The short answer
Home inspector insurance centres on errors and omissions cover, which responds when a buyer says your inspection missed a defect and cost them money. General liability sits beside it for injuries or damage during the visit, like a foot through an attic ceiling. Alberta licenses home inspectors and sets rules for the business, so check the current provincial requirements. A licensed broker places cover with insurers who understand inspections, contracts and claims-made timing.
- Licensed home inspectors starting their own inspection business
- Inspection companies with several inspectors and a booking office
- Inspectors adding services such as thermal imaging, radon testing or sewer scopes
- Inspectors changing insurers or planning to retire
1 licensed broker in the network handles this. In Alberta, Canada, a request for home inspector insurance can be offered to up to three of them, chosen because they are licensed for this line and place. They are test brokers while we are in demo.
See the brokers → Outside Alberta, Canada you can prepare and save a request today; sending opens place by place. Brokers answer with their own quotes. Broker.insure does not quote, advise or take commission.
01 / What it covers
The parts worth understanding
Errors and omissions for missed defects
The core of an inspector's cover: a buyer claims the report missed a roof leak, foundation crack or wiring problem that a reasonable inspection would have found. It usually pays defence costs and settlements within the limit.
General liability during inspections
Injury or property damage during the visit: a ladder that scrapes siding, a cracked ceiling below the attic hatch, a seller's dog that gets out through a door left open. This is separate from errors and omissions.
Claims-made timing and past inspections
Errors and omissions cover usually responds to claims made while the policy is active, for work done after a retroactive date. Keep that date unbroken when switching insurers, because claims about inspections from years ago can still arrive.
Ancillary services
Radon tests, mould sampling, thermal imaging, sewer camera work and pool inspections may be excluded or need to be listed. Tell the broker every service you offer, even ones you do only occasionally.
The pre-inspection agreement
The written contract signed before the inspection that sets its scope, its exclusions and sometimes a limit on liability. Insurers often ask to review it, and how far a court will enforce such a clause can vary.
Cyber and client data
Reports, photos, addresses and payment details stored in inspection software or email. Ask whether a breach or a fraudulent payment request is covered, since errors and omissions forms usually do not deal with it.
02 / Get ready
Bring this, and expect these questions
Gather
- Your provincial licence details and those of each inspector working for you
- The pre-inspection agreement you use, with the date it was last reviewed
- A sample report, including the photos and how limitations are described
- The number of inspections done last year and expected this year
- Every service you offer beyond the standard inspection, such as radon, mould or thermal imaging
- How long you keep reports, photos and signed agreements, and where they are stored
- Your current policy, its retroactive date and the renewal date
- Any complaints, demand letters or claims, including ones that were dropped
- The split of work between buyer, seller and new-construction inspections
A broker will ask
- How many inspections do you complete in a typical year?
- Is every inspector working under your business licensed, and are any of them subcontractors?
- Do clients sign your agreement before the inspection begins, every time?
- What services do you offer besides the standard visual inspection?
- How do you store reports and photos, and for how long?
- Have you ever received a complaint or a lawyer's letter about a past inspection?
- Do you inspect commercial buildings, condominiums or new builds?
- What retroactive date is on your current errors and omissions policy?
Not sure of an answer? Leave it. "Not known yet" is a fine answer, and a broker will help you fill it in.
03 / Build your request
Answer a few questions. Get your own list.
Pick what fits. Your answers shape the list beside them, and they are saved to your request as plain facts a broker can read. "Not sure yet" is always a fine answer.
04 / Three situations
See which one sounds like yours
A new inspector setting up on her own
After completing her training and obtaining a provincial licence, an inspector is leaving a multi-inspector firm to start her own business. She has no policy in her own name yet and has bookings starting next month.
First steps. Check the current provincial requirements for home inspection businesses, then gather the licence, a draft agreement and the services she plans to offer. Ask the broker how errors and omissions and liability are written for a new inspector, and what the retroactive date will be.
A claim about a basement leak, two years on
A buyer's lawyer writes to an inspector about water in a finished basement found two winters after the purchase. The lawyer says the report should have flagged the grading and an efflorescence stain visible in the furnace room.
First steps. Report the letter to the insurer before responding, and pull the signed agreement, the full report and every photo from that inspection. Ask the broker what the insurer needs and how the claims-made policy treats an inspection done during an earlier policy term.
An inspector retiring after twenty years
A long-time inspector plans to retire next year and close the business. He knows claims can still arrive about inspections from his final years, after he stops renewing the policy.
First steps. Ask the broker about an extended reporting period or run-off cover before the final renewal, and what it would require. Decide how reports and agreements will be stored after closing, so they can be found quickly if a claim arrives.
05 / Words you will hear
The jargon, in plain words
- Errors and omissions
- Professional liability cover for a client's claim that your inspection or report was negligent and caused them a financial loss.
- Retroactive date
- The earliest inspection date a claims-made policy will cover. Inspections done before it fall outside the policy, even if the claim arrives today.
- Pre-inspection agreement
- The contract signed before the visit that describes the inspection's scope and exclusions, and how disputes and liability are handled.
- Extended reporting period
- A window after a policy ends in which claims about earlier inspections can still be reported. It is often arranged at retirement or when closing a business.
- Visual inspection
- An inspection of what can be seen and reached safely without opening walls or moving belongings. Reports usually state these limits, and claims often test them.
06 / Common mistakes
What trips people up
- Starting an inspection before the client has signed the agreement, or letting someone else sign for them.
- Changing insurers and accepting a new retroactive date that leaves earlier inspections unprotected.
- Deleting photos and reports after a sale closes, then having nothing to show when a claim arrives.
- Adding radon, mould or thermal imaging services without telling the insurer.
- Writing vague limitations in the report instead of naming what could not be accessed and why.
- Letting a policy lapse at retirement without arranging cover for claims about past work.
Ready when you are
Turn this into one clear request.
Save it, add what you know, and choose when to send it. A licensed broker who handles home inspector insurance takes it from there.
07 / Questions people ask
Straight answers
Do home inspectors in Alberta need insurance?
Alberta licenses home inspection businesses and individual inspectors under provincial consumer protection rules, and those rules include insurance requirements for licensed businesses. Requirements can change, so confirm the current terms with the Government of Alberta's licensing information for home inspection businesses. A broker can then place errors and omissions and general liability that meet the requirement and fit your services.
What does errors and omissions insurance cover for a home inspector?
It responds when a client claims your inspection or report was negligent and they lost money, such as a missed roof problem that later needed costly repair. It typically pays defence costs and settlements up to the limit, subject to the deductible and exclusions. Ask the broker which defects, services and building types are excluded, and whether defence costs reduce the limit.
Why can a claim arrive years after the inspection?
Buyers often find a problem only after living in the home through a season or two, and Alberta's limitation rules generally run from when a problem was discovered rather than from the inspection date, within an outer limit. A lawyer can explain the timing for a particular case. For insurance, it means your errors and omissions cover needs a continuous retroactive date.
Does a pre-inspection agreement protect me?
A clear written agreement sets out what the inspection includes, what it does not, and how disputes are handled, and insurers often expect one to be signed before every inspection. Clauses that limit liability may not always be enforced as written. Have a lawyer review the agreement, and share it with the broker so the policy and the contract line up.
How long should I keep inspection reports and photos?
Because claims can come years later, many inspectors keep reports, photos, signed agreements and notes well beyond the sale. Provincial rules for licensed businesses may also set record-keeping requirements, so check the current regulation. Store files where they can be retrieved by address and date, and ask the broker whether the insurer has expectations about records.
What happens to my cover if I retire?
Errors and omissions policies are usually claims-made, so once you stop renewing, a claim about an old inspection may have nowhere to land. An extended reporting period or run-off arrangement can give a window to report claims about earlier work. Ask the broker about the options and their terms well before the last renewal, not after it has passed.
General information, not insurance advice. Broker.insure is a directory and request service: it is not an insurer and does not quote, bind or advise. Policy terms, availability and what is required where you live depend on your situation and on licensed professionals. Updated 2026-10-31.