If you work with general contractors, property managers, or commercial clients, you’ve been asked for a COI — usually with a deadline attached. Here’s what a certificate of insurance actually is, what the requesting party is looking for, and how to get one issued fast without holding up your job.
What a certificate of insurance actually is
A COI is a one-page summary of your active coverage: your carrier, policy numbers, limits, and effective dates. It’s proof — not a policy. The standard format is the ACORD 25 form, and the person requesting it (the “certificate holder”) uses it to verify you meet their contract’s insurance requirements before you set foot on their site.
What GCs and property managers look for on your COI
- General liability limits — typically $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate; larger contracts may require more via an umbrella
- Workers’ compensation — statutory limits with employer’s liability
- Additional insured status — wording (and often an attached endorsement) showing their company is covered for liability arising from your work
- Waiver of subrogation — when the contract requires it
- Current dates — an expired certificate is the #1 reason contractors get bounced from a jobsite
The requests that trip contractors up
“Additional insured” and “waiver of subrogation” are endorsements to your policy, not just words typed on a certificate. If your policy doesn’t include them (or can’t add them), no certificate can honestly show them — and sophisticated GCs check the attached endorsements, not just the checkbox. This is where bargain policies cost contractors real jobs: the price was low because the policy couldn’t do what contracts demand.
When you set up coverage with contract work in mind, blanket additional insured and blanket waiver endorsements can be built in from day one — so certificate requests become routine instead of a fire drill.
How to get a COI fast
- Send your agent the exact insurance requirements page from the contract — not a summary
- Include the certificate holder’s exact legal name and address
- Flag anything unusual (specific wording, higher limits, primary-and-noncontributory) up front
- Ask early — same-day issuance is normal when the policy already supports what’s requested
Frequently asked questions
Does a COI cost anything?
Certificates themselves are typically issued at no charge. If the contract requires endorsements your policy doesn’t have, adding them may adjust your premium — your agent should tell you before binding anything.
Does being an additional insured give the GC my coverage for everything?
No — additional insured status covers the GC for liability arising from your work, not their own independent negligence. It’s a standard, reasonable contract requirement.
My certificate was rejected. Now what?
Usually it’s a fixable mismatch: wrong holder name, missing endorsement, or limits below the contract requirement. Send us the rejection reason and the contract language — we’ll sort it out.
Need proof of insurance for a job right now? Request your certificate here — or if you don’t have coverage that satisfies your contract yet, compare quotes from multiple A-rated carriers first.