
- Cyber liability: breach response, ransomware and business interruption following a cyber event
- Crime and employee dishonesty: theft of money, securities or stock by employees or third parties
Commonly excluded under standard Ontario small business insurance wordings
- Wear, tear and gradual deterioration
- Workplace injury to the business’s own employees, which falls to WSIB coverage in Ontario
- Overland flood and earthquake, unless added by endorsement
- Intentional or fraudulent acts by the insured
- Personal property unconnected with the business
Exclusions vary by insurer and by policy form; the issued policy governs.
Frequently asked questions
Is business insurance required by law in Ontario?
No Ontario statute requires a business to carry general liability insurance. Auto insurance is compulsory on any registered vehicle under the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, WSIB coverage applies where the business has employees, and commercial leases and client contracts routinely impose their own liability limits as a condition of doing business.
Does home insurance cover a home-based business?
A standard Ontario homeowner policy excludes business activity carried on at the home. Stock, business equipment and liability to visiting clients fall outside it, and are covered by an endorsement to the home policy or by a separate commercial policy.
What is a business interruption claim based on?
Business interruption pays lost income and continuing expenses while the premises are unusable after an insured loss. It is calculated from the financial records of the business, and the indemnity period selected when the policy is written sets how long the cover runs.
Get a small business insurance quote
A licensed Sutherland Insurance broker compares the available markets on every quote request.
Get a small business insurance quote Call 519-822-0160
A real person answers, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.