Can my agent just put the required wording on the certificate?

Only if the policy already says it. The certificate reports the policy; it cannot add an additional insured, a waiver or a higher limit. If the endorsement is missing, the fix is to add it to the policy, which most carriers can do in a day or two.

The contract asks for an umbrella. Do I need a separate policy?

Usually, yes. An umbrella is its own policy that sits over your general liability, auto and employer’s liability. Check that the contract does not require it to sit over a policy you do not have, and that your umbrella is not written over general liability alone when the contract expects auto underneath it too.

The contract requires workers comp but I have no employees. What do I send?

It depends on the state and the counterparty. Some accept a state exemption or an officer exclusion form; others require a policy anyway, which is usually a minimum-premium policy with no payroll on it.

How fast can you check a contract?

Send the insurance section of the contract and your current declarations page and endorsements. We compare them line by line and tell you what is met, what is missing and what each fix costs, usually the same business day.

Do I need to meet the requirements before I sign?

Usually before you start work, and often before the counterparty will countersign or pay. Landlords and funders commonly hold the key, the onboarding or the first payment until a compliant certificate arrives, so check the clause as soon as you have a draft.

A business owner in safety glasses at a desk at night with a highlighter, comparing a printed contract against a policy document under a lamp

How do I know if my insurance meets the requirements in a contract?

Read the insurance clause line by line against your declarations page and endorsements, not against a certificate. Check five things in order: each coverage named, each limit, who must be added as an additional insured and on which form, any primary and non-contributory or waiver of subrogation wording, and the exact legal name of your business. A certificate cannot fix a shortfall, because New York law, like the certificate form itself, says a certificate may not "amend, extend, or alter the coverage provided by the insurance policy".

Call/Text(626) 344-2158

/ Start here

Tell us the situation.

One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.

We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.

/ Who handles this

Joe Gorman

Co-Founder | President of Commercial Lines

Came up in construction, on site and in the office, then moved into sales. Went out on a limb to become Boring’s first dedicated salesperson when the agency had no sales team at all, and now leads it. Landscaping is the class he writes most: grounds maintenance, tree work, irrigation and the spray operations that push an account out of preferred appetite.

/ Don’t want to read all this?

Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.

Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.

Have it reviewed Call/Text(626) 344-2158

/ Before you apply

Check the clause in this order

Have the contract’s insurance section and your full policy, including endorsements, side by side.

Coverages. List every policy the clause names: general liability, auto, workers comp, professional, umbrella, abuse and molestation. A missing line is the most common failure, and auto is the one most often missing.
Limits. Compare each per-occurrence and aggregate figure, and the smaller ones: damage to rented premises, medical payments, hired and non-owned auto. An umbrella can make up a shortfall only if the clause allows it and the umbrella sits over that policy.
Additional insured. Note who must be added and whether the clause names a form, such as CG 20 10 for ongoing work or CG 20 37 for completed work. A blanket endorsement may already cover them if the contract is signed first.
Special wording. Look for primary and non-contributory, waiver of subrogation, notice of cancellation and per-project aggregate. Each is an endorsement, not a certificate checkbox.
Names and dates. The named insured must match the legal entity signing the contract, and the policy must run through the contract term. A contract signed by an LLC the policy does not name is not covered.

The detail

A certificate of insurance may not "amend, extend, or alter the coverage provided by the insurance policy" and "shall further not confer to any person any rights beyond those expressly provided by the policy of insurance referenced therein."
New York Insurance Law section 502, "Prohibitions" (certificates of insurance)
Under the general liability form, "No person or organization is an insured with respect to the conduct of any current or past partnership, joint venture or limited liability company that is not shown as a Named Insured in the Declarations."
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13 (specimen)
Between August and October 2026, 31 of our call notes recorded a contract, landlord, funder or customer requirement the client was trying to meet. The shortfalls included a $450,000 garage liability limit against a $500,000 city requirement, a $50,000 damage to rented premises limit below a landlord’s figure, and a $5,000 medical payments maximum against a $10,000 requirement.
Boring Insurance call records, calls graded Aug 20 to Oct 4, 2026 (clients and carriers unnamed)
In the same period, care providers on our calls reported state, county and Medicaid contracts newly requiring $1,000,000 per occurrence of sexual abuse and molestation coverage, a requirement several of their existing policies could not meet.
Boring Insurance call records, calls graded Aug 20 to Oct 4, 2026 (clients and carriers unnamed)

What this means for you

Get the requirement in writing before you buy. Owners on our calls often remember a limit wrong or describe the coverage the counterparty wanted in their own words. The clause or the requirements exhibit is the only reliable source, so send it to your broker first.
Ask whether the counterparty will accept less. Requirements are often a template. One owner on our calls was told "we require five million, but we’ll accept a million." Ask before you pay for a limit nobody will check.
Fix shortfalls with endorsements, not certificates. A missing additional insured, waiver or primary wording is added by endorsement to the policy. A certificate that claims coverage the policy lacks protects nobody and, in New York, is prohibited.
Budget for the endorsements. Some carriers include additional insured, waiver and primary wording in a blanket endorsement at no cost. Others charge per endorsement; one contractor on our calls had been paying $500 each for a waiver and for primary wording and $100 for an additional insured.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.