How to request a certificate of insurance from a subcontractor

Most certificates of insurance that come back wrong were requested vaguely. "Send us your COI" gets you whatever the sub's agent has on file: maybe an old certificate, maybe one issued to another GC, maybe without the additional insured wording your contract requires. A specific request gets a usable certificate the first time.

This guide covers who to ask, what to put in the request, and four email templates you can copy: the first request, a request straight to the agent, a renewal reminder, and the note for a policy that has already lapsed.

Ask the sub, and copy their agent

Subcontractors do not usually issue their own certificates. Their insurance agent or broker does, from the agent's system, and it appears as the "Producer" on the ACORD 25 form. When you only email the sub, your request waits until someone at the sub forwards it, which can take days or never happen.

Send the first request to your contact at the sub and ask for their agent's email at the same time. From then on, copy the agent on every request. Agents issue certificates all day; a clear request is usually a quick turnaround for them.

What the request must include

Everything the agent needs to issue the right certificate in one pass:

• Certificate holder: your company's exact legal name and mailing address.
• Project: name and address of the job, if your contract wants the certificate tied to it.
• Coverage lines and minimum limits: general liability, auto, workers' compensation and employers' liability, umbrella, and the limits from your subcontract.
• Additional insureds: who must be named (often your company, and sometimes the owner and others your prime contract lists), and whether for ongoing operations, completed operations or both.
• Other endorsements: waiver of subrogation, primary and noncontributory, or anything else the subcontract requires, and a request for copies of the endorsement pages.
• Where to send it and by when.

If your subcontract has an insurance exhibit, attach it. The agent can then check the requirements against the policy instead of guessing.

Template 1: first request to the sub

Subject: Certificate of insurance needed for [Project name]

Hi [Name],

Before your crew starts on [Project name] on [start date], we need a current certificate of insurance. Could you forward this to your insurance agent, and send me their name and email so we can copy them on renewals?

What the certificate needs to show:
- Certificate holder: [Your company legal name], [mailing address]
- General liability: [limits] per occurrence / [limits] aggregate
- Auto liability: [limit] combined single limit
- Workers' compensation: statutory, with employers' liability [limits]
- Umbrella: [limit], if required
- Additional insured: [names], for ongoing and completed operations
- Waiver of subrogation in favor of [names]
- Please attach copies of the additional insured and waiver endorsements

Please send it to [email] by [date]. Our subcontract's insurance requirements are attached.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Company] | [phone]

Template 2: request straight to the agent

Subject: COI request: [Sub's legal name] for [Your company]

Hi [Agent name],

[Sub's legal name] is working for us on [Project name, address]. Could you issue a certificate of insurance to:

[Your company legal name]
[Mailing address]

Requirements from our subcontract (attached):
- [Coverage lines and limits]
- Additional insured: [names], ongoing and completed operations
- Waiver of subrogation in favor of [names]
- Copies of the endorsement pages, please

Please send it to [email]. If anything above is not on the policy, a quick note saying so helps us sort it out with [Sub] early.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Company] | [phone]

Template 3: renewal reminder, about 30 days out

Subject: Renewal certificate needed: [Sub's legal name], [policy type] expires [date]

Hi [Name] and [Agent name],

Our records show [Sub's legal name]'s [policy type] policy expires on [date]. When it renews, please send us an updated certificate of insurance with the same certificate holder, additional insured and waiver of subrogation as the current one.

Certificate holder: [Your company legal name], [mailing address]

Please send it to [email] by [date, about a week before expiry].

Thanks,
[Your name]

Send it again at about two weeks and one week out if nothing has arrived. Most lapses are not missing coverage; the policy renewed and nobody sent the new certificate.

Template 4: the policy has lapsed

Subject: Expired insurance on file: [Sub's legal name]

Hi [Name] and [Agent name],

The [policy type] policy on our certificate for [Sub's legal name] expired on [date], and we have not received a renewal certificate. Under our subcontract we need current coverage on file for [Sub] to continue work on [Project name].

If the policy has renewed, please send the updated certificate to [email] today. If it has not, please let me know right away so we can talk about next steps.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Company] | [phone]

Before you send this one, check what your subcontract actually allows, such as holding payment or keeping the crew off site until coverage is shown, and talk to whoever runs the job. The template states the requirement without threatening a specific consequence, so you can decide that separately.

When the certificate comes back wrong

It happens often, and it is usually fixable with one reply to the agent:

• Wrong certificate holder name or address: reply with the exact text you need.
• Additional insured box marked, but no endorsement attached: ask for the endorsement pages.
• A required line is missing: ask whether the sub carries that coverage at all. If not, that is a conversation with the sub, not the agent.
• Limits below your requirement: ask whether an umbrella policy makes up the difference; if so, it should be on the certificate.

Keep every version you receive. If there is ever a question about what was in force on a given date, the certificate history is your record.

Doing this for every sub, every renewal

The templates above work. What wears people down is sending them on time, for every policy, for every sub, every year. That is what COI Nudge does: subs upload certificates through one link, it reads the expiry dates, and it emails the sub and their insurance agent at 30, 14 and 7 days before a policy lapses, until a new certificate arrives.