Certificates of Insurance And Your Contractors Insurance Policies

Contractors work often involves close coordination with other entities from other artisans to general contractors to even banks and architects involved in a project.   Keeping the information flowing freely between all of these parties on the same job is critical but does require some front end knowledge and planning on your part.  The more hurdles you can jump before you start the job, the easier it will be for you to get your work done without interruption and the easier it will be to get paid once the work is done.

General contractors, or any other contractors above you in the food chain who hire you will need to be able to prove that you have the necessary levels and types of insurance protection.  Failing to do so could mean that you can’t get on the job site in the first place or it may mean you have difficulty collecting payments for your work once it is completed.   So anything you can do to smooth out this process should be done before you start trying to collect the pay for your work, or better yet, before you sign the contract itself or take the job in the first place.

Every construction job is different and each one will carry different requirements for insurance for subcontractors.  If your general contractor is organized and efficient, then they will probably want to have all of your insurance proof documented before you are allowed on their job site.  Typically these general contractors will need details about your commercial auto insurance policy, your general liability insurance policy, your workers compensation insurance policy, and sometimes even require you to carry a commercial umbrella insurance policy.  Your contract with them will likely spell out exactly how much insurance coverage is required for each line of insurance.  So, one step you can take in advance is to share the contract wording relating to insurance requirements with your insurance agent.  This way your agent can help make sure in advance that you will be able to satisfy these requirements.  Once this has been done, have your agent send a certificate of insurance to your general contractor before you start work.

Now let’s take a quick look at this process from the perspective of your communication with your insurance agent.  In order for your agent to issue a certificate of insurance to the general contractor or some other party, you will need to be able to provide them with the name and address of the certificate holder.  Have this information in hand before you call your agent to request the certificate of insurance.   Also, look through your contract to check and see if any special wording is required on the certificate of insurance.  Some contracts will require that you add the general contractor as an additional insured to each policy.  This may be something that your insurance company is willing to do or they may require an additional premium from you for this policy change.  In some cases your insurance company may even say that they will not add this additional insured to your policy.  Other contracts may require or request special wording that may change the nature of one of more of your insurance policies.  These special wording certificates often require the approval of the insurance company underwriter.  No matter which way this goes, you can speed up the process if you discover any special wording requirements ahead of time and let your agent know about them when you first call.

By doing this advance work on your insurance certificate requests, you may be able to save yourself time and often a lot of trouble in the certificate ordering process.    You don’t want to find out, late on a Friday afternoon, that you don’t have the correct insurance policies in place to satisfy your contractual obligations to your general contractor.  Failure to do so could delay when your general contractor is able to pay you. 

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, North Carolina, we insure hundreds of contractors of all stripes, located all across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.  We have insurance programs in place for carpenters insurance, plumbers insurance, landscapers insurance, electricians insurance, painters insurance and many others. We work very hard to fulfill all certificate of insurance requests from our clients in under 30 minutes.  We also have a free phone app for your Android or Iphone that will allow you to request certificates of insurance from us with a few keystrokes on your phone.  If you need help with any of your business insurance policies, please give us a call, toll free, 877-687-7557.