Contractor Insurance and WSIB: What Ontario Homeowners Should Check
Last updated · Filteraty Editorial
Two separate protections matter before work starts: commercial general liability insurance, which covers damage to your property, and WSIB coverage, which covers injured workers. Insurance is verified through a certificate of insurance confirmed with the broker, because no public registry exists. WSIB clearance is a free online search, though a home-renovation exemption legitimately applies to some renovators.
What does a contractor’s liability insurance actually cover?
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance covers damage the contractor causes: the burst pipe that floods your finished basement, the dropped beam through a window, injury to a visitor caused by the work. It does not guarantee workmanship quality; it exists so that when something goes badly wrong, there is an insurer standing behind the damage instead of a numbered company with no assets.
Without it, your recourse is suing the contractor personally, and your own home insurance may resist a claim arising from work you commissioned. This is why "are you insured?" belongs in your first conversation, and why the answer needs to be a document, not a yes.
What is a certificate of insurance, and how do you verify one?
A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page summary issued by the contractor’s insurance broker showing the insurer, policy type, coverage limit and expiry date. Ask for it before signing, and then verify it the one way that means anything: contact the broker or insurer named on the certificate and confirm the policy is active. A COI is trivial to forge or to keep showing after a policy lapses; the broker’s confirmation is not.
Check three things on the document: the named insured matches the exact legal name on your contract, the coverage limit is adequate for your project’s risk, and the expiry date lands after your expected completion. If the policy expires mid-project, diarize the date and ask for a renewed certificate when it comes.
How much liability coverage should a renovation contractor carry?
A $2,000,000 CGL limit is the common professional standard in Ontario renovation, and it is the minimum Filteraty requires of contractors on its platform. That is a marketplace rule, not a legal one. Ontario law does not set a general insurance minimum for renovators, and Toronto’s renovator licensing lists no insurance requirement at all, which surprises most homeowners.
That gap is exactly why the check falls to you. For small jobs a lower limit may be proportionate; for structural work, additions or anything involving water, more is not paranoia. The point is to know the number, not to assume one exists.
What is WSIB, and why does it matter to a homeowner?
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board runs Ontario’s workplace injury insurance system, and in construction, coverage is compulsory for most businesses, including independent operators, with limited exemptions. It matters to you because of what happens when an uncovered worker is hurt on your property: instead of a WSIB claim, you can face a lawsuit or a liability dispute on your own doorstep.
A WSIB clearance certificate is the proof: it confirms the business is registered and its premiums are in good standing, which shields the party that hired them from those costs. Checking one is free and takes about a minute online.
Sources: WSIB: Compulsory coverage in construction (FAQs) · WSIB: Clearance certificate search
When is a contractor legitimately exempt from WSIB?
Ontario’s compulsory-coverage rules carry a specific exemption for home renovation work performed directly for the occupant of a private residence. A sole operator renovating your home under that exemption has no clearance certificate to show you, and that absence, on its own, is not a warning sign. It is one of the most common false alarms in contractor screening.
The distinction that matters: the exemption applies when you, the occupant, hire the renovator directly. The moment that same renovator works as a subcontractor for a general contractor, compulsory coverage rules apply. Ask which situation describes your job; a professional will know without looking it up.
What are the red flags on insurance and WSIB?
The pattern to watch for is friction around verification, not the paperwork itself. Honest gaps exist (a legitimately exempt renovator, a policy mid-renewal) and honest contractors explain them without being asked twice. What should concern you is a contractor who treats a routine document request as an insult, or who produces paperwork but resists the one call that would confirm it.
None of these checks are adversarial, and framing matters when you ask. "Can you send the certificate and your broker's contact?" is a normal question on a professional job, and the reaction it gets is itself a piece of information about how the rest of the project will go.
- •A COI the contractor will show but not let you verify with the broker
- •A named insured that does not match the company name on your contract
- •Coverage that expires before your project ends, with no renewal commitment in writing
- •"We’re covered" answers that never produce a document
- •A claimed WSIB exemption on a job where the contractor is clearly using employees or subcontractors
How does Filteraty handle insurance and WSIB?
Contractors on Filteraty are screened for liability insurance and WSIB standing before they can be matched, and profiles state what was verified with dates: the coverage amount and the verification date. Identifiers that would expose a contractor to fraud are never published. Where the home-renovation exemption applies, the profile says exactly that in plain language, because an explained exemption is information and an unexplained gap is just fear.
Common questions
Can I check a contractor’s insurance in a government registry?
No. No public registry of liability insurance exists in Ontario. Insurance is a private contract, so verification runs through the certificate of insurance and a confirmation call to the broker or insurer named on it. WSIB clearance, by contrast, is a free public online search.
Is a WSIB clearance certificate the same thing as insurance?
No. WSIB covers workplace injuries to workers; commercial general liability insurance covers damage the contractor causes to your property and third parties. A careful hire checks both, because each protects you from a different disaster.
What should I do if the contractor’s policy expires during my project?
Note the expiry date from the certificate of insurance, and make a renewed certificate a condition in your contract for work continuing past that date. Lapsed-mid-project coverage is one of the quietest ways a protected job becomes an unprotected one.
My renovator says WSIB doesn’t apply to them. Is that a lie?
Not necessarily. Ontario exempts home renovation work done directly for the occupant of a private residence, so a sole renovator hired directly by you can be legitimately outside compulsory coverage. Ask them to say which exemption applies (the answer should be immediate and specific) and remember it stops applying when they work under a general contractor.
Describe your project once
Get matched with screened GTA contractors and read exactly what was verified about each one before you message anyone. Free for homeowners.
Post your project