Resource Center · Reports
Reports and white papers
Long-form analysis of how contractor certificates fail, built from public documents and published reporting. Every claim is sourced. When a question needs data we don't have yet, we say so.
R-13White paperResource Center
What to require from any COI tool: a vendor-neutral specification
We don't rank software. But we can tell you what to ask for. This is a specification any COI tool, service or spreadsheet process can be measured against, with a way to test each line yourself.
R-23Analyst briefResource Center
What does manual COI tracking cost? Reading the one published estimate
Ask what COI compliance costs and you'll find mostly vendor marketing. We found one estimate with its math shown. Here's how it's built, what it misses, and a worksheet for your own number.
R-22Analyst briefResource Center
Fake certificates and phantom insurers: what state regulators have warned
Regulators don't publish a count of fake certificates. They do publish warnings, and in one state, a law. Read together, the advice is consistent: verify independently, and never trust the contact details on the document you're checking.
White papers
A problem and a way to check for it, step by step.
- R-01A certificate is not coverage: six ways contractor COIs fail project requirementsThe certificate is the one document everyone collects and almost nobody can rely on by itself. Here is where it breaks, in the order we would check it.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 6 min read
- R-03Why every trade sends a certificate: the COI's job in construction risk transferGeneral contractors pass risk down the contract chain to the trades doing the work. The certificate is the receipt for that handoff. Here is how the system works, and where the receipt stops being proof.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 3 min read
- R-04How to read a COI against contract requirements, line by lineMost certificate reviews check whether boxes are filled in. A real review checks each box against what the contract asked for. Here is the method, box by box.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 3 min read
- R-05Additional insured endorsements, explained: CG 20 10, CG 20 37 and the automatic formsAdditional insured status is the single most requested, and most often missing, piece of a contractor's coverage. This is what the endorsements do, which ones matter on a construction job, and how to tell them apart.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 3 min read
- R-06When a contractor's coverage lapses mid-project: the exposure and the playbookPolicies expire, get cancelled for nonpayment, or come back at renewal without the endorsements you asked for. The certificate in your file won't tell you. Here is what's at stake and what to do.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-07What goes into subcontract insurance requirements: a field guide for GCs and brokersEvery subcontract insurance exhibit is built from the same parts. This guide walks through each one, what it's for, and how two public owners actually wrote theirs.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 3 min read
- R-08The broker's side of the COI: why requests pile up and how to answer deficiency noticesFor a construction broker, every new job a client wins means another round of certificates, endorsements and deficiency notices. Most of the load is predictable. Here is where it comes from and how to get ahead of it.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-09Spreadsheet, service or software: a vendor-neutral way to choose how to manage contractor COIsThere are three ways to run a certificate program. Each one works for some companies and fails others. This paper sets out what each does well, where each breaks, and how to score them for your own company.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-10Can AI review a COI? What machines do well, and where people stay in the loopAI is good at reading documents and comparing them with rules. Certificate review is mostly that. But some calls need a person, and some questions can't be answered from the documents at all.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-11One set of rules per project: tracking requirements and renewals across active jobsA GC with a school job, a hospital job and a tenant fit-out is running three sets of insurance rules at once, for dozens of trades, with policies expiring all year. Here is a structure that holds up.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-12Closing a coverage gap without the email chain: a deficiency workflow for GCs and brokersMost coverage gaps take weeks to close not because they're hard, but because the request is vague, goes to the wrong person, or arrives without the requirement it's measured against. Here is a workflow that fixes that.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-13What to require from any COI tool: a vendor-neutral specificationWe don't rank software. But we can tell you what to ask for. This is a specification any COI tool, service or spreadsheet process can be measured against, with a way to test each line yourself.White paper · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
Analyst briefs
A set of real cases, documents or data, read for one question.
- R-02Rented, falsified, excluded: what 2026's cases say about trusting a contractor COIFour cases from this year's reporting, read for one question: what would a general contractor have needed to see, beyond the certificate, to know the coverage was real?Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 4 min read
- R-14The ACORD 25's new limits sentence: what changed in the 2025/12 edition, and what GCs should doThe newest edition of the standard certificate adds one sentence about limits. It means the number on a certificate may be the number you asked for, not what the policy carries.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-15The Q3 2026 insurance market for contractors: casualty up, property down, and what it means for endorsementsCommercial rates fell again in the third quarter, but not on the lines contractors' certificates are built from. US casualty rose, led by auto and umbrella. Here's the picture and what it means for your requirements.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 1 min read
- R-16What insurance regulators say about AI, and what it means for AI-assisted COI reviewRegulators have spent three years building rules for how insurers use AI. Those rules don't apply to a GC's software. But they're a ready-made checklist for anyone deciding whether to trust an AI review.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-17Checking workers' comp yourself: what public proof of coverage lookups can and can't tell youSeveral states let anyone look up whether an employer has workers' comp on file. It's one of the few checks a GC can run without asking the trade or its broker. Here's what we found, and where the lookups fall short.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-18Underreported payroll: what six construction workers' comp fraud cases show GCsIn case after case, the pattern is the same: a contractor buys a policy for a tiny payroll and runs a much bigger crew. The certificate looks fine. Here are six cases and what they suggest a GC should check.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-19How the ISO additional insured endorsements changed: 2004, 2013 and 2019An endorsement's edition date isn't trivia. The same form number has meant different coverage in different decades. Here are the three changes that matter most on construction jobs.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-20Two public owners, two insurance exhibits: Oregon DOT and Sonoma County comparedPublic owners publish their insurance requirements, which makes them a rare window into how requirements are actually written. We read two side by side.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-21Wrap-ups and certificates: what changes for contractor COIs on an OCIP or CCIPOn a wrap-up, the sponsor buys the project's core insurance for everyone enrolled. It's tempting to think certificates stop mattering. They don't. They change.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-22Fake certificates and phantom insurers: what state regulators have warnedRegulators don't publish a count of fake certificates. They do publish warnings, and in one state, a law. Read together, the advice is consistent: verify independently, and never trust the contact details on the document you're checking.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 2 min read
- R-23What does manual COI tracking cost? Reading the one published estimateAsk what COI compliance costs and you'll find mostly vendor marketing. We found one estimate with its math shown. Here's how it's built, what it misses, and a worksheet for your own number.Analyst brief · November 13, 2026 · 1 min read
How our reports work
White papers set out a problem and a way to check for it. Analyst briefs read a set of real cases for one question. Both are qualitative: no survey numbers until a sample clears our methodology. Each report gets a number and a docket, and corrections are dated on the page. Have a topic we should take on? Send it to us.
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