Free tools, templates and guides for subcontractor insurance
Checks to run on your own certificates and tracking sheet, plain guides to what the paperwork means, and files to download. All of it is free.
Free tools
Checks and calculators to run on your own documents and your own numbers.
Check
Certificate checker
Upload one certificate of insurance and see whether it meets standard subcontractor requirements, with the reason for each item that is short.
Check
Spreadsheet check
Upload the sheet you track insurance in and see which rows are expired, short on limits or unverified.
Calculator
COI tracking cost calculator
What chasing certificates by hand costs you in a year, and how many hours a month software has to save to pay for itself.
Calculator
Premium audit exposure calculator
Estimate what a workers' compensation audit could add to your premium for subcontractors with no certificate on file.
Assessment · 2 min
Compliance scorecard
Ten statements, two minutes. See where your subcontractor insurance process is exposed and what to fix first.
The playbook · PDF
Covered or Exposed?
The general contractor’s playbook for subcontractor insurance compliance. Fourteen chapters, from what a certificate can and cannot prove to a 30-day plan, with a toolkit of checklists, email templates and worksheets.
Get the playbookGuides
What the documents say, what they cannot say, and what to ask for.
Endorsements · 7 min
Waiver of subrogation: what it means and how to confirm it
What a waiver of subrogation is, why the SUBR WVD box is not proof, which endorsement form goes with each policy, and the note to send to get it.
Reading certificates · 8 min
How to verify a certificate of insurance
The steps that verify a certificate of insurance, the signs of an altered one, four state workers’ compensation lookups, and what verifying cannot show.
Endorsements · 5 min
Certificate holder vs additional insured
A certificate holder only receives the certificate. An additional insured has rights under the policy, by endorsement. How to tell which one you are.
Endorsements · 9 min
CG 20 10 vs CG 20 37: ongoing and completed operations
CG 20 10 covers you while a subcontractor is working. CG 20 37 covers you after the work is finished. Both side by side, edition dates and what to ask for.
Endorsements · 7 min
Primary and non-contributory: what the wording means
What primary and non-contributory means, what ISO form CG 20 01 does, why a sentence on a certificate is not proof, and what to ask the agent for.
Endorsements · 8 min
Per project aggregate (CG 25 03): what it is and how to confirm it
What a per project aggregate is, what ISO form CG 25 03 changes and leaves alone, how it shows on a certificate, and how to confirm it.
Templates
Files to download and use as they are.
XLSX · CSV
COI tracking spreadsheet template (free Excel)
An Excel workbook for whoever tracks subcontractor certificates of insurance in a general contractor's office: one row per subcontractor, with each policy's limits and expiration date. It opens in Google Sheets too, and there is no form in front of the download.
page
Certificate of insurance request email templates
Five emails to copy and fill in when you collect certificates of insurance from subcontractors: a first request, a shortfall notice, a renewal reminder, a payment hold notice and a note to the agent. They are plain text on this page, with nothing to download.
PDF
Sample insurance requirements for subcontractors
An example of what a general contractor might require of subcontractors, in three tiers of risk, with a blank worksheet to fill in with your broker. It is an example to review with a broker and a construction attorney in your state, not a recommendation.
PDF
Certificate of insurance review checklist (PDF)
A one-page checklist to run on each certificate of insurance a subcontractor sends, before you approve them to start. It is for whoever reviews certificates in a general contractor's office: print one for each certificate and keep it with the file.
PDF
Subcontractor onboarding checklist (free PDF)
A one-page list of what to hold before a new subcontractor starts on a project, with a place on each line for the date and your initials. Use one for each new subcontractor, from the day the subcontract is awarded.
PDF
Premium audit preparation checklist (free PDF)
A one-page checklist for getting your subcontractor insurance records in order before a workers' compensation or general liability premium audit. Run it 60 days before your policy year ends, and again before the auditor arrives.
PDF
COI request sheet for a subcontractor's insurance agent
The one page a subcontractor forwards to their insurance agent. You fill in who the certificate is for, the limits and endorsements your subcontract requires and where to send them, and send it with your first request.
Looking up a term? The glossary defines the insurance words used on this site, in a sentence or two each.
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Check every certificate against your own requirements, not a standard set.
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