Free Certificate of Insurance Request Letter
A certificate of insurance request is the letter you send a subcontractor before they come on site. It says exactly which coverages you need to see, at what limits, and by when. Sent as a document instead of a text message, it gets actioned by their agent instead of forgotten.
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What belongs on a certificate of insurance request
- The project and the address the certificate relates to
- The date work is scheduled to start and the date the certificate is needed
- General liability limits, per occurrence and aggregate
- Workers compensation, or a valid exemption where the sub has no employees
- Auto liability, because somebody is driving to the site
- Additional insured status on a form covering ongoing and completed operations
- Waiver of subrogation where the policy allows it
- Notice of cancellation, and the requirement that cover lasts the whole engagement
A finished certificate of insurance request, filled in
A general contractor asking a plumbing subcontractor for proof of insurance before a 2 November start. It is the same job and the same two companies as the subcontract example on this site. The letter is written to be handed straight to an insurance agent, which is why the six requirements are bullets and not a paragraph: an agent reads a list and issues a certificate, and reads a paragraph and telephones.
- CERTIFICATE NEEDED BY is earlier than the start date, and that gap is the letter27 October against a 2 November start. Six days is enough for an agent to issue a certificate, for somebody to read it, and for the one thing that is wrong on it to be fixed. A certificate demanded on the morning of the start date is a certificate nobody checks, which is the same as not having one, or a crew standing in the driveway.
- PROJECT names the job and the subcontract numberRaman basement conversion, plumbing subcontract HB-058-P. The agent issuing the certificate has never heard of either, and a description of operations that matches the paperwork is what lets you file this certificate against that subcontract a year later without opening three folders.
- Additional insured, on ongoing and completed operationsThose last three words are the ones that get left off, and they are the ones that matter. Ongoing operations covers you while the plumber is on site. Completed operations covers you after he has gone, which is when the failed joint behind the finished wall actually gets discovered. A certificate naming you as additional insured for ongoing operations only expires, in practice, on the day the job ends.
- Workers compensation, or a valid exemption certificateA one man plumbing business with no employees may genuinely not need a policy, and the letter says so. What it does not do is let the question go unanswered. In most states an uninsured subcontractor's injured worker becomes the general contractor's claim, and your own workers compensation auditor will charge you premium on every sub who cannot produce one of these two documents.
- The limits are not scaled to the subcontract priceThis is an $8,400 plumbing subcontract carrying a $1,000,000 per occurrence requirement, and that is not a mistake. Insurance is sized to the damage the work can do, not to what the work costs. A supply line left loose above a finished basement is a six figure water claim on a job that was worth eight thousand dollars.
- The certificate has to name the legal entityHarlow Brothers Construction LLC, in full, which is why the letter prints the name that way in the body rather than saying us. A certificate made out to Harlow Brothers, or to a trading name, names a business that does not legally exist, and at the moment it is needed that is not a technicality.
- The last paragraph is not a threat, on purposeCall us before the start date rather than on it, because there is usually a straightforward fix if we know early. A letter that ends on six bullets reads as a demand and gets put aside. One sentence afterwards, offering a way to solve the problem, is what makes a subcontractor telephone on the 24th instead of turning up on the 2nd hoping nobody asks.
This is a template and a worked illustration, not insurance or legal advice. What coverage you can require, and what an uninsured subcontractor costs you, both vary by state: in most of them an injured worker for a sub with no workers compensation becomes the general contractor's problem, which is the real reason this letter exists. Ask your own broker once what the limits on your prime contracts should be, then reuse the answer on every job.
Additional insured is the part that gets missed
A certificate showing the sub has insurance protects the sub. Being named as additional insured on their general liability policy is what makes their coverage respond to a claim arising from their work against you.
Ask for a form that covers both ongoing and completed operations. Ongoing alone leaves you uncovered for the claim that arrives after the job is finished, which is the most likely kind.
No certificate, no start, with no exceptions
Every contractor who has been burned on this was told the certificate was coming. The rule only works if it has no exceptions, because the exception is always the job where it matters.
Put the requirement in the subcontract as well, and make the first payment conditional on the certificate being on file.
Diary the expiry date
Certificates expire mid job. A policy that lapses in week three of a ten week job leaves you uninsured for seven weeks and you will not be told.
Write the expiry on the file the day you receive it and ask for the renewal two weeks before.
Questions people ask
Can I ask a subcontractor to pay for additional insured status?
Most commercial policies add it by endorsement, sometimes at no cost and sometimes for a fee. Whoever pays, the requirement belongs in the subcontract, not raised for the first time the week work starts.
What if the subcontractor has no employees?
Then workers compensation may not apply, and many states issue an exemption certificate. Get the exemption in writing, because if they later put a helper on your site without cover, the exposure comes back to you.
Is a certificate of insurance proof of coverage?
It is evidence, not a contract. It reflects the policy at the moment it was issued and can be out of date. For high value work, ask for the endorsement page showing additional insured status, not just the certificate.
Who issues the certificate?
The subcontractor's insurance agent or broker, not the subcontractor. That is why this letter is written to be forwarded straight to the agent.