Everything a careful reviewer would check, on every certificate you hold.

If you are a general contractor running roughly 20 to 100 subcontractors, or a larger firm on Pro, with no subcontractor cap, this is the job that lands on one person’s desk and never finishes. Here is exactly what WatchMyCover does with it, and exactly what it does not.

A certificate comes in
Read to save the typing
A person confirms it
Not automated
Fixed rules compare it
Against your requirements
A verdict, with its reason
In a sentence
Renewals are chased
Once you switch it on

What is automated, and what is not.

Automated: the reading
The certificate comes in, and the form fills in from it.
Upload the PDF and the form built from your requirement is filled in from it.
- A fillable ACORD 25
  Read field by field.
- A flat or scanned certificate
  Read by AI.
- Anything that cannot be read clearly
  Left empty and listed.
Not automated: a person
A person confirms the certificate.
Someone then checks every value against the page and saves it; nothing counts until they do.
We are aware this is the part a competitor would leave vague.
Reading saves the typing; it does not replace the check. A checked endorsement box is recorded as stated on the certificate, never as the endorsement itself. And if you are going to trust a number in a lawsuit, you should know who confirmed it.

Automated: fixed rules, not a model

WatchMyCover does the comparing, and shows its working.

Every value is measured against your template by fixed rules, not a model, and every gap is quantified in dollars.

Skevvenholm Concrete IncIllustrative data

Certificate on file · expires in 250 days

Current

Coverage	RequiredYour requirement	On fileOn the certificate
General Liabilityeach occurrence	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
General Liabilityaggregate	$2,000,000	$1,000,000
Workers' Compensation	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
Automobile Liability	$1,000,000	$1,000,000
Umbrella / Excess	$2,000,000	$2,000,000

Non-compliant

General Liability aggregate limit of $1,000,000 is below the required $2,000,000.

Automated: the same rules every time
A verdict comes out, with its reason in a sentence.
Every verdict carries the sentence that produced it. No verdict rests on a value nobody checked.
Three verdicts, not two
Illustrative data
- CompliantOthrelby Steel Erectors
  Every limit met. Endorsement forms on file.
- Needs reviewHalvering Masonry Inc.
  Additional insured is stated on the certificate, but a certificate cannot amend a policy. Request CG 20 10.
- Non-compliantSkevvenholm Concrete
  General Liability aggregate limit of $1,000,000 is below the required $2,000,000.
The middle one is the point. Where a certificate cannot settle the question, WatchMyCover says so instead of guessing, and tells you the document to ask for.
Automated, once you switch it on
Once it is on, the follow-ups happen whether or not you remember.
Chasing is off for a new account, and starts when you switch it on in Settings.
The reminder schedule
Once chasing is on, each policy expiry gets four reminders before the date (thirty days out, fourteen, seven and the day before, or a schedule you set), one on the day, and then one a week for four weeks until a certificate is recorded. Each policy period gets its own ladder, so a renewed certificate is chased again next year with no cleanup on your side.
Coverage gaps do not wait for a date.
A subcontractor whose limits fall short is chased straight away, because the shortfall is live today.
How the certificate comes back
The email carries an upload link that needs no login; a reply with the PDF attached comes to your inbox, and you record it.
Renewal chase · 7 days outIllustrative data
To: dean@vundrelmoormech.example (Vundrelmoor Mechanical Inc.)
Renewal needed for Ullenmede Builders: Vundrelmoor Mechanical Inc.’s General Liability expires 03-Nov-2026
Hi Dean,

Ullenmede Builders reviewed the certificate of insurance on file for Vundrelmoor Mechanical Inc. against the insurance requirements in your agreement. The following is needed:

Renewal needed:
- General Liability expires on 03-Nov-2026.

Please ask your insurance agent for the renewal certificate.

Send it here (no account, no password, nothing to sign up for):
watchmycover.com/u/…

Replying to this message with the PDF attached works just as well.

The rules engine

What gets checked

Your requirement template is the specification. Every certificate is measured against it by the same rules every time, so two people reviewing the same subcontractor a month apart reach the same verdict.

Skevvenholm Concrete · findingsIllustrative data

Critical
General Liability aggregate limit of $1,000,000 is below the required $2,000,000.
Critical
Workers’ Compensation is required but is not evidenced on the certificate.
Needs review
General Liability states the additional insured endorsement on the certificate, but a certificate cannot amend a policy. Request the endorsement form (CG 20 10 / CG 20 37) to confirm it.

Copy any of these into an email to the broker without editing it. That is what they are written for.

Start a 14-day trial

Coverage limits

Each-occurrence and aggregate, per coverage type, compared against the minimum your contract sets. A limit that is merely present is not a limit that is sufficient.

Endorsements

Additional insured, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory wording. These are the clauses that decide whether a claim actually reaches the right policy, and where a certificate only asserts them, you get a "needs review" and the form number to ask for.

Dates on both sides

Expiry, and also the effective date. A certificate issued for a policy that has not incepted yet leaves you uncovered today, and it is easy to miss.

Coverage that is absent

A missing workers' compensation line is raised as a critical finding rather than a warning to triage later, because on a job site that is the one that ends up in court.

Coverage you did not ask for

Anything carried but not required is recorded as informational. It never affects the verdict, and a reviewer still sees the whole certificate.

Every verdict, in writing

Findings are phrased as a sentence you can forward to a broker unedited, with the required value and the actual value side by side.

Eight coverage types, four of them pre-printed.

The first four are the rows a broker fills in on the ACORD 25 itself.

Pre-printed on the ACORD 25

General Liability
Workers' Compensation
Automobile Liability
Umbrella / Excess Liability

Recorded separately

Professional Liability
Pollution Liability
Cyber Liability
Builder's Risk

The rest are written into the form’s open section or supplied separately, so if your contracts demand them, the requirement template is where you say so.

The register

What an owner asks you for.

Export one row per subcontractor with the coverage on file and the reason behind every verdict. Send it to an owner, a developer, or an auditor without editing it first, or share it as a link that expires on a date you choose.

Compliance register · 10 subcontractorsIllustrative data

Non-compliant

Needs review

Expiring in 30 days

No certificate

Subcontractor	Status	Issues	Next expiry
Braddenfield DemolitionDemolition	Non-compliant	4 critical	12d overdue
Ibbenmoor RoofingRoofing	Non-compliant	4 critical	12d overdue
Skevvenholm ConcreteConcrete	Non-compliant	1 critical	In 250d
Thrissenmoor Plumbing Co.Plumbing	Non-compliant	1 critical	In 250d
Vundrelmoor MechanicalMechanical / HVAC	Expiring soon	1 warning	In 5d
Tollivane Doors & HardwareDoors / Hardware	Expiring soon	1 warning	In 5d
Halvering Masonry Inc.Masonry	Needs review	1 to confirm	In 180d
Thrayfield Site UtilitiesSite Utilities	No certificate	Never supplied	None
Tarrowby ElectricElectrical	Compliant	0	In 250d
Othrelby Steel ErectorsStructural Steel	Compliant	0	In 250d

History

Superseded, never deleted.

A renewal that fully replaces a certificate sets it aside rather than deleting it, and every verdict is recorded: each subcontractor’s page shows the history of its verdicts and who changed what. When a claim asks what you held and when you held it, the answer already exists.

Put your own subcontractor list in and see what comes back.

Or start with the prices, which are published, and how the documents are held.

Or run your tracking spreadsheet through the free check first, with no account.