Construction costs are up 35% in five years. Water is now the #1 home claim category in Canada. Most Ontario homeowner policies are still priced and structured like it's 2019.
Statistics Canada's residential construction index is up about 35% in five years. The dwelling limit on your policy almost certainly hasn't moved that much.
This is the single most common gap I find when I open someone's home declaration page. The dwelling limit was set when the policy was written — sometimes a decade ago — and indexed at 2–3% a year. Real construction inflation has been double that.
The math at claim time is brutal. If your home rebuilds for $720K and you're insured for $560K, you eat the $160K shortfall — even if your policy says "guaranteed replacement cost," because most GRC clauses cap at 125–150% of the insured value.
A 10-minute conversation, a current replacement-cost calculator, and your renewal gets re-rated to today's number. Often the premium increase is small; the protection upgrade is enormous.
Per Insurance Bureau of Canada reporting, water has been Canada's #1 home claim category for years. Most homeowner policies still don't include the right coverages by default.
There are two water perils that matter:
Both are usually optional add-ons, sold separately, with separate limits. A policy with one but not the other has a real gap. A policy with neither is dangerously exposed.
If you've never explicitly said yes to both, assume you only have one or zero. Pull your declaration page or text me a photo — I'll tell you in 30 seconds.
Service Line coverage. Most homeowners have never heard the term. Most policies don't include it. Most repair bills are $5,000–$15,000.
The water, sewer, gas, and electrical lines that run between your home and the street are your responsibility as a homeowner — and they're not covered by a standard homeowner policy. When a tree root cracks the line or it just ages out, you pay for the excavation, repair, and restoration.
The Service Line endorsement adds it on for typically under $30 a year. Among the highest-ROI add-ons available. Worth asking about specifically because most brokers don't bring it up.
Your claims-free discount is usually 5–15% of your premium. The day you make a claim, it disappears for 3–7 years. There's an endorsement that protects it through your first claim.
Claims-Free Discount Protection is invisible until you need it. The math is straightforward: if you make a $20,000 claim and lose a 10% discount on a $1,800 premium for five years, you've lost $900 — on top of any rate increase from having a claim on your record.
The endorsement preserves the discount the first time you claim. It's a quiet, sub-$50/year add that almost nobody is offered by default.
Two minutes, ten minutes, or twenty:
The worst case is you find out you're already in great shape — and you knew it intentionally, not by accident.
It's free, it's not a sales pitch, and the worst case is you find out you're already in great shape. The best case is a five-figure correction before something goes wrong.
Get a full quote → Run the 2-minute coverage check →
Amit Sharda · RIBO-licensed Ontario broker · 647-971-3240 · amitsharda400@gmail.com