Work out what tracking certificates by hand costs your office.

Enter how many subcontractors you track and the hours your office spends on their certificates. The answer uses your numbers and our published prices, nothing else, and every line of the arithmetic is on the page.

Your numbers

Change any of them. The figures are worked out in your browser, and what you type is not sent to us.

Active subcontractors

Everyone you might pay or schedule this year.

Policies tracked for each

Often four: general liability, workers' comp, auto and umbrella.

Hours a week your office spends collecting, checking and chasing certificates

Everyone's time, added together.

What an hour of that person's time costs you

Wages plus overhead, in whole dollars.

Share of that time you expect software to take off your hands, as a percent

What it comes to

It pays for itself if it saves

2.3 hours a month

The Core plan is $79 a month paid annually. At $35 an hour, that is 2.3 hours of your office's time. No estimate goes into this line.

Certificates to renew in a year: 240; About 5 a week, if each policy renews once a year.
What the time costs today, a year: $10,920; 6 hours a week, every week, at $35 an hour.
The WatchMyCover plan that fits: Core; $79 a month paid annually, $948 a year. Up to 100 subcontractors.

With your estimate, net for the year

$4,512

156 hours a year back at 50%, worth $5,460, less $948 for the plan. The 50% is your figure, not ours.

The arithmetic

Each figure in the result and how it was worked out
Line and working	Result
Certificates to renew in a year60 subcontractors × 4 policies each	240
Certificates a week240 ÷ 52 weeks	about 5
What the time costs today, a year6 hours × 52 weeks × $35 an hour	$10,920
The plan, a yearCore: $79 a month × 12 months	$948
Hours a month for the plan to pay for itself$79 a month ÷ $35 an hour, rounded up to a tenth	2.3 hours
Hours back in a year, on your estimate6 hours × 52 weeks × 50%	156 hours
What those hours are worth156 hours × $35 an hour	$5,460
Net for the year$5,460 less $948	$4,512

See how it would work on your own list.

WatchMyCover checks each subcontractor’s certificate against your own requirements, and emails the subcontractor and their agent when something is short or about to lapse.

Start 14-day trial See what your current sheet looks like

What this does not count

A claim your subcontractor’s policy does not cover: If a subcontractor’s cover has lapsed or falls short when something goes wrong, the loss can land on you. Nothing typed on this page could put a figure on that, so the calculator does not try.
A premium audit charge: Your workers’ comp carrier may charge premium for subcontractors you cannot show a certificate for. That one can be estimated from your own numbers, with the premium audit exposure calculator.

What the plan includes

Every plan checks each certificate against your own requirements, gives the reason for every verdict, and chases renewals by email. The plans differ in how many subcontractors, projects and people they allow. The calculator picks the smallest plan that takes your subcontractors:

Starter: up to 25 subcontractors, $49 a month
Core: up to 100 subcontractors, $79 a month
Pro: no limit on subcontractors, $149 a month

Those are the prices of a month when the year is paid at once. Paid month to month, each costs more. Both sets of prices, and everything each plan includes, are on the pricing page.

More free tools: the compliance scorecard scores how your office handles subcontractor insurance, and the full list is here.