A customer, GC or vendor program wants a certificate before work starts

Certificate holder vs additional insured

A certificate holder receives the certificate; an additional insured is covered by the policy. The holder is the name and address in the box at the bottom of the ACORD 25, and the form says it "confers no rights upon the certificate holder." An additional insured gets limited coverage under someone else's liability policy, and only an endorsement or other additional insured provision in the policy grants it. A checked box or a sentence on the certificate does not. Adding a holder changes nothing in the policy. Additional insured status needs a blanket form already on the policy or a scheduled endorsement the carrier issues.

Updated . Written by Andre Beukers, principal at Redoubt, a commercial insurance agency in Salt Lake City, not a government office.

What is the difference between a certificate holder and an additional insured?

The certificate holder is whoever the certificate is addressed to. Being the holder means you get a document showing that a policy exists, with its carrier, policy number, dates and limits. The ACORD 25 says what that document is worth on its face: it "confers no rights upon the certificate holder" and "does not affirmatively or negatively amend, extend or alter the coverage afforded by the policies below." Utah puts the same rule in statute: a certificate "may not confer to a certificate holder a right that is not provided by an insurance policy."

An additional insured is a party the policy itself covers, within limits, for claims arising from the named insured's work. That status is created by an endorsement that amends the policy's Who Is An Insured section. The ACORD 25 prints the warning at the top: if the holder is an additional insured, "the policy(ies) must have ADDITIONAL INSURED provisions or be endorsed."

A party can be both: the holder box and the additional insured status are separate questions. Utah DOPL is an example of a holder-only request: its contractor application asks for the division to be "listed as the certificate holder" and does not ask for additional insured status.

Sources: 1, 2, 4, 6, 22

What is an additional insured endorsement?

It is a page added to the policy that names, or describes, the parties the policy will also protect. The ISO additional insured forms checked for this page (CG 20 10, CG 20 33, CG 20 37 and CG 20 38) start the same way: "Section II – Who Is An Insured is amended to include as an additional insured" the person or organization in the schedule. After that, each form limits the grant. CG 20 10 covers the additional insured only for injury or damage "caused, in whole or in part, by" your acts or omissions, or those of people acting on your behalf, "in the performance of your ongoing operations" for that party.

Two limits appear in each of those forms and matter more than buyers expect. The coverage "only applies to the extent permitted by law," which imports any state statute that restricts these promises. And it "will not be broader than that which you are required by the contract or agreement to provide," with the most the insurer pays capped at the lesser of the contract's required amount or the policy's available limits. The endorsement "shall not increase the applicable limits of insurance": the additional insured shares your limits, it does not get new ones.

Sources: 7, 8, 9

What is the difference between CG 20 10 and CG 20 37?

CG 20 10 covers the additional insured while you are working. CG 20 37 covers them after you have finished. They are separate endorsements, and a contract that asks for additional insured status for "ongoing and completed operations" is asking for both.

CG 20 10 12 19 ends at completion in its own words. It excludes injury or damage occurring after all work on the project "has been completed" or after the part of your work that caused it "has been put to its intended use." A railing that fails after the owner moves in falls outside CG 20 10.

CG 20 37 12 19 picks up there. It covers the additional insured for injury or damage caused by "your work" at the scheduled location "included in the 'products-completed operations hazard'." Its schedule asks for the location and description of the completed operations, so a scheduled CG 20 37 is written per job or per party unless the carrier fills it in more broadly.

Sources: 10, 11, 22

What is a contractors blanket additional insured endorsement?

A blanket, or automatic, endorsement makes a party an additional insured without naming it, whenever a written contract requires it. ISO's CG 20 33 covers "any person or organization for whom you are performing operations when you and such person or organization have agreed in writing" that they be added. CG 20 38 goes further and also covers "any other person or organization you are required to add" under that same contract. Read with paragraph 1, that can reach an owner named in the GC's subcontract who never signed anything with the subcontractor.

The tradeoff is the written contract. Both forms turn on a party with whom you "have agreed in writing in a contract or agreement" to add them: no signed agreement requiring the status, no additional insured.

The gap that fails reviews: both CG 20 33 and CG 20 38 are ongoing-operations forms. Each says status "ends when your operations" for that party "are completed." Completed-operations status needs a completed-operations endorsement: scheduled CG 20 37, or a blanket form written for completed operations. Ask for it by name. A subcontractor who answers "yes, I have blanket additional insured" with only CG 20 33 on the policy does not meet a completed-operations requirement.

Sources: 12, 13, 14

What does primary and noncontributory wording mean?

It means your policy pays first for the additional insured and does not ask the additional insured's own insurer to share the loss. The ISO form that delivers it is CG 20 01. Its operative sentence: "This insurance is primary to and will not seek contribution from any other insurance available to an additional insured under your policy."

CG 20 01 attaches two conditions. The additional insured must be "a Named Insured under such other insurance," and you must have "agreed in writing in a contract or agreement" that your insurance would be primary and noncontributory. If the GC's own policy is in a different entity's name, or there is no signed contract, the condition fails. The ACORD 25 has no box for it; it appears only in the description of operations, and only accurately if the endorsement is on the policy.

Sources: 15, 16, 2

What does waiver of subrogation mean on a certificate of insurance?

The ACORD 25 has a SUBR WVD column on each line; a "Y" there reports that subrogation is waived for the holder on that line, which means the insurer gives up its right to recover from the holder after paying a claim. Without a waiver, the standard general liability form says your rights to recover a payment "are transferred to us," so your insurer could pursue the GC or owner whose negligence contributed to the loss. The ACORD 25 warns that if subrogation is waived, "certain policies may require an endorsement," and that the certificate does not stand in for it.

On general liability, the ISO forms are CG 24 04 (scheduled, or with a blanket entry in the schedule) and CG 24 53 (automatic whenever you waived recovery "in a written contract or agreement"). Both apply only if you waived the right "prior to loss": a contract signed after the accident does not trigger them.

Workers' compensation needs its own endorsement, WC 00 03 13, which applies "only to the extent that you perform work under a written contract that requires you to obtain this agreement from us." A carrier can charge for it. WCF Insurance's Utah request form, revision 4/20 (2020) and still posted on WCF's site on 2026-10-03, lists "Specific Waiver of Subrogation $100" and a blanket waiver at "2% manual premium ($250 minimum, $2,500 maximum)." When a contract asks for waivers on all lines, check the GL, auto and comp lines on the certificate one by one.

Sources: 2, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Which one does my contract actually ask for?

Read the insurance exhibit, not the cover email. "Provide a certificate of insurance naming us as certificate holder" is a certificate request: it needs no endorsement, only a bound policy and a certificate addressed to the holder. "Name us as additional insured" is a policy request. Look for four more phrases, because each is its own endorsement: "ongoing and completed operations" (CG 20 10 plus CG 20 37, or blanket equivalents), "primary and noncontributory" (CG 20 01), "waiver of subrogation" (CG 24 04 or CG 24 53, plus the comp and auto versions), and any named owner or lender (which needs a form that reaches parties outside your contract).

Send the exhibit to your agent before you sign it, with the policy's forms list if you have it. The answer is either that the forms are already there, and the certificate can say so, or which endorsement the carrier has to add. A certificate cannot close that gap on its own: in Utah, a certificate holder has a right to notice of cancellation only if the policy or an endorsement gives one.

Sources: 22, 5, 3, 2

Frequently asked questions

Can a certificate holder make a claim on my policy?

Not as a holder. The ACORD 25 says the certificate confers no rights on the holder and is not a contract between the insurer and the holder. A holder who is also an additional insured, through an endorsement, can seek coverage under the policy within that endorsement's terms.

Does checking the ADDL INSD box make someone an additional insured?

No. The box reports that the policy has additional insured provisions for the holder. If no endorsement or blanket form is on the policy, the box is wrong, and the ACORD 25 itself says a statement on the certificate does not confer rights in place of the endorsement.

Does the certificate holder get notice if my policy is cancelled?

Only if the policy or an endorsement says so. The ACORD 25 cancellation box says notice will be delivered under the policy provisions, and Utah's statute gives a holder a right to notice only when the policy, a rider or an endorsement grants it.

Sources

Where these answers come from

Each entry carries the exact words of the source so you can check it yourself. Forms and statutes change; read the current version before acting.

  1. 1. ACORD 25 (2016/03), Certificate of Liability Insurance, blank form hosted by the New York Department of Financial Services
    “THIS CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED AS A MATTER OF INFORMATION ONLY AND CONFERS NO RIGHTS UPON THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER. THIS CERTIFICATE DOES NOT AFFIRMATIVELY OR NEGATIVELY AMEND, EXTEND OR ALTER THE COVERAGE AFFORDED BY THE POLICIES BELOW. THIS CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE ISSUING INSURER(S), AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OR PRODUCER, AND THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER.”
    dfs.ny.gov, accessed October 3, 2026. Pulled with an Accept: application/pdf header; a plain request can return an HTML challenge page.
  2. 2. ACORD 25 (2016/03), the additional insured and waiver notice at the top of the form
    “IMPORTANT: If the certificate holder is an ADDITIONAL INSURED, the policy(ies) must have ADDITIONAL INSURED provisions or be endorsed. If SUBROGATION IS WAIVED, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy, certain policies may require an endorsement. A statement on this certificate does not confer rights to the certificate holder in lieu of such endorsement(s).”
    dfs.ny.gov, accessed October 3, 2026
  3. 3. ACORD 25 (2016/03), the cancellation box
    “SHOULD ANY OF THE ABOVE DESCRIBED POLICIES BE CANCELLED BEFORE THE EXPIRATION DATE THEREOF, NOTICE WILL BE DELIVERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE POLICY PROVISIONS.”
    dfs.ny.gov, accessed October 3, 2026
  4. 4. Utah Code 31A-22-1704, Scope of certificate of insurance
    “A certificate of insurance may not confer to a certificate holder a right that is not provided by an insurance policy to which the certificate of insurance refers.”
    le.utah.gov, accessed October 3, 2026
  5. 5. Utah Code 31A-22-1706, Notice of cancellation, nonrenewal, or material change
    “A certificate holder only has a right to a notice of cancellation, nonrenewal, a material change, or to a similar notice if the certificate holder has rights to the notice under the terms of the insurance policy to which the certificate of insurance refers, or under any rider, or endorsement to the insurance policy.”
    le.utah.gov, accessed October 3, 2026
  6. 6. Utah DOPL, Contractor Application, All Classifications (2026/03), general liability insurance section
    “All contractors are required to maintain active general liability insurance with the Utah Division of Professional Licensing listed as the certificate holder.”
    commerce.utah.gov, accessed October 3, 2026
  7. 7. ISO CG 20 10 12 19, Additional Insured – Owners, Lessees or Contractors – Scheduled Person or Organization, paragraph A (Risk & Insurance Education Alliance reference copy)
    “Section II – Who Is An Insured is amended to include as an additional insured the person(s) or organization(s) shown in the Schedule, but only with respect to liability for "bodily injury", "property damage" or "personal and advertising injury" caused, in whole or in part, by:”
    riskeducation.org, accessed October 3, 2026. Same copy as the verified PDF in Redoubt's forms library (sha256 3a111282...). Carriers may use their own versions of these forms.
  8. 8. ISO CG 20 10 12 19, the two limits that follow the grant
    “The insurance afforded to such additional insured only applies to the extent permitted by law; and 2. If coverage provided to the additional insured is required by a contract or agreement, the insurance afforded to such additional insured will not be broader than that which you are required by the contract or agreement to provide for such additional insured.”
    riskeducation.org, accessed October 3, 2026
  9. 9. ISO CG 20 10 12 19, paragraph C, Limits of Insurance
    “the most we will pay on behalf of the additional insured is the amount of insurance: 1. Required by the contract or agreement; or 2. Available under the applicable limits of insurance; whichever is less. This endorsement shall not increase the applicable limits of insurance.”
    riskeducation.org, accessed October 3, 2026
  10. 10. ISO CG 20 10 12 19, paragraph B, the completion exclusion
    “This insurance does not apply to "bodily injury" or "property damage" occurring after: 1. All work, including materials, parts or equipment furnished in connection with such work, on the project (other than service, maintenance or repairs) to be performed by or on behalf of the additional insured(s) at the location of the covered operations has been completed; or”
    riskeducation.org, accessed October 3, 2026
  11. 11. ISO CG 20 37 12 19, Additional Insured – Owners, Lessees or Contractors – Completed Operations (Independent Insurance Agents of Texas forms library)
    “but only with respect to liability for "bodily injury" or "property damage" caused, in whole or in part, by "your work" at the location designated and described in the Schedule of this endorsement performed for that additional insured and included in the "products-completed operations hazard".”
    iiat.org, accessed October 3, 2026
  12. 12. ISO CG 20 33 12 19, Additional Insured – Owners, Lessees or Contractors – Automatic Status When Required in a Written Construction Agreement With You (Nationwide E&S forms library)
    “include as an additional insured any person or organization for whom you are performing operations when you and such person or organization have agreed in writing in a contract or agreement that such person or organization be added as an additional insured on your policy.”
    forms.nationwideexcessandsurplus.com, accessed October 3, 2026. The host refuses requests without a browser user agent.
  13. 13. ISO CG 20 33 12 19, end of paragraph A
    “A person's or organization's status as an additional insured under this endorsement ends when your operations for that additional insured are completed.”
    forms.nationwideexcessandsurplus.com, accessed October 3, 2026
  14. 14. ISO CG 20 38 12 19, Additional Insured – Owners, Lessees or Contractors – Automatic Status for Other Parties When Required in Written Construction Agreement (Independent Insurance Agents of Texas forms library)
    “Any other person or organization you are required to add as an additional insured under the contract or agreement described in Paragraph 1. above.”
    iiat.org, accessed October 3, 2026. The same form also ends status when your operations for the paragraph 1 party are completed.
  15. 15. ISO CG 20 01 12 19, Primary and Noncontributory – Other Insurance Condition (Nationwide E&S forms library)
    “This insurance is primary to and will not seek contribution from any other insurance available to an additional insured under your policy provided that:”
    forms.nationwideexcessandsurplus.com, accessed October 3, 2026
  16. 16. ISO CG 20 01 12 19, the two conditions
    “(1) The additional insured is a Named Insured under such other insurance; and (2) You have agreed in writing in a contract or agreement that this insurance would be primary and would not seek contribution from any other insurance available to the additional insured.”
    forms.nationwideexcessandsurplus.com, accessed October 3, 2026
  17. 17. ISO CG 00 01 12 25, Commercial General Liability Coverage Form, Section IV condition 8 (FC&S hosted copy)
    “If the insured has rights to recover all or part of any payment we have made under this Coverage Part, those rights are transferred to us.”
    assets.touchpointmarkets.com, accessed October 3, 2026
  18. 18. ISO CG 24 04 12 19, Waiver of Transfer of Rights of Recovery Against Others to Us: a carrier-issued, completed endorsement (blanket schedule entry) published by its insured, Sally Beauty
    “We waive any right of recovery against the person(s) or organization(s) shown in the Schedule above because of payments we make under this Coverage Part. Such waiver by us applies only to the extent that the insured has waived its right of recovery against such person(s) or organization(s) prior to loss.”
    sallybeauty.com, accessed October 3, 2026. Not a blank ISO form. The operative wording matches the CG 24 04 12 19 copy verified in Redoubt's forms library (forms/cgl/CG2404).
  19. 19. ISO CG 24 53 12 19, Waiver of Subrogation – Automatic (Nationwide E&S forms library)
    “We waive any right of recovery against any person or organization, because of any payment we make under this Coverage Part, to whom the insured has waived its right of recovery in a written contract or agreement.”
    forms.nationwideexcessandsurplus.com, accessed October 3, 2026
  20. 20. NCCI WC 00 03 13 (Ed. 4-84), Waiver of Our Right to Recover From Others Endorsement (North Carolina Rate Bureau copy)
    “We will not enforce our right against the person or organization named in the Schedule. (This agreement applies only to the extent that you perform work under a written contract that requires you to obtain this agreement from us.)”
    ncrb.org, accessed October 3, 2026
  21. 21. WCF Insurance, Request for Waiver of Subrogation (REV. 4/20), premium section
    “Specific Waiver of Subrogation $100 Blanket Waiver of Subrogation 2% manual premium ($250 minimum, $2,500 maximum)”
    wcf.com, accessed October 3, 2026. Dated only by the form revision, REV. 4/20 (2020); the PDF was still hosted on 2026-10-03. WCF's web page did not render the prices to a text request. Other carriers price waivers differently.
  22. 22. Redoubt, General liability insurance, work in progress and completed work section
    “This matters for contracts too. A requirement to name a client as additional insured for ongoing operations is not the same requirement as naming them for completed operations, and the two are usually different endorsements.”
    www.redoubt.insure, accessed October 3, 2026
The same moment

A customer, GC or vendor program wants a certificate before work starts

What the certificate is, who the holder and additional insured are, and what contractors are asked for.

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Text Redoubt the contract's insurance section and the holder's name and address. We will tell you which parts a certificate can show today and which need an endorsement from the carrier first.

This is general insurance information, not legal advice or a coverage determination. The policy forms, the endorsements the carrier issues, and the holder’s written requirement control.

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