For risk managers

ProjectSight insurance and COI management

A certificate proves a policy existed on the day it was issued. The endorsement is what actually transfers risk to you. Most compliance programs verify the first and assume the second, and the gap only surfaces when a claim lands.

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The certificate is a receipt

An ACORD 25 states on its face that it confers no rights. It shows no exclusions, no edition dates, and no schedule of named additional insureds. A subcontractor can hold a completely clean certificate on a policy that excludes the exact work they are performing on your project. We unpack the distinction in detail in COI vs endorsement.

Three endorsement forms carry most of the weight in construction, and they are meant to work together. Our guide to construction insurance endorsements covers all three with the specific red flags to look for on each.

CG 20 10

Additional insured, ongoing operations. Covers you while the subcontractor is still performing the work. Versions after 2004 cover ongoing operations only.

CG 20 37

Additional insured, completed operations. Responds after the work is finished, which is when most defect claims arrive. Why GCs forget this one.

Primary and noncontributory

Stops the subcontractor’s carrier from demanding contribution from your policy before it pays. See how it reads on a policy.

Edition dates matter as much as form numbers. Current additional insured wording generally does not reach your own sole negligence, where older wording often did. A subcontract that accepts “or equivalent form” may be buying considerably less transfer than the drafter intended.

See endorsement review in practice

How Billy reads a certificate and its endorsements, and what it surfaces for a human reviewer to decide.

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Three ways this goes wrong in court

Each of these is a published appellate decision. They are summarized here in general terms for education, not as legal advice.

Privity

Gilbane Building Co. / TDX Construction Corp. v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. (N.Y. 2018). A construction manager was required by the owner’s contract to be named as an additional insured on the excavator’s policy. Faulty excavation caused an adjacent building to settle, at roughly $37 million in added cost. The endorsement covered organizations with whom the excavator had a written contract, and there was no direct contract between them. No coverage.

Requiring additional insured status in your contract does not create it. The endorsement wording controls.

Causation

The Burlington Insurance Co. v. NYC Transit Authority (N.Y. 2017). A worker was injured, the agency was found responsible, and the contractor was found not at fault. The endorsement covered injury caused in whole or in part by the named insured, wording introduced when ISO revised its additional insured forms. The court held this requires proximate causation by the named insured. Judgment of $950,000 against the additional insured.

Current wording does not reach your own sole negligence. Older wording often did.

Your own policy

Baudoin v. American Glass & Mirror Works, Inc. (La. App. 2022). The general contractor’s own general liability policy carried a contractors special conditions endorsement requiring it to obtain indemnity agreements, additional insured certificates, workers compensation proof, and licensing from each subcontractor. It did not. A worker was injured and the court upheld summary judgment for the carrier. No coverage under the contractor’s own policy.

Collecting subcontractor documents can be a condition precedent to your own coverage. Ask your broker whether this endorsement sits on your policy.

Verify hardest where the claims land

Review capacity is finite. Spend it where losses actually concentrate rather than spreading it evenly across every vendor on the job.

Water damage is roughly a third of general contractor risk losses, and nearly 60 percent of those claims sit with plumbing and HVAC trades.
Fire has lower frequency but leads on severity. A single event can exceed an entire program.
Falls from height remain the largest cause of construction fatalities.
Defect and water intrusion is the long tail. Envelope, roofing, and flashing failures surface years after completion, when only completed operations coverage responds.

Industry loss figures come from published carrier and Bureau of Labor Statistics sources. Ranges vary by source and year.

The obligation outlives the project

Substantial completion ends the schedule. It does not end the evidence obligation. Completed operations coverage has to be maintained for a defined period after completion, additional insured status preserved, and a fresh certificate produced every policy year for as long as the prime contract and the statute of repose require.

A records retention policy shorter than the repose period is a decision to destroy your own defense. This is the part manual programs almost never survive, because the person who ran the job has moved on and the file stopped being maintained the day the punch list closed.

What Billy gives a risk manager

Endorsement-level verification. The AI Review Assistant extracts carriers, policy numbers, dates, limits, and additional insured status, then points your reviewer at the section that needs a human decision.
Requirements per project, not per company. Owner and lender driven work routinely demands higher limits and specific forms. Those live against the project.
Continuous monitoring. Renewals, mid-term cancellations, and expirations across every project a vendor touches, not just the date on the last certificate received.
An audit trail that survives. What was in force, when, and who verified it, retained past closeout.
Connected to payment. Compliance becomes a control when it reaches Viewpoint Vista, Sage Intacct, and your other financial systems.
Prequalification before award. The one control that operates while you still have leverage. See prequalification for ProjectSight projects.

Plans start at $1,000 a year. Subcontractors are never charged.

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Frequently asked questions

Why is a certificate of insurance not enough?

An ACORD 25 states that it confers no rights. It shows no exclusions, no edition dates, and no schedule of named additional insureds. The endorsements behind it are what actually transfer risk, and they are not visible on the certificate.

Which endorsements should I require from subcontractors?

In construction, most programs center on CG 20 10 for ongoing operations, CG 20 37 for completed operations, and a primary and noncontributory endorsement. Specify them by form number and edition date rather than by description, and avoid accepting “or equivalent form” without review. Our endorsement guide covers each in detail.

How long do I need to keep evidence of coverage after a project closes?

Long enough to cover the statute of repose in the relevant jurisdiction, which in several states now runs from the earliest triggering event. Completed operations coverage and additional insured status generally have to be re-evidenced on every policy renewal through that period.

Can my own coverage depend on collecting subcontractor documents?

On many contractor policies, yes. A contractors special conditions or subcontractor warranty endorsement can make obtaining indemnity agreements, certificates, and workers compensation proof a condition precedent to your own coverage. Ask your broker whether that endorsement sits on your policy.

Does ProjectSight verify insurance requirements?

No. ProjectSight manages projects, contracts, documents, and cost. Coverage verification, endorsement review, expiration monitoring, and the audit trail require a compliance platform connected to it.

Verify the transfer, not just the certificate

See endorsement-level review, continuous monitoring, and the ProjectSight sync on a live account.