COISoftware collects a certificate of insurance from every subcontractor on every active job, reads each ACORD 25 with AI, checks general liability, workers compensation, auto, umbrella and completed operations against your subcontract requirements, and confirms your company and the owner are named as additional insured before a crew mobilizes. Built for US general contractors and construction managers running tiered subcontractors across multiple jobsites. Upload a COI above to see it read in seconds.
Last updated June 2026
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Trades carry very different risks, so most general contractors require different coverage by type. These are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
| Subcontractor type | Coverage commonly required | Why the GC requires it |
|---|---|---|
| Structural trades (steel, concrete, framing) | General liability with completed operations, workers compensation, umbrella, additional insured | Structural work carries high injury and long-tail completed-operations exposure |
| Electrical and mechanical | General liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, umbrella | Energized work and equipment installs create injury and property risk |
| Excavation and site work | General liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, often higher limits | Heavy equipment, utilities and soils work raise severity on and off site |
| Finishes and specialty trades | General liability, workers compensation, additional insured | Lower-severity trades still need coverage and additional insured status |
| Crane and rigging | General liability, workers compensation, umbrella at higher limits | Lifting operations are catastrophic-loss exposures that warrant higher limits |
| Material suppliers and haulers | General liability, commercial auto, sometimes products liability | Deliveries and supplied materials carry auto and product exposure |
Set requirements to your own subcontracts, the prime contract with the owner and state law. Limits and coverages shown are common starting points, not legal or insurance advice.
A general contractor signs a subcontract with every trade, and each one flows down insurance requirements from the prime contract with the owner. Across several active jobs, dozens of subs send certificates on their own schedules, renew on every possible date, and let coverage lapse mid-project. Confirming all of it by hand is where the risk piles up.
When a subcontractor injures a worker or damages property and carries no coverage, lapsed coverage, or limits short of the subcontract, the claim climbs to the general contractor and its own policy. Verifying the certificate and additional insured status before the sub starts is the only thing that pushes that exposure back where the contract puts it.
The owner sets limits, additional insured wording, waiver of subrogation and completed operations in the prime contract, and the GC has to flow the same terms down into each subcontract and then prove every sub actually meets them. A sub whose certificate is short on one of those terms breaks the chain the owner is relying on.
A sub should not set foot on the site until a compliant certificate is on file, yet schedule pressure pushes crews to mobilize while the COI is still missing or unverified. Once the trade is working, chasing the certificate after the fact is far harder, and the gap is already open.
A subcontractor can stop paying premium and lose coverage weeks before the expiration date printed on the certificate. The COI in your job file still looks valid, so the sub keeps working on your site while uninsured, and you only find out when a claim hits.
The subcontract usually requires the GC and the owner to be additional insured on a primary and noncontributory basis, with the right CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 endorsements for ongoing and completed operations. A certificate that just lists you as certificate holder, or checks an additional insured box with no endorsement, does not give you that coverage.
A tab of subs with manual expiration dates falls apart once several jobs run at once and each carries its own trade list and renewal calendar. Renewals slip, completed operations goes unchecked, and proving you verified a sub after an incident or an owner audit means digging through email.
The certificate a subcontractor emails your project engineer is a snapshot from the day it was issued, not proof of coverage on the day the crew is on your site. Confirming that every sub bought the limits the subcontract requires, named the GC and owner as additional insured, carried completed operations, and kept the policy current is repetitive, rules-based work across every trade on every job, which is exactly what software handles well. Certificate of insurance management software reads every certificate, checks it against your subcontract requirements by trade, and flags anything short, expired or missing, so a project manager is not verifying PDFs by hand before every crew mobilizes.
COISoftware reads every subcontractor certificate, checks it against the requirements in that subcontract, confirms the GC and owner are additional insured, and gives you one view of which subs are cleared to work across every active job.
Upload a certificate from any trade, from concrete and steel to electrical, mechanical and finishes, and the AI pulls the insurer, policy numbers, coverage types, limits, effective and expiration dates, and additional insured wording, even from scans and phone photos.
Set the general liability, workers compensation, auto, umbrella and completed operations limits each subcontract requires, and every certificate is checked against them, so a sub short on limits or missing completed operations is flagged before it mobilizes.
See at a glance whether a sub is current and meets its requirements today, so a project manager is not clearing an underinsured crew onto the site under schedule pressure.
Track every subcontractor across every active job side by side, filter by job or trade, and keep one compliance picture instead of a spreadsheet per project.
See whether your company and the owner are named as additional insured on a primary and noncontributory basis, and whether a waiver of subrogation applies, so the status your subcontract requires is verified rather than assumed.
When a subcontractor certificate is about to expire, COISoftware chases for a renewed COI automatically, so a lapsed policy on an active job is caught before it becomes a problem.
COISoftware reads the ACORD 25 and the broader certificate of liability insurance, then ties every subcontractor certificate into full certificate of insurance management software and ongoing vendor insurance compliance tracking. When a certificate looks off, the same checks behind certificate of insurance verification flag it for review. Trade-by-trade subcontractor tracking works the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors.
Clearing a full trade list on every job follows the same four steps as tracking a handful of subs.
Enter the coverages and limits your subcontracts require, flow down what the owner requires in the prime contract, and vary them by trade so a steel erector, an electrician and a painter each get the right rule. Include the additional insured and waiver of subrogation wording you require.
Tip: Flow the prime contract limits and endorsements straight into each subcontract so the certificate you check matches what the owner expects.
Request a COI from each sub or upload the certificates they send your project team. The AI reads every one automatically, so onboarding a full trade list on a new job does not turn into hours of manual data entry.
Each certificate is checked against the requirement for that subcontract. Short limits, missing completed operations, expired policies and a missing additional insured are flagged before the crew is cleared onto the site.
Automated reminders chase any expiring certificate, so coverage stays current across every sub on every active job without a project manager tracking dates by hand.
Anyone responsible for proving that every subcontractor on every job carries the coverage your subcontracts and the prime contract require.
A project manager clearing a full trade list onto a job needs to know, before each crew mobilizes, that the sub still carries the limits its subcontract requires and names the GC and owner as additional insured. COISoftware turns each requirement into a live status, so the field sees a clear pass or flag instead of opening a stale certificate and hoping it is still good.
The office that flows prime contract terms into every subcontract tracks each sub COI against those exact requirements, confirming completed operations and primary and noncontributory additional insured wording. Trade subcontractors are tracked the same way as subcontractor COI tracking for contractors.
A GC running several jobs at once carries the same exposure on each and verifies subs across the whole portfolio. To collect, verify and monitor every certificate in one place, pair this with vendor insurance compliance software, and if you are comparing platforms, our best COI tracking software roundup walks through the options honestly.
Most general contractors require commercial general liability of at least $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate with completed operations, workers compensation per state law, commercial auto, and an umbrella policy from each subcontractor. Higher-risk trades like steel, crane and excavation are usually held to higher limits. Every sub should name the GC and the owner as additional insured on a primary and noncontributory basis with a waiver of subrogation.
A general contractor verifies subcontractor insurance by collecting a certificate from each sub, checking the coverages and limits against that subcontract, confirming the GC and owner are named as additional insured, and monitoring expiration so coverage stays current through the job. Doing this by hand across every trade on every job is slow, so most GCs use COI tracking software that reads each certificate and flags any that are short or expired.
Being named as additional insured gives the general contractor access to the subcontractor policy and defense costs when a claim arises from that sub work. Without it, the GC may be left relying on its own coverage after a sub causes an injury or damage. Subcontracts almost always require additional insured status for both the GC and the owner, with the proper ongoing and completed operations endorsements.
Flow down means the general contractor passes the insurance terms from the prime contract with the owner into each subcontract, so the limits, additional insured wording, waiver of subrogation and completed operations the owner requires are mirrored down to every sub. This keeps the whole chain compliant and ensures the certificate the GC checks against matches what the owner is relying on.
Yes. Completed operations coverage responds to claims that surface after a subcontractor finishes its work, such as a defect that fails months later. Construction defect claims often appear long after the crew has left the site, so general contractors require completed operations on the certificate and additional insured status that extends to it, typically through a CG 20 37 endorsement.
A subcontractor should not mobilize before a compliant certificate is on file and verified, because once a crew is working an uninsured gap is already open and harder to fix. Most general contractors gate mobilization and payment on a current, compliant COI. Software that flags a missing or short certificate before the crew arrives is how GCs keep that gate from slipping under schedule pressure.
Pricing depends on how many subcontractors and jobs you track and whether you want self-serve software or a managed service. COISoftware lists transparent monthly pricing and offers a free tier, so a single-job builder or a multi-project general contractor can start reading and verifying certificates without a sales call. You can test it on your own subcontractor certificates before paying anything.
Track every trade subcontractor certificate the same way.
Collect, verify and track every subcontractor COI in one place.
Verify a subcontractor COI is real, current and meets your limits.
