Subcontractor Insurance Requirements: What to Check on Every Sub’s COI

Resources
October 28, 2026

Every sub on your job hands you a certificate of insurance before they mobilize. Most of the time, someone glances at it, sees the right company name, and files it.

The problem shows up later, when a claim comes in and you find out the certificate didn’t say what you thought it said.

Tracking COIs over the life of a job matters, and we cover that in our guide to certificate of insurance tracking.

But tracking only works if the certificate was right when you accepted it. So, how do you check a sub’s COI against your subcontractor insurance requirements? Read it box by box, confirm the endorsements behind it, and don’t let the sub mobilize until it matches your subcontract.

What subcontractor insurance requirements should GCs set?

Your sub insurance requirements live in the subcontract, not on the certificate. On most commercial jobs, they cover:

Commercial general liability, with per-occurrence and aggregate limits
Commercial auto liability for any vehicles the sub brings on site
Workers’ compensation and employer’s liability
Umbrella or excess liability on top of the primary limits
Endorsements: additional insured status for your company (and often the owner), waiver of subrogation, and primary and noncontributory wording

The owner’s contract usually drives your requirements, so check what’s flowing down before you set your own minimums. Then the certificate’s only job is to prove the sub meets them.

How to read a certificate of insurance, box by box

Most subs will send an ACORD 25, the standard certificate of liability insurance. Here’s what to check in each section.

Producer and Insured. The producer is the sub’s agent or broker, the person you call with questions. The insured name should match the legal name on your subcontract exactly. A DBA or a sister company isn’t the same entity.

Insurers Affording Coverage. Each policy is tied to a lettered insurer (A, B, C). Make sure every coverage you require has a carrier listed.

Coverages, Limits, and Dates. Compare every limit against your subcontract, line by line. Check that the policy dates cover the full project duration, or at least that you know when each one renews.

ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD columns. These checkboxes show whether the sub claims additional insured status and waiver of subrogation. A checked box is a claim, not proof. More on that below.

Description of Operations. This is where the project name, address, and any additional insureds should be listed when your contract requires it.

Certificate Holder. Your company, with the correct legal name and address.

Cancellation. The form says notice will be delivered “in accordance with the policy provisions.” Don’t count on getting a heads-up before a policy cancels.

Make a current, compliant COI a condition of every pay app. Once the check goes out, you've lost your strongest leverage to get one.

Additional insured vs. certificate holder: what’s the difference?

This is where most GCs get burned. Being the Certificate Holder means you received the certificate. That’s it. The ACORD form says it’s “issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder.”

Being an Additional Insured means the sub’s policy actually covers your company for claims arising from the sub’s work. That status only exists if the policy is endorsed. The form says it plainly: if the Certificate Holder is an additional insured, “the policy(ies) must have ADDITIONAL INSURED provisions or be endorsed.”

So if you’re listed as Certificate Holder with the ADDL INSD box checked but no endorsement on file, you may have no coverage at all.

Your COI checklist before a sub mobilizes

Match every limit to the subcontract.
If the subcontract calls for $2 million per occurrence and the certificate shows $1 million, it’s not compliant — no matter how typical $1 million is for that trade.
Get the additional insured endorsements, not just the checkbox.
For ongoing work, that’s typically CG 20 10. For claims after the work is done, like a roof leak months after turnover, you’ll want CG 20 37 for completed operations.
Confirm the waiver of subrogation is endorsed.
Ask for the endorsement, such as CG 24 04, so the sub’s carrier can’t come after you to recover what it paid.
Verify the insured name, certificate holder, and project description.
Small mismatches cause big headaches at audit and closeout.
Call the producer when something looks off.
If limits look altered or the dates don’t line up, the producer can confirm coverage directly.
Make it part of buyout, then keep it current.
Collect and approve COIs during the buyout process, before the sub’s first pay application. After that, the job becomes tracking expirations and tying compliance to payment through retainage release.

Make COI review part of how you run every job

The certificate is only as good as the review behind it. GCs who check every COI the same way, on every sub and every job, catch the gaps while they still have leverage: before mobilization and before the first check goes out.

RedTeam is one connected platform built for that kind of control. Born on the jobsite, RedTeam has spent more than 20 years helping small to mid-sized commercial GCs simplify, automate, and standardize their work from preconstruction through closeout. RedTeam ties subcontractor insurance status directly to commitments, so payment can’t go out to a sub who isn’t covered.

And unlike enterprise construction software, every RedTeam customer gets full software functionality and a dedicated implementation and customer success team from day 1.

That’s total project control. That’s RedTeam.