Additional insured endorsements, explained: CG 20 10, CG 20 37 and the automatic forms

What the endorsement does

A contractor's general liability policy protects the contractor. An additional insured endorsement extends that protection to someone else: on a construction job, usually the general contractor, the owner and sometimes the architect or lender.

The point is to keep the GC's own policy out of claims caused by the trade's work. If a passerby is hurt by a trade's falling materials and sues everyone on the job, the GC wants to be defended by the trade's carrier, not its own.

That only works if the endorsement exists. The ACORD 25 says so in its own words: if the certificate holder is an additional insured, the policy must have additional insured provisions or be endorsed. The Y in the ADDL INSD column is not the endorsement.

The forms that matter on a construction job

ISO, which writes the standard policy forms most carriers start from, publishes dozens of additional insured endorsements. On construction projects, a handful do most of the work.

• CG 20 10, ongoing operations, scheduled. Covers the people named in its schedule for liability arising during the contractor's ongoing work.
• CG 20 37, completed operations, scheduled. Covers the people named in its schedule for liability that arises after the work is finished. As the Construction Defect Journal noted, it requires each additional insured to be listed in its schedule.
• CG 20 33 and CG 20 38, ongoing operations, automatic. Grant status to parties the contractor agreed in a written construction contract to add, without naming each one. CG 20 38 reaches further up the contract chain, to parties the contractor's direct client is required to add.
• CG 20 39 and CG 20 40, completed operations, automatic. Added in ISO's 2019 filing as the completed operations counterparts to CG 20 33 and CG 20 38, according to IIABA.

Carriers also write their own versions under their own form numbers. When the endorsement isn't an ISO form, read what it says rather than assuming it matches one.

Ongoing and completed: you usually need both

The most expensive mistake on this list is having one without the other. An ongoing operations endorsement stops responding when the work is done. Construction defect and many injury claims arrive later. See completed operations.

If the contract requires completed operations coverage for a number of years after completion, the endorsement has to exist and the contractor's policy has to keep being renewed with it for that whole time.

Scheduled or automatic

A scheduled form names you. An automatic form describes you, usually as anyone the contractor has agreed in a written contract to add.

Automatic forms save paperwork and avoid missed names. They also make the subcontract part of the coverage. If the contract wasn't signed before the work started, wasn't in writing, or doesn't require additional insured status in the right terms, an automatic endorsement may not reach you.

The contract sets the ceiling

ISO's April 2013 edition changed how far additional insured coverage reaches. The new language says coverage "will not be broader than that which you are required by the contract or agreement to provide," IRMI's Gregory Podolak wrote, and ties the limits available to the additional insured to the amount the contract requires, whichever is less.

The practical effect: what your subcontract asks for is now, in large part, what you get. A requirement that says only "name GC as additional insured" may buy less than one that names the scope, the duration, and both ongoing and completed operations.

What to check

1. Ask for the endorsement itself, with its form number and edition date.
2. Confirm it covers both ongoing and completed operations, or that you have one of each.
3. On a scheduled form, confirm your exact legal name is in the schedule. On an automatic form, confirm your subcontract's wording and signature date fit its conditions.
4. Confirm the limits available meet what your contract requires.
5. Check again at renewal. Endorsements don't automatically carry over.

See additional insured in the COI Dictionary, and our brief on how the ISO editions changed.