Looking for the Best Construction Insurance Certificate Management Platform?

Construction Insurance Certificate Management Platform

If you run a large construction company, then you need to make sure that your contractors and subcontractors have certificates of insurance. We know, maybe don’t just tell you things like that, as if you were a child. But it’s true, even if the delivery is off. Construction insurance is no laughing matter.

Certificates of insurance (COIs) for construction are standardized forms that list the insurance coverage carried by the contractors, vendors, or other third parties you hire. When it comes to a certificate of insurance explained, this includes the carrier, the limits of the listed coverage, the effective dates, the expiration date, and may include any exceptions, limitations, and exclusions. Usually, this certificate of insurance is issued by an insurance agent and delivered to the contractor to provide to you, proving that they have the right protection before you start your project.

What this means, in layman’s terms, is that if the worst happens, and you have an insurance claim, a properly-verified COI is your best chance to avoid having to pay that claim.

Got your attention now? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Certificate Of Insurance Management Software

The competition for the best COI tracking software is fierce, and we’d be being dishonest if we didn’t say you need to choose the right solution for your company. Obviously, at myCOI we believe we are the right solution nine times out of ten, but we don’t fit every company, and that’s okay. Certificate tracking online could be a critical part of your business no matter what solution you use, whether that’s a fully managed partner solution, myCOI competitors, or something else.

You’ll need to define what “best” means for your business when considering certificate of insurance management software. Is it the least expensive? That depends on how you measure cost. In pure dollars, a free COI tracking software may work, but is it reliable? Do its developers offer support? Are there regular product updates coming out? If not, check it carefully to make sure it isn’t out of date. Insurance tracking services are only as good as their updates.

Is “best” the least of your precious person-hours consumed by tracking certificates of insurance? Or is it as simple as you’re tired of turnover and teaching new hires how to check certificate of insurance requirements? Then a managed solution like myCOI offers may be best. Our team of insurance professionals know what they’re looking at, and they’re experts in making sure your certificates are promising what they say they do, that they meet your business requirements for coverage, and our quarterly verification makes sure the coverage stays in effect.

Certificate Of Insurance Tracking Template Excel

If you’re looking for a simple and manual way to track the certificates of insurance in your business, then using a COI tracking spreadsheet is an option worth considering. Many companies begin by having their staff track insurance policies on Excel spreadsheets. And for smaller companies just starting out, that system works. For basic certificate of insurance tracking spreadsheets are not a bad solution.

Many companies find spreadsheets a good training tool; for a certificate of insurance tracking template Excel has several basic templates that can be customized to what you need, but most companies scale past this very quickly.

The drawbacks of using an Excel insurance tracker are that they can be time-consuming to maintain and often require constant updating. What began as a simple project one person could track and easily snowball into a time-intensive process that’s impossible to scale as a company grows. Instead, companies might add more people and more spreadsheets, which leads to paperwork being lost or misplaced, which leads to increased chances for errors in the data.

That is exactly the worry that myCOI erases. Our systems are industry-leading. Our insurance professionals are top-notch. If you’re tracking hundreds of certificates of insurance, we’d love the chance to show you just how much time and effort we can save you.

Certificate Of Insurance Compliance

Knowing how to organize certificates of insurance for tracking is a necessity for any company that hires third parties such as contractors or vendors. A certificate of insurance tracking solution allows businesses to track certificate of insurance compliance. It’s more than a free expiration date tracking software. And it’s a complicated practice that requires more nuance than “I have a stack of certificates now what?”

One of the most common mistakes that businesses make is not keeping accurate records of certificates of insurance. This puts them at risk for fines and penalties if they do not have up-to-date documentation on hand when requested by a third party, such as an attorney, sometimes even when they think they’re in compliance because they don’t check certificate of insurance requirements by state, which vary. In addition to having legal consequences, failing to keep track of your company’s certificates could lead to financial losses. It also increases the likelihood of liability lawsuits filed against your business. Knowing who needs to provide a certificate of insurance is one of the core components of risk management.

It’s not just those who hire contractors and vendors that need to track certificates of insurance. Property managers who host commercial tenants also need to ensure those tenants are carrying the proper insurance. We often see the duty of securing and verifying these COIs fall on property managers, instead of dedicated risk teams, so we strongly suggest having on hand a sample letter requesting certificate of insurance from commercial tenants, so you can quickly request the COIs you need to manage your property’s risk.

Remember. If you find yourself asking which vendors need a certificate of insurance, the answer is usually “all of them.” That’s just certificate of insurance 101, right behind knowing how to check certificate of insurance for your company’s minimum coverage requirements. The next step, knowing how to request a certificate of insurance from a vendor, is something your risk management team probably already has a process for.

How To Request A Certificate Of Insurance From A Vendor

If you’re a contractor or business asking “when do you need a certificate of insurance from a vendor?,” the answer is pretty simple: before any vendor that enters your business premises or project site to perform work and takes any actions that may generate any risk at all needs to give you a certificate of insurance. 

That sounds pretty vague, we know, but it’s a simple reality. Risk exists all around us, whether we generate it or not, and the last thing you want to do is assume the burden of risk your vendor opened you to because you failed to secure a certificate of insurance.

Now you may ask “what is a certificate of insurance for vendors?” and the answer is, the same thing you provide to other entities that you do work on behalf of. It should show the vendor’s coverage, any limitations or exclusions, and all the usual information. You should request certificate of insurance from vendors every time you hire them.

Knowing how to request a certificate of insurance from a vendor likely comes down to how your business works with vendors. In many cases, COIs with the minimum insurance requirements for vendors are required as part of the vendor application process or were specified in the RFP, or in an agreement or contract. If not, it’s often a requirement before the vendor can begin working.

If you deal with a lot of vendors, you can often save a lot of time by having a sample letter requesting certificate of insurance from vendors on hand. Knowing how to request a certificate of insurance from a vendor does little to shield you from the hours of work you have ahead of you verifying all those resultant COIs, though.

Certificates Of Insurance Best Practices

If your business hires a lot of outside help, in the form of subcontractors, vendors, specialists, commercial tenants, really anyone who interacts with your business in a way that generates risk, then certificate of insurance compliance is a key part of your business. Certificates of insurance, or COIs, are the promise your vendors are making to you that they carry the insurance coverage you require for employment. If you’re not getting them, or worse not tracking them, you could be opening your business to incredible insurance risk. Certificate tracking helps mitigate that risk.

Certificates of insurance best practices require you to do more than receive a COI. You must verify the coverage. You must verify the details. You must ask for clarification on places where it’s unclear, and you must ensure your business is protected. That’s just certificate of insurance management best practice. You’re probably already starting to see that this is more complicated than a software to track expiration dates.

Certificate of insurance compliance software, like the expert tools and service that myCOI provides, can save your compliance team literally hours of work every day. It can save you from delayed job starts. It can keep your other employees from standing around, waiting for that critical vendor, while you’re confirming their insurance compliance. Knowing how to organize certificates of insurance, and track and verify them, can literally help your company make its quarterly or annual goals.

And it can save you from having to pay costly insurance claims when, inevitably, there are accidents.

Certificate Of Insurance PDF

If you’re a contractor, you need to have a certificate of insurance for business for the insurance policies your business has. There are probably lots of insurance policies you carry at your company. These include:

• General liability insurance, which covers the potential liability you take on with each project, such as construction projects
• Commercial auto insurance, which covers your vehicles and drivers during the job
• Commercial property insurance, which protects any real estate you might have or lease for your business
• Workers compensation and Employers Liability

When it comes to certificates of insurance 101, you need to make sure you have accurate certificates to represent all of your policies. Don’t just trust a certificate of insurance PDF. Know what you’re looking for.  A few critical elements include:

• The limits of your protection
• The effective and expiration dates, which define when that  policy is active
• Your insurers or carriers, which are your insurance companies

You should not be creating your own COIs. Even though you should review your certificates, it is essential to rely on a specialized third party like your insurance agent to produce them. This is one of the services that your policy premiums pay for. That way, you know you have the proper protection for your company the next time you start a project. Construction insurance certificates are complicated enough without adding incorrect creation.

And remember that certificate of insurance requirements by state can be very different. Let’s imagine you’re headquartered in Cincinnati, which puts you within working distance of both Indiana and Kentucky. All three of those states could have differing regulatory requirements around insurance and compliance, and it’s your responsibility to be compliant.