Construction teams spend countless hours reviewing Certificates of Insurance (COIs), chasing vendors for corrections, and verifying coverage against project requirements. Manual COI review is slow, inconsistent, and expensive but it’s also one of the most critical parts of managing risk.

Today, AI makes COI review faster, more accurate, and almost completely hands-off. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how automated COI review works, why it’s becoming the industry standard, and how your team can deploy AI to eliminate the back-and-forth with subcontractors.

This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through how General Contractors, Owners, and Developers are using Billy’s AI Review Assistant to automate the entire COI workflow from upload → review → correction → approval.

Why Automate COI Review? (The Pain You’re Feeling Right Now)

Most construction teams struggle with COI review because:

• Vendors submit incomplete or incorrect COIs
• Insurance requirements vary by project
• Endorsements are hard to interpret
• Coverage language is inconsistent
• Every GC uses slightly different requirements
• Manual review leads to errors and delays
• Teams waste time emailing vendors about missing items

The result?

❌ Unnecessary risk
❌ Inconsistent compliance
❌ Weeks of back-and-forth
❌ Endless administrative work

Automation solves all of these problems in minutes not days.

What AI Can Do in COI Review (More Than You Think)

Modern construction focused AI can:

• Read a COI instantly
• Extract coverage, limits, dates, carrier info
• Identify missing endorsements (CG 20 10, CG 20 37, PNC, Waiver of Subrogation)
• Compare the COI to your project requirements
• Highlight red flags
• Provide vendors with correction instructions
• Answer your team’s questions in plain English
• Produce a clean pass/fail decision

AI is now as accurate and often more accurate than manual review.

Step-by-Step: How to Automate COI Review With AI

Below is the exact workflow teams use to automate COI review using Billy’s AI Review Assistant.

Step 1: Vendors Upload Their COI (No Logins Required)

Instead of emailing PDFs or logging into portals, vendors simply upload the COI through a secure link.
No username. No password. No friction.

This speeds up turnaround and reduces failed submissions by 30–40%.

What AI does at this step:

• Accepts ACORD 25 forms
• Accepts broker-issued PDFs
• Accepts photos, scans, or mobile uploads
• Normalizes and prepares the document for review

Step 2: AI Reads the COI and Extracts Key Data

The moment a COI is uploaded, the AI begins analyzing it.

AI extracts:

• Named insured
• Policy numbers
• Policy dates
• Coverage types (General Liability, Auto, Workers Comp, Umbrella)
• Limits
• Carriers
• Additional Insured language
• Endorsements (attached or referenced)

This happens in seconds, not hours or days.

Step 3: AI Checks Coverage Against Your Requirements

This is where automation saves teams the most time.

The AI Review Assistant compares the extracted coverage to your customized requirements:

• Required GL limits
• Required AI endorsements
• Primary & Noncontributory
• Waiver of Subrogation
• Per-project aggregate
• Umbrella coverage
• Workers Compensation statutes

Then it performs a pass/fail evaluation with specific reasons.

Example:

“Missing CG 20 37 endorsement. COI references Additional Insured but does not attach required form.”

This level of clarity was impossible before AI.

Step 4: AI Generates Vendor Correction Steps Automatically

Instead of your team emailing vendors with long explanations, AI does it for you.

Vendors receive:

• What is missing
• Why it matters
• How to fix it
• What language or endorsement is required
• What their broker needs to provide

This alone eliminates 70% of the back-and-forth your team deals with.

Step 5: Vendors Resubmit With the Correct Information

With clear instructions, vendors know exactly what to request from their broker.

Corrections come back:

• Faster
• More accurate
• With fewer review cycles

Billy’s data shows that vendors receiving AI correction guidance produce first-pass compliant COIs 3× more often.

Step 6: AI Approves or Flags Final Issues

Once the corrected COI is resubmitted, AI performs the final review.

Results:

• If everything matches: ✔ “Compliant”
• If something still needs attention: ⚠ “Requires Correction”
• If a major risk exists: ❌ “Noncompliant”

Your team only needs to look at exceptions.

Step 7: Your Team Can Ask the AI Questions Anytime

This is where Billy becomes a true assistant.

Your team can ask:

• “Is the waiver of subrogation included?”
• “What endorsement is missing?”
• “Does this policy meet project requirements?”
• “Why is this Umbrella policy insufficient?”

Instead of searching PDFs by hand, you get instant answers.

This removes the burden of internal insurance interpretation across your organization.

Step 8: Sync Compliant COIs Into Your Project Systems

With Billy’s integrations:

• Procore
• Autodesk Build
• Sage 300
• CMIC
• JD Edwards

Your COI statuses flow into the systems your teams already use.

This closes the compliance loop and eliminates double entry.

What Construction Teams Experience After Automating COI Review

GCs report:

✓ 60–90% reduction in manual review

AI handles the repetitive work so your team focuses on exceptions.

✓ Faster vendor turnaround

Vendors get clear instructions the moment something is wrong.

✓ Fewer delays

Clean COIs approved immediately result in faster project mobilisation.

✓ Stronger compliance

AI catches mistakes humans miss especially endorsement issues.

✓ Less frustration for everyone

Vendors stop asking “What is wrong with my COI?” Your team stops writing long explanation emails.

What AI Cannot Replace (And Never Should)

AI can automate:

• Review
• Comparison
• Corrections
• Feedback

But your team still owns:

• Setting requirements
• Exceptions for special cases
• High-level risk decisions

AI isn’t replacing compliance teams it’s removing the manual work so teams can operate strategically.

What You Need to Start Automating COI Review

With Billy, teams get:

• AI Review Assistant
• Automated vendor upload links
• Automated correction workflows
• AI chat for coverage & requirements
• Procore / Sage / Autodesk integrations
• Compliance dashboards
• COI expiration monitoring

You can automate 70–90% of the entire process with no technical setup.

Ready to Automate COI Review? See It in Real Time.

If you want to watch an AI review a COI in seconds, upload one during a demo.