CG 20 33 vs CG 20 38: The Blanket Additional Insured Gap

Last updated July 2026.

CG 20 33 and CG 20 38 are both automatic (blanket) additional insured endorsements, and they differ on one thing: who they cover. CG 20 33 grants additional insured status only to a party the named insured has a direct written contract with. CG 20 38 extends that status to other parties the contract requires the named insured to add, even without a direct contract, which is exactly the gap that leaves an upstream owner or general contractor uncovered under CG 20 33.

If you review certificates of insurance in construction, this pair is worth understanding in detail, because the wrong one on a subcontractor's policy can leave the party at the top of the chain with no coverage after a loss, no matter what the certificate seemed to promise.

What CG 20 33 is

CG 20 33 is titled "Additional Insured, Owners, Lessees or Contractors, Automatic Status When Required in Construction Agreement With You." The phrase that carries all the weight is "With You." It grants additional insured status automatically, without naming each party in a schedule, but only to an owner, lessee or contractor that the named insured has a written construction agreement with, where that agreement requires the named insured to add them.

The word "automatic" is what makes it blanket. A scheduled endorsement like CG 20 10 lists each additional insured by name. CG 20 33 skips the list: anyone who qualifies under a written contract is covered the moment that contract exists. That is convenient. The limitation hides in "With You."

What CG 20 38 is

CG 20 38 is titled "Additional Insured, Owners, Lessees or Contractors, Automatic Status for Other Parties When Required in Written Construction Agreement." The operative phrase here is "for Other Parties." It grants additional insured status to any person or organization the named insured is required by contract to add, including parties the named insured has no direct contract with, as long as the named insured is performing operations for that party.

ISO introduced CG 20 38 in the 2013 form revision specifically to close the privity gap in CG 20 33. It is the newer, broader form for ongoing operations.

What is the difference between CG 20 33 and CG 20 38?

The difference is privity. CG 20 33 covers only a party you signed a contract with. CG 20 38 also covers upstream parties your contract requires you to name, even without a direct agreement between you and them. On a three-tier construction job, that distinction decides whether the owner and general contractor are actually insured on a lower-tier subcontractor's policy.

Picture the common chain: an owner hires a general contractor, the GC hires a subcontractor, and the sub hires a lower-tier sub. The lower-tier sub's contract requires it to name the GC and the owner as additional insureds. Under CG 20 33, the lower-tier sub only has a direct contract with the sub above it, so the GC and owner, sitting further up with no direct agreement, may get nothing. Under CG 20 38, they are covered because the contract required the sub to add them.

This is not a theoretical worry. In Westfield Insurance Co. v. FCL Builders, a general contractor was held not to be an additional insured on a lower-tier subcontractor's policy because there was no direct written agreement between them, and flow-down language in the upstream contracts did not bridge the gap. It is the case brokers cite whenever this comes up, and it is a clean illustration of why the "With You" wording matters. Tools that let a reviewer see how courts have actually ruled on additional insured status make it easier to explain to a project team why the form number on the certificate is not a formality.

Does CG 20 33 cover completed operations?

No. Neither CG 20 33 nor CG 20 38 covers completed operations by default. Both are ongoing-operations forms, meaning they respond to liability arising while the work is in progress, not to a claim that surfaces after the project is finished and occupied. For completed operations you need a separate form.

This matters most on construction defect claims, which typically appear years after the job wraps. If the only additional insured endorsement is CG 20 33 or CG 20 38, the additional insured has ongoing-operations protection and a hole where completed operations should be. The scheduled fix is CG 20 37. The automatic equivalents that mirror the pair above are CG 20 39 (direct contract only) and CG 20 40 (other parties too). For the broadest automatic protection across both ongoing and completed operations with upstream parties covered, the pairing many risk professionals request is CG 20 38 plus CG 20 40. Our guide to CG 20 10 vs CG 20 37 covers the scheduled ongoing and completed operations forms in detail.

Which is better, CG 20 33 or CG 20 38?

For the party requiring coverage, CG 20 38 is better because it does not fail on privity. If you are an owner or general contractor requiring lower-tier subcontractors to name you, CG 20 38 protects you where CG 20 33 can leave you exposed. There is no real downside to requiring the broader form, which is why the common best practice is to specify CG 20 38 (and CG 20 40 for completed operations) in the contract rather than accept CG 20 33.

One residual limit to know: CG 20 38 still requires that the named insured be performing operations for the additional insured. It does not rescue a party the sub is required to name but is not actually working for. The classic example is a lender or mortgagee the contract requires the sub to list. CG 20 38 will likely not reach them, because the sub performs no operations for the lender. That party belongs on a different instrument, not a liability additional insured endorsement.

What does the 2013 limits-following language change?

The 2013 (04 13) editions of these forms added two limits that a reviewer should read for. First, the coverage given to the additional insured will not be broader than what the named insured is required by contract to provide. Second, the most the policy pays on the additional insured's behalf is the lesser of the amount the contract requires or the policy's own limits. So a contract that requires one million dollars cannot tap a two million dollar policy for the additional insured beyond one million.

The edition date is not decorative. A pre-2013 edition generally lacks these two caps and can be broader for the additional insured. Always read the edition date off the endorsement, not just the form number.

How do these forms appear on an ACORD 25 certificate?

On an ACORD 25 certificate of liability insurance, additional insured status usually shows two ways: a check in the ADDL INSD column next to a coverage line, and wording in the Description of Operations box such as "Certificate holder is included as additional insured per attached endorsement CG 20 38 04 13, where required by written contract." The checkbox and the description are requests and summaries. They are not proof the endorsement exists.

A careful COI reviewer verifies five things on this pair: that the actual endorsement copy is provided, not just referenced; the specific form number and edition date; whether a completed operations form is attached if the risk needs it; whether the form matches the relationship, so an upstream party with no direct contract insists on CG 20 38 rather than CG 20 33; and whether primary and non-contributory and waiver of subrogation are separately confirmed, because additional insured status alone does not deliver them. Our guide on primary and non-contributory wording and the one on waiver of subrogation cover those two checks.

Do I need CG 20 37 if I already have CG 20 33 or CG 20 38?

Usually yes, on construction risk with post-completion exposure. CG 20 33 and CG 20 38 handle ongoing operations only, so a defect claim that lands after the project is complete falls outside them. CG 20 37 (or the automatic CG 20 40) adds the completed operations piece. On a project where a claim could surface years later, requiring both the ongoing and completed operations forms is how you avoid a gap that only reveals itself when it is too late to fix.

Tracking the difference across every certificate

The reason this trips teams up is scale. Reading one endorsement carefully is easy. Reading the form number and edition date on every subcontractor's certificate, on every project, and matching each to what that specific contract required, is where manual review breaks down. A certificate with CG 20 33 where the contract demanded CG 20 38 passes right through a filing system, and nobody notices until a claim exposes it.

Software that reads each certificate, extracts the endorsement forms listed, and checks them against your requirements turns that into a flag instead of a surprise. Our subcontractor COI tracking for contractors page shows how the endorsement check fits into a project's insurance requirements, and how to read a certificate of insurance walks through the rest of the form. The endorsement is where additional insured coverage is really granted or lost, so it is the part worth getting right on every certificate you accept.