Subcontractor Insurance Tracking: A Step-by-Step Workflow
A useful subcontractor insurance workflow connects each company to its agreed requirements, current evidence, reviewer decision and next renewal. Assign responsibility for those steps before sending the first certificate request.
Start with the contract and vendor list
Reconcile the active subcontractor list with purchasing or project records. Capture the legal business name, trade, contact, agent and work dates. Include lower-tier responsibilities where the subcontract permits another company to perform part of the work.
Set an approved requirements baseline with your broker or risk owner. Identify the additional project requirements that need separate review. Certy has one requirements set per account, so it should not be described as applying a different insurance program to every project.
Collect before mobilization
Send the same requirements version to the subcontractor and its agent. State the holder entities, scope, submission route and review deadline. A private upload link can reduce lost email attachments, but someone must still review what arrives. Use the request email to make the expected evidence clear.
Review evidence rather than receipt
Check insured identity, dates and limits first. Then review the actual supporting documents for requirements that depend on endorsements. A certificate indicator is not a substitute for checking policy conditions. Use the review checklist and keep unresolved questions visible.
For a hypothetical roofing subcontract, the GL dates are current but hot-work scope is unconfirmed. The reviewer requests relevant policy information and leaves the issue pending instead of accepting the current dates as approval. The roofing guide provides scope questions.
Assign renewal and exception owners
Track every required policy expiration independently. Ask for renewals early enough to correct missing documents. If a vendor cannot meet a requirement, route a specific exception request to the authorized decision-maker and record its conditions and expiry. Do not silently reduce the requirement to make the file look complete.
Close and retain
Preserve the evidence applicable to the work dates when a renewal arrives. At closeout, record any completed operations or continuing evidence duties from the agreement. Review the closeout checklist before archiving. The goal is a retrievable decision trail, not merely a green status with no supporting documents.
Frequently asked questions
Does receiving a COI finish onboarding?
No. Receipt, document review and authorization to start work are separate steps. Record who can approve unresolved items.
Should one renewal date represent the whole subcontractor?
No. Required policies can renew on different dates. Track each policy period and its supporting evidence separately.