Additional Insured is the single most commonly requested — and most commonly misunderstood — endorsement on a contractor’s certificate of insurance. Getting it wrong is one of the fastest ways to have a certificate bounced back.
What It Actually Does
Adding a party as Additional Insured extends your liability coverage to protect them for claims arising from your work — typically the general contractor or property owner. If someone is injured or property is damaged because of your work, and the GC gets named in the resulting lawsuit even though they didn’t cause the issue, your policy responds on their behalf too.
It’s Not Automatic
Additional Insured status has to be added to your policy through a specific endorsement — it doesn’t happen just because a certificate lists someone as the certificate holder. A certificate that names a GC as the holder but doesn’t actually carry the AI endorsement will get rejected the moment someone checks.
Blanket vs. Project-Specific
A blanket Additional Insured endorsement automatically extends to any party you’re contractually required to add — the most efficient option if you regularly work with multiple GCs.
A project-specific endorsement names one particular party for one particular job — more limited, and requires a new request for each new relationship.
The Most Common Mistake
Assuming AI status is already in place, then discovering it isn’t only after a certificate gets rejected mid-project — costing time exactly when a start date or payment is on the line. Confirming what endorsements are already on your policy before you need them is the fix.
Not sure whether your policy already has a blanket Additional Insured endorsement? Contact us and we’ll check.