Additional Insured, Waiver of Subrogation, Primary and Non-Contributory: The Three COI Requests Explained

Your general contractor’s insurance requirements say you need to name them as additional insured, with primary and non-contributory wording, and add a waiver of subrogation. Here is the short version: those are three separate changes to your general liability policy, a certificate of insurance cannot create any of them, and whether you already have them depends on endorsements that are either on your policy or not. Send the request to your agent before you sign the contract, not the morning the job starts.

I see these requests every week from electricians, plumbers, landscapers and remodelers around Farmington, Bristol and New Britain. Here is what each one actually does.

Why Connecticut GCs ask for all three

Connecticut law limits what a GC can get from you in the contract itself. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572k, a clause in a construction contract that makes you indemnify or hold harmless the GC (or the owner) for injury or property damage caused by their own negligence is against public policy and void. Since 2001 that covers their partial negligence too, not just cases where they were solely at fault. The statute applies to contracts for building, altering, repairing or maintaining a building or structure.

The same statute says it does not affect insurance contracts, and courts have held that enforcing an additional insured clause does not violate it, and that a waiver of subrogation is not a hold-harmless agreement. So a Connecticut GC who cannot shift their risk to you through the indemnity clause shifts it to your insurance policy instead. That is why the insurance requirements page of the contract matters more than the indemnity paragraph, and why GCs check the endorsements, not just the certificate.

Additional insured: their name on your policy

Being an additional insured means the GC (or owner, or property manager) is covered under your general liability policy for claims that arise from your work for them. If your apprentice leaves a cord across a hallway and someone sues both of you, your policy defends the GC too.

The standard insurance industry (ISO) forms most requests refer to:

• CG 20 10 covers the additional insured for your ongoing work, while you are on the job.
• CG 20 37 extends it to completed operations: injury or damage caused by your work after you have finished. Most GC contracts ask for both, because a construction defect claim usually shows up after you are gone.
• CG 20 38 is a blanket version: anyone you have agreed in a written construction contract to add is covered automatically, including parties above your GC that the contract names, like the owner. It covers ongoing operations only, so it needs a completed-operations form alongside it.

Edition dates matter. Newer editions of these forms limit coverage to what the contract actually requires and to what the law permits. If a contract demands a specific edition (“CG 20 10 04 13 or equivalent”), check that your policy’s form matches.

Primary and non-contributory: your policy pays first

When the GC is an additional insured on your policy and also has their own policy, both could respond to the same claim. Primary and non-contributory wording (form CG 20 01) says your policy pays first, and your insurer will not go after the GC’s own insurer for a share.

It has two conditions that matter: there has to be a written contract requiring it, and the additional insured has to be a named insured on the other policy. Without the endorsement, your policy’s normal “other insurance” clause may make it share the loss with theirs, which is exactly what the GC’s contract is trying to prevent.

Waiver of subrogation: your insurer cannot sue them

After your insurer pays a claim, it normally has the right to recover that money from whoever caused the loss. That is subrogation. A waiver of subrogation (form CG 24 04 on general liability) means your insurer gives up that right against the party named in the schedule. If the GC’s crew caused the fire that damaged your equipment, your insurer pays you and does not turn around and sue the GC.

Two things to know:

• The agreement to waive has to be in writing before the loss. You cannot add it after something has happened.
• Workers’ comp and commercial auto have their own waiver endorsements. If the contract asks for a waiver “on all policies”, each policy needs its own.

Does my policy already do this?

Maybe. Many contractor general liability policies already include blanket additional insured, blanket waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory endorsements that apply whenever you have agreed to them in a written contract. Others include some of these, or none, or include them only for ongoing work. You find out by reading the endorsement schedule on the policy, not the declarations page.

What does not work is asking for a certificate that “shows” the coverage. A certificate of insurance only summarizes what the policy already says. If the endorsement is not on the policy, a certificate that claims it is protects no one, including you. More on how certificates work on our certificate of insurance page.

What to do before you sign the contract

1. Send your agent the GC’s insurance requirements page, or the whole insurance section of the contract.
2. Ask three questions: Is additional insured status included for both ongoing and completed operations? Is primary and non-contributory included? Is a waiver of subrogation included on GL, and on workers’ comp and auto if the contract asks?
3. If anything is missing, add the endorsement before the job starts. If you work for several GCs a year, ask about blanket versions so you are not adding names one job at a time.
4. Check the limits too. Most contracts ask for $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, and bigger jobs add an umbrella.

Send us the COI request and we will tell you the same day whether your current general liability policy already satisfies it, or what endorsement to add. Existing clients’ certificates usually go out the same business day. Call (860) 672-1733 or request a certificate.

Related: what general liability insurance actually covers, the five insurance mistakes small businesses make, and contractor insurance in Connecticut.

COI endorsement questions

What does additional insured mean on a certificate of insurance?

It means the person or company named is covered under your general liability policy for claims arising from your work for them. It comes from an endorsement on your policy, such as ISO form CG 20 10 for ongoing work and CG 20 37 for completed work. The certificate only reports it; it cannot create it.

Is a waiver of subrogation the same as additional insured?

No. Additional insured status puts the other party under your policy’s coverage. A waiver of subrogation stops your insurer from suing them to recover what it paid you. Contracts often ask for both, and each needs its own endorsement.

What does primary and non-contributory mean?

It means your policy pays first for the additional insured and your insurer will not ask the additional insured’s own insurer to share the loss. On general liability it is usually ISO form CG 20 01, and it applies when a written contract requires it.

Can a Connecticut GC make me indemnify them for their own negligence?

Not in a construction contract. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-572k makes a clause that requires you to indemnify or hold harmless the GC for injury or damage caused by their own negligence void as against public policy. The statute does not affect insurance contracts, which is why GCs ask to be named on your policy instead.