25 terms, no basics

Glossary.

The terms a trade contractor meets in a subcontract’s insurance exhibit. Each has the form number behind it and, where there is one, a link to the longer answer.

ACORD 25: The standard certificate of liability insurance. It summarizes policies on the date it is issued. Its own header says it confers no rights on the holder and does not amend, extend or alter the policies.Certificate holder or additional insured: what is the difference?
Additional insuredCG 20 10 · CG 20 37 · CG 20 33 · CG 20 38: A person or organization added to someone else’s policy by endorsement, so that the policy defends and pays for them for claims arising from the named insured’s work. The status comes from the endorsement, never from the certificate.CG 20 10 and CG 20 37: which additional insured endorsement does a data-center subcontract need?
Automatic (blanket) additional insuredCG 20 33 · CG 20 38: An endorsement that makes a party an additional insured without naming it, when a written contract requires it. CG 20 33 reaches only the party you signed with. CG 20 38 also reaches other parties that contract requires you to add.
Builder’s risk: Property insurance on a building while it is under construction, usually bought by the owner or the general contractor. It pays for physical loss or damage to the work, not for delay penalties or the cost of correcting a defect.A miswired panel causes a fire. What pays for the fire, and what pays for the rewiring?
Certificate holder: The party a certificate is issued to. Being a holder gives no rights under the policy.Certificate holder or additional insured: what is the difference?
Claims-made: A policy that responds to claims first made while it is in force, for work done after its retroactive date. Professional and pollution policies are usually written this way, so they have to be kept in force after the job ends.
Completed operationsCG 20 37: Liability for injury or damage that happens after your work is finished or put to its intended use. Defect claims arrive here, often years later.CG 20 10 and CG 20 37: which additional insured endorsement does a data-center subcontract need?
Contractors pollution liabilityCG 00 01 exclusion f · CG 21 49 · CG 21 55: A separate policy for pollution caused by a contractor’s operations, such as a refrigerant, glycol or fuel release. General liability excludes most pollution and often all of it.
Contractors professional liability: Covers financial loss from a contractor’s design or professional services, including delegated design, when nothing has been physically damaged.Who pays when a commissioning test fails and nothing is physically damaged?
Declarations page: The first pages of a policy: who is insured, the policy period, the limits and the premium. It usually carries or refers to the forms schedule.
Delegated design: Design responsibility passed down to a trade contractor by the contract, for example sizing a cooling loop or producing fire-protection shop drawings.Who pays when a commissioning test fails and nothing is physically damaged?
Endorsement: A form attached to a policy that changes it. An endorsement can add cover, remove it or change who is insured. If a certificate states something no endorsement supports, the policy still controls.
Experience modification (mod): A factor that compares a company’s workers compensation losses with the average for its class. Below 1.00 lowers the premium, above 1.00 raises it. General contractors also use it to prequalify subcontractors.Our experience mod is above the prequalification cut-off. What can be fixed, and how fast?
Forms schedule: The list in a policy of every form and endorsement attached to it, by number and edition date. It is the fastest way to see what a policy does and does not include.
Generative AI exclusionCG 40 47 · CG 40 48 · CG 35 08: Endorsements introduced for 2026 that remove injury and damage arising out of generative artificial intelligence from a general liability policy.What does the generative AI exclusion CG 40 47 remove from a contractor’s policy?
Installation floater: Inland marine cover for materials and equipment a contractor will install, while in transit, in storage and on site, until the work is installed and accepted.
LEG 2/96 and LEG 3/06: Defects clauses written by the London Engineering Group and used in builder’s risk policies. Both leave out some cost of fixing defective work. LEG 3/06 gives back more than LEG 2/96.A miswired panel causes a fire. What pays for the fire, and what pays for the rewiring?
Liquidated damages: A fixed sum a contract charges for late or under-performing work. Builder’s risk and general liability do not pay it.Who pays when a commissioning test fails and nothing is physically damaged?
Loss runs: An insurer’s report of the claims on a policy: dates, amounts paid and amounts reserved. Underwriters ask for several years of them before they quote.
OCIP and CCIPCG 21 54: Owner-controlled and contractor-controlled insurance programs, together called wrap-ups. One program insures the enrolled contractors for work at the project site.Does my own general liability policy respond on a wrapped data-center site?
Per-project aggregateCG 25 03: An endorsement that gives each construction project its own general aggregate limit, so claims on one job do not use up the limit another owner is relying on.
Primary and noncontributoryCG 20 01: Contract wording that requires your policy to pay first and not ask the other party’s insurer to share. An endorsement supplies the second half.
Waiver of subrogationCG 24 04 · WC 00 03 13: An agreement that your insurer, after paying a claim, will not try to recover from a named party. It needs an endorsement on each policy it applies to.
Wrap-up exclusionCG 21 54: The endorsement an insurer adds to your own general liability policy once you enroll in a wrap-up. It removes cover for the scheduled project whether or not the wrap-up covers the same things, has enough limits or stays in effect.Does my own general liability policy respond on a wrapped data-center site?
“Your work” exclusionCG 00 01 exclusion l · CG 22 94: Exclusion l of the general liability form. It removes damage to your own completed work, with an exception when the damaged work or the work that caused it was done by a subcontractor. Some policies remove that exception.