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For contractors
- Does my own general liability policy respond on a wrapped data-center site?CG 21 54Often not. Once you are enrolled in an owner- or contractor-controlled insurance program, endorsement CG 21 54 on your own policy excludes your work at that project. The 01 96 edition applies whether or not the wrap-up has adequate limits or stays in effect, so the gaps are off-site work and anything that happens after the wrap’s cover ends.
- CG 20 10 and CG 20 37: which additional insured endorsement does a data-center subcontract need?CG 20 10 · CG 20 37Usually both. CG 20 10 makes the owner or general contractor an additional insured for your ongoing work, and that status ends when the work is complete. CG 20 37 carries it into completed operations, which is when most defect claims arrive. A subcontract that asks for “ongoing and completed operations” is asking for the pair.
- What does the generative AI exclusion CG 40 47 remove from a contractor’s policy?CG 40 47 · CG 40 48 · CG 35 08CG 40 47 removes bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury “arising out of” generative artificial intelligence from a general liability policy. It has no exception for work a person reviewed. It is an optional endorsement in ISO’s January 2026 edition, so whether it is on your policy depends on your insurer.
- Who pays when a commissioning test fails and nothing is physically damaged?Contractor professional liability · Builder’s riskOnly contractor professional liability. Builder’s risk and general liability both need physical loss or damage before they respond, and builder’s risk excludes liquidated damages even when a covered event caused the delay. A design or commissioning error that leaves a hall short of specification is a pure financial loss.
- A miswired panel causes a fire. What pays for the fire, and what pays for the rewiring?LEG 2/96 · LEG 3/06Builder’s risk pays for the fire damage that follows. The cost of correcting the defective work itself is excluded. How much is carved out depends on which defects clause the policy carries: LEG 2/96 excludes what it would have cost to fix the defect before the damage happened, while LEG 3/06 excludes only the cost of improving the original work.
- Our experience mod is above the prequalification cut-off. What can be fixed, and how fast?WC 00 00 00 C · Experience rating worksheetErrors in the data can be corrected within one rating cycle, but the claims history itself takes years to roll off. The experience mod compares your actual losses with what is expected for a firm of your size and class over about three policy years, so a bad year stays in the calculation for three ratings.
- Why did the compliance vendor reject our certificate of insurance?ACORD 25 · CG 20 10 · CG 20 37 · CG 24 04Usually because the certificate shows something the contract requires as missing, or the policy does not actually grant what was asked. The most common causes are missing completed-operations additional insured status, a holder or additional insured name that does not match the contract, a missing waiver of subrogation, limits below the requirement, and wording the insurer will not put on the form.
- Which insurance problem is specific to each trade on a data-center job?CG 00 01 · CG 20 37 · CG 21 06 · CG 22 80 · CG 40 47 · WC 00 00 00 CEach trade’s largest exposure sits in a different policy. Electrical and structural trades are driven by workers compensation. Mechanical trades meet pollution and delegated design. Commissioning and controls meet the limits of general liability, which needs injury or physical damage. Fire protection is a completed-operations problem, fiber is a care-and-custody problem, and site work is an equipment and pollution problem.
- The subcontract says our insurance must be “primary and noncontributory”. What does that take?CG 00 01 · CG 20 01It takes two pieces of wording. “Primary” is already in the Other Insurance condition of the standard general liability form CG 00 01. “Noncontributory” comes from endorsement CG 20 01, which says your insurer will not seek contribution from an additional insured’s own policy, provided that party is a named insured on that policy and you agreed to this in a written contract.
- Why does the subcontract ask for a per-project aggregate, and what does CG 25 03 do?CG 25 03 · CG 00 01CG 25 03 gives each designated construction project its own general aggregate limit, equal to the general aggregate shown in your declarations. Without it, one annual aggregate is shared by every job you work, so claims on another project can use up the limit this project is relying on. The endorsement covers ongoing operations only and does not raise the each-occurrence limit.
- The contract requires a waiver of subrogation on general liability and workers compensation. Which endorsements, and is it allowed in every state?CG 24 04 · WC 00 03 13 · CG 24 53On general liability the waiver is ISO endorsement CG 24 04, and on workers compensation it is NCCI endorsement WC 00 03 13. Each stops your insurer from recovering what it paid from the party named in the endorsement. The workers compensation waiver is not available everywhere: Kentucky and New Hampshire prohibit requiring it, and Missouri restricts it in construction contracts.
- Who insures switchgear, chillers and generators before they are installed and accepted?Installation floater (AAIS IM 7100) · Builder’s risk · CG 00 01It depends on the project’s builder’s risk policy and on your subcontract, and the two do not always meet. Builder’s risk is written around the project site, and cover for transit and off-site storage varies by policy. An installation floater is the contractor’s own inland marine policy for property it will install, covering it in transit, in storage and during installation until it is accepted or put to use.
- A chiller loses its refrigerant, a glycol loop drains or a fuel line leaks diesel. Does our general liability policy pay?CG 00 01 · CG 21 49 · CG 21 55 · Contractors pollution liabilityOften not. Exclusion f of the general liability form CG 00 01 removes injury and damage from the release of pollutants that a contractor brings to a site where it is working, and it removes clean-up costs that a regulator orders. A total pollution exclusion such as CG 21 49 or CG 21 55 takes away the narrow exceptions as well. Contractors pollution liability is the separate policy written for these releases.
- We are enrolled in an OCIP or CCIP. Which insurance do we still have to carry ourselves?OCIP · CCIP · CG 21 54Nearly everything that is not on-site liability. A wrap-up typically provides general liability and excess for enrolled contractors at the project site, and sometimes workers compensation and builder’s risk. Automobile liability, off-site operations, professional liability and your own tools and equipment stay with you, and pollution liability is included in some programs and not in others.
- Why does the contract ask for CG 20 10 11 85, and how do the later editions differ?CG 20 10 · CG 20 37Because the 11 85 edition is the broadest. It covers the additional insured for liability “arising out of” your work, which includes completed work and is not tied to your fault. Later editions limited the form to ongoing operations, then to injury “caused, in whole or in part, by” your acts or omissions, and from 04 13 capped the coverage and limits at what the contract requires and the law permits.
- We sub out part of our scope. What does the “your work” exclusion, and endorsement CG 22 94, mean for us?CG 00 01 · CG 22 94 · CG 22 95Exclusion l of CG 00 01 removes property damage to your own completed work, but it does not apply if the damaged work, or the work that caused the damage, was performed for you by a subcontractor. Endorsement CG 22 94 deletes that exception. With it on your policy, damage to your completed work is excluded whether your own crew or your sub did the work.
- We are installing a battery energy storage system. What will insurers and owners ask about our insurance?NFPA 855 · UL 9540A · Installation floater · Builder’s risk · Contractors pollution liabilityExpect four groups of questions: whether the system is installed to NFPA 855, whether it has UL 9540A fire test data, who insures the batteries in transit, in storage and during installation, and whether your liability policies respond to fire, gas and pollution from a battery failure. The published guidance is written for project owners. A contractor meets it through the subcontract and its own renewal.
For brokerages
- Certificate holder or additional insured: what is the difference?ACORD 25 · CG 20 10 · CG 20 37A certificate holder has been sent proof that a policy exists and has no rights under it. An additional insured is covered by the policy, which takes an endorsement. Ticking the additional insured box on a certificate does not create that status; the endorsement does.
- What should an agency check before sending a certificate of insurance?ACORD 25 · CG 20 10 · CG 20 37 · CG 24 04Four things: that the certificate belongs to your agency and a policy you hold, that the finished document reads back the same as the policy record, that it does not contradict itself, and that every statement of coverage points to the endorsement that grants it. A certificate that fails any one should not be sent.
- What can an agency put in the Description of Operations box on an ACORD 25?ACORD 25 · ACORD 101Facts that identify the job, and references to what the policy already says: a project name or number, a location, and the exact title, form number and edition date of an endorsement that is on the policy. Wording typed in the box does not change coverage. The ACORD 25 states that it does not amend, extend or alter the policies, and that a statement on the certificate does not confer rights in place of an endorsement.
- Can we show additional insured status on a certificate when the policy has a blanket endorsement such as CG 20 33 or CG 20 38?CG 20 33 · CG 20 38 · ACORD 25Only when a written contract that requires the status exists, because that contract is what triggers a blanket endorsement. CG 20 33 covers a party the insured has agreed in writing, in a contract with that party, to add, and CG 20 38 also reaches other parties that same contract requires. Have the endorsement and the contract on file first, and check the state’s certificate rules: Texas lets a certificate say the policy contains a blanket endorsement but not name the holder as an additional insured.
- ACORD 25, 27, 28 or 855: which form answers which request?ACORD 25 · ACORD 27 · ACORD 28 · ACORD 855 NY · ACORD 24ACORD 25 is the certificate for liability coverage. ACORD 27 and ACORD 28 are evidence of property insurance issued to a party with an interest in the property, such as a mortgagee or loss payee, and ACORD 28 is the more detailed commercial form. ACORD 855 NY is an addendum attached to an ACORD 25 that answers thirteen coverage questions on New York construction work.
- What is a loss run, who can request one and how long does the insurer have to send it?Loss runsA loss run is the insurer’s report of the claims made under a policy, and the insured, or in some states the insured’s agent or broker, can request it. The deadline is set state by state: Florida and Oregon give the insurer 15 calendar days, New York 10 days, and California 10 business days in the situations its statute lists. Other states have their own rules or none, so check the state that governs the policy.
- Why can’t the certificate promise 30 days’ notice of cancellation to the certificate holder?ACORD 25 · IL 00 17 · ACORD 855 NYBecause the certificate does not create the obligation. Since ACORD’s 2009 revision, the ACORD 25 says only that notice of cancellation “will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions”, and the standard cancellation condition promises notice to the first named insured alone. A certificate holder is entitled to notice only if an endorsement on the policy names it, or a state law requires it.
- What does a servicing request need before it counts as tracked work?Servicing ticketsNine things: who asked, which account, what type of request it is, one owner, a due date, a status, what is missing, the source document and who approved the result. An email holds some of these by accident. A ticket holds all of them on purpose, so anyone in the agency can see what is open, who has it and what it is waiting for.
- Agency management system or CRM: which one is the system of record for what?Agency management systems · CRMThe agency management system is the system of record for policies, billing and commissions, documents and carrier downloads. A CRM is the record of prospects, pipeline and conversations. Service requests sit between the two, so before adding a second system an agency should decide where a request lives and which system wins when the two disagree.
- When should an agency start a commercial renewal, and what happens at 120, 90, 60 and 30 days?Renewals · Notice of nonrenewalStart 120 days before expiration and have the insurer’s intentions confirmed by 60. In California and New York an insurer may send a notice of nonrenewal or conditional renewal as early as 120 days out and must send it at least 60 days out; Texas also sets 60 days and Florida 45. The day-counts differ by state and by line, so confirm the rule for each policy.
- ACORD 175 or ACORD 35: which form for a policy change, and which for a cancellation or lost policy release?ACORD 175 · ACORD 35ACORD 175, Commercial Policy Change Request, asks the insurer to add, change or delete something on a commercial policy from a stated effective date. ACORD 35, Cancellation Request / Policy Release, asks the insurer to cancel, and its policy release section is the signed statement used when the policy is not being returned. The named insured signs the ACORD 35, and the ACORD 175 says any deletion or reduction in coverage requires the insured’s signature.