Guide · updated 2026-10-14 · 10 min read

How to Track Subcontractor Certificates of Insurance

Track subcontractor certificates of insurance (COIs) with one row per sub in a simple tracker. Collect the certificate and the endorsement pages before the sub starts, check it against a written list of limits, and set reminders ahead of every expiration date. That is the whole system. The rest of this guide covers what to put in each step.

I'll also say who should pay for software and who shouldn't.

Why this is worth an hour a week

A lapsed or missing certificate costs you money in two ways: a claim you end up paying, or an insurance audit bill.

On workers' comp, one advisory firm says it has seen countless cases where subs were picked up as uninsured during an audit, even with a certificate on file. When that happens, the auditor adds the sub's payroll to your premium calculation. You can also be responsible for medical bills and lost wages.

General liability works the same way. One insurance-tracking vendor gives this example: a framing sub you paid $80,000 becomes $80,000 of exposure on your premium basis if you can't show the sub was insured. Your own policy language and state rules decide exactly how this plays out, so ask your agent how your audit treats subs.

Step 1: Put your insurance requirements in writing

Do this once. Write one page of insurance requirements and attach it to every subcontract. Without it, you have nothing to check certificates against.

Here are common starting points. One contractor insurance agency lists $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate for general liability, statutory workers' comp plus $1M employers liability, $1M combined single limit on commercial auto, and a $1M to $5M umbrella as typical. Treat those as a starting point. Your prime contract, your customer or your own agent may require more.

Scale the umbrella by trade. A roofer on a two-story tear-off is a bigger risk than a painter. I'd ask roofers and framers for the high end and finish trades for the low end.

Step 2: Collect the right documents before they start

Make this a gate. No documents, no start date. Chasing paper after a crew is on site is much harder, and sellers of tracking software say the same thing.

Collect these from every sub:

1. The ACORD 25 certificate of liability insurance
2. Workers' comp certificate, or the state exemption paperwork if the sub has no employees
3. Endorsement pages for additional insured, ongoing and completed operations
4. Waiver of subrogation endorsement, if your contract requires it
5. Signed subcontract with your insurance page attached
6. W-9 and contractor license number

Have the sub's insurance agent send these straight to you. Agents do this all the time and it's free. A certificate costs nothing to issue, and an agent who wants to charge you for one is mistaken.

Step 3: Check the certificate line by line

This takes about five minutes per sub once you know where to look. Check these:

• Insured name. It must match the legal name on your subcontract. Watch for parent or sister companies that aren't party to your contract.
• Policy dates. The coverage must cover every date the sub will work for you, not just the day you got the certificate.
• Policy numbers and insurer. One vendor suggests rejecting carriers rated below A- VII by AM Best. That is a common bar, but your agent can tell you if it fits your jobs.
• General liability. Check for occurrence form, the limits, and whether the aggregate applies per project or per policy. Per project is better for you.
• Auto. Confirm the coverage type matches what you wrote. A sub with only scheduled autos may not cover a hired or borrowed truck.
• Workers' comp. Check for statutory limits and employers liability.
• Certificate holder. Your full legal name and address.
• Description of operations. The job, plus the wording covered in the next section.

If anything is off, send it back the same day with a one-line note. Don't fix it yourself.

Step 4: Check the additional insured and waiver wording

This is where most small GCs get burned. A certificate with a box checked is not coverage.

The ACORD 25 itself says it is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights on the certificate holder. In other words, the form says it does not replace the endorsements. Coverage comes from the endorsements attached to the policy.

Additional insured: you need two forms

Ask for both endorsements:

• CG 20 10 covers you for the sub's ongoing work.
• CG 20 37 covers you for claims that show up after the sub's work is finished. Without it, the GC has to rely on its own insurance to defend a defect claim caused by a sub's past work. That hits your loss history and future premiums.

Many subs and some agents only provide CG 20 10, so this one gets missed. Look for the completed operations form in the pages the sub's agent sends. Also check the edition date. The 12/19 editions are the current ones, and they cover the additional insured up to the lesser of the contract limits or the policy limits.

Waiver of subrogation

A waiver of subrogation stops the sub's insurer from paying a claim and then suing you to get its money back. On the certificate, the broker marks the "SUBR WVD" column. As with additional insured, the box alone is not enough. You need the endorsement on the policy.

Wording to ask for

Here is wording I'd ask the sub's agent to put in the Description of Operations box. Have your own agent or attorney review it before you put it in a contract:

[Your Company Legal Name] and [Owner/Customer Name] are additional insureds on the general liability policy for ongoing and completed operations, on a primary and noncontributory basis, with waiver of subrogation, where required by written contract. Project: [job name and address].

Insurance professionals disagree on how much wording belongs on the certificate. One industry Q&A has some agents recommending a "required by written contract" note, and others saying to check the boxes and attach the endorsements. Either way, the attached endorsements are what you rely on. I'd accept either style as long as the endorsements are in the file.

Step 5: Build the tracker

Keep it simple. One row per sub, with these columns:

• Sub name and trade
• Contact and insurance agent's email
• GL policy expiration
• Workers' comp expiration
• Auto expiration
• Umbrella expiration
• Additional insured ongoing (CG 20 10): yes/no
• Additional insured completed (CG 20 37): yes/no
• Waiver of subrogation: yes/no
• Jobs they're on and the dates
• Status: OK, expiring, expired
• Date last checked

In Excel or Google Sheets, add a status column with a formula that turns the cell red when an expiration date is less than 30 days away. One vendor's template uses a =TODAY() formula for the same purpose. Sort by the earliest expiration every Monday.

Also keep the actual PDFs in one shared folder, named by sub and date. Keep them long after the job is done. A certificate from a job finished in 2019 can be the document that decides a lawsuit in 2029. Ask your attorney how long to keep them in your state.

Step 6: Set reminders and decide what happens on a lapse

Certificates only show coverage on the day they were issued. Many states don't require insurers to tell certificate holders when a policy is cancelled, so the sub's own renewal date is your main warning.

One vendor suggests reminders at 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before expiration. For a small shop, I'd simplify to two:

1. 30 days out: email the sub and the sub's agent asking for the renewal certificate.
2. 7 days out: call the sub. If a sub is mid-job, tell them the next payment waits for the new certificate.

Then decide ahead of time what you do on a lapse. The same vendor recommends pausing payments until a compliant certificate arrives. I agree, but only if your subcontract says so. Add one sentence to your contract that allows it.

On long jobs, don't just wait for paper. One advisory firm suggests periodically calling the insurance company to confirm coverage.

Also ask subs to put material and labor on separate lines of their invoices. That lets an auditor exclude materials from extra charges if a sub turns out to be uninsured.

Spreadsheet or software?

Here is how I'd decide.

Use a spreadsheet if you have fewer than about 15 to 20 active subs and one or two jobs at a time. It costs nothing, and the weekly Monday check takes 10 minutes. The risk is that it only works if somebody opens it.

Look at software if you have many subs across overlapping jobs, or the person who tracks this is also running jobs and answering phones. A tool can read the certificate, flag problems and send renewal emails for you. One vendor warns that a spreadsheet per project works until several jobs run at once. I think that's fair, though they sell software.

On cost, I only found vendor numbers, so treat them as claims rather than quotes:

• One tracking company says self-service platforms run $3 to $10 per vendor per year, and full-service runs $10 to $30.

• Another lists a free tier for 3 vendors and $20 to $55 a month for paid plans.

• Peak COI starts at $299 a month. Full disclosure: it's mine. It collects COIs from your subs, checks them against your requirements and chases renewals before they expire. It's aimed at GCs who've outgrown the spreadsheet.

Pricing changes, so get a current quote. Ask any vendor three questions: Does it check the endorsements or only the certificate? Who chases the agent? What happens to my files if I cancel?

Software doesn't fix a bad requirements page. If you haven't done Step 1, it will just track the wrong thing faster.

Who can skip most of this

If you only use your own W-2 crew and never sub work out, you don't need this system. If you hire a sub once a year for something small, you still want a certificate and the workers' comp paperwork. Keep the rest light.

Bottom line

Write your requirements down once and make "no documents, no start" the rule. Collect the endorsement pages, not just the certificate, and put every expiration date in a tracker you check weekly. A spreadsheet is fine for most small GCs. Move to software when the Monday check stops getting done.

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FAQ

What should I collect from a subcontractor besides the certificate of insurance?

Get the endorsement pages that sit behind the certificate, mainly additional insured (CG 20 10 and CG 20 37) and waiver of subrogation if your contract requires it. Also get a signed subcontract and a W-9. For a sub with no employees, get the state's workers' comp exemption paperwork.

How often should I check a subcontractor's COI?

Check it before the sub starts, again at every policy renewal, and on every new job for repeat subs. For long jobs, confirm coverage with the carrier or agent partway through, because a certificate only shows coverage on the day it was issued.

Is a certificate of insurance proof that my sub is covered?

No. The ACORD 25 form says on its face that it is for information only and gives the holder no rights. The policy and its endorsements decide what is covered, so you need copies of the endorsements.

Can I track subcontractor COIs in a spreadsheet?

Yes, and for a small GC with a handful of active subs it works fine. It breaks down when several jobs overlap, because nobody is chasing renewals unless someone on your team builds the habit.