A subcontractor emails you their certificate of insurance, you glance at it, and you file it. Most of the time that's fine. But the certificate is where the problems hide: a policy that expires next week, limits lower than your contract requires, or an "additional insured" box that's checked without the coverage behind it.
This guide walks through the standard ACORD 25 certificate of liability insurance, the form most US contractors receive, and what to check in each section. It isn't legal or insurance advice. Your contracts and your own insurance agent set the actual requirements.
First: what a COI is (and isn't)
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary of a contractor's policies, issued by their insurance agent or broker. Read the box at the top of the ACORD 25: it says the certificate is for information only, confers no rights on the certificate holder, and doesn't change the policies. In other words, the certificate is evidence of insurance, not the insurance itself. That's why a few of the checks below matter more than they first appear.
Section by section
1. Producer and insured
The producer is the agent or broker who issued the certificate, with their phone and email. The insured is the subcontractor. Check that the insured's name matches the business you're actually hiring, including the LLC or DBA name on your subcontract. A certificate for "Mike's Plumbing" doesn't help much if you contracted with "MJR Mechanical LLC".
2. Insurers
The insurance companies providing each policy, labeled A, B, C and so on. Each coverage line below refers back to one of these letters.
3. Coverages
This is the main table. For each type of insurance you'll see the policy number, the policy effective and expiration dates, and the limits. The lines you'll care about most:
- Commercial general liability. Covers bodily injury and property damage from the sub's work. You'll see an "each occurrence" limit and a "general aggregate" limit, plus a few others. Compare these to the minimums in your subcontract or your own insurer's requirements.
- Automobile liability. Matters if the sub drives to your sites or hauls material. Check whether it covers "any auto" or only owned or scheduled vehicles.
- Umbrella / excess liability. Extra limits on top of the general liability and auto policies. Larger jobs often require it.
- Workers' compensation and employers' liability. Covers the sub's own employees if they're hurt on your job. Look for the "per statute" box and the employers' liability limits. Also look at the question about whether any proprietor, partner, or officer is excluded. Many small subs exclude the owner, which may be allowed in your state but means the owner isn't covered.
4. Additional insured and waiver of subrogation columns
Each coverage line has two small columns: ADDL INSD (additional insured) and SUBR WVD (subrogation waived). If your contract requires you to be an additional insured on the sub's general liability policy, you'll want that box marked. But a checkmark on the certificate doesn't create coverage by itself. Additional insured status comes from an endorsement on the actual policy, so if it matters to you, ask the sub's agent for a copy of the endorsement.
5. Description of operations
A free-text box where the agent can name the project, list additional insureds, or reference endorsements. If your contract requires specific wording, this is usually where it goes.
6. Certificate holder
That should be your company, with your correct name and address. Being the certificate holder doesn't give you coverage, but it does mean the certificate was issued for you.
7. Cancellation
The standard ACORD 25 says that if a policy is cancelled before it expires, notice will be delivered according to the policy's provisions. In practice, that often means you won't be told. That's why tracking expiration dates yourself matters.
Red flags to watch for
- Expiration dates within the next 30 days. Ask for the renewal certificate now, before it lapses mid-job.
- Limits below what your contract requires. Compare every time, not just the first time.
- No workers' comp on a sub that has employees. Rules vary by state, but if an uninsured sub's worker is hurt on your job, you may end up responsible, and your own insurer may charge you premium for that sub's payroll at audit.
- A certificate that came from the sub, not the agent. Altered certificates do happen. Requesting certificates directly from the producer listed, or calling to confirm the policy is active, is a simple check.
- Name mismatches between the insured, your subcontract, and the W-9.
Keeping up after the first certificate
Reading the certificate carefully once is the easy part. The hard part is that every certificate on file expires, usually once a year, at a different time for every sub. With a dozen subs, something is always about to lapse.
BuildSuiteCrew was built for exactly that:
- Subs upload their COI, workers' comp, licenses, and W-9 once, and share them with every contractor they work for.
- BuildSuiteCrew reads the expiration date from the document automatically.
- Reminders go out 30 days and 7 days before a document expires, and again when it does, to the sub and to your team.
- Your roster shows who's current, who's expiring, and who has a gap, before anyone shows up on site.
- For subs who aren't on the app, create an offline profile and upload their documents yourself.
BuildSuiteCrew is free for subcontractors, and $9.99/month for the contractors who hire them, with a 14-day free trial. See how it works, or read our subcontractor compliance checklist for everything else to collect before a sub starts work.