Working with this agency
Certificates of insurance
Usually within the hour during office hours. What we will not do is describe cover on a certificate that is not on the policy, however urgently the general contractor wants it — and that refusal is protecting you rather than inconveniencing you.
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary showing what policies were in force on the day it was issued. Landlords, general contractors, customers and municipalities all ask for them, and for a working Queens business they are a weekly if not daily requirement.
The thing almost nobody is told is what a certificate legally is. It is evidence. It confers no rights on the person holding it, it creates no coverage, and it does not amend the policy in any way. The form says so on its face, in the paragraph nobody reads.
What a certificate does and does not do
It tells the holder that on the date of issue you had certain policies with certain limits. That is genuinely useful — it is how a general contractor knows you are insured at all — and it is the whole of what it does.
It does not make the holder an additional insured. It does not create a waiver of subrogation. It does not guarantee the policy will still be in force tomorrow, and the notice-of-cancellation language many contracts demand is generally not something a certificate can actually deliver, because the obligation to give notice comes from the policy rather than from the certificate.
So if your contract requires additional insured status, that requires an endorsement added to your policy — with a form number, usually with a premium, and requiring the carrier's agreement. The certificate then reports that the endorsement exists. In that order, and only in that order.
Why we will not simply type it on
Because it would be false, and because it would leave you exposed in the precise situation you were trying to cover. Picture the sequence: the general contractor accepts the certificate, an accident happens, they tender the claim to your carrier as an additional insured, and the carrier finds no endorsement on the policy. The tender is refused. The general contractor then comes to you under the indemnity clause you signed, personally, with no insurance behind it.
You would have been better off if we had refused on the Friday afternoon and you had spent two hundred dollars on the endorsement. So that is what we do, and we explain it rather than simply saying no. In practice a carrier can usually add the endorsement the same day.
Reading the requirements schedule properly
Contracts specify more than limits. Common requirements include additional insured status for both ongoing and completed operations on named form numbers, primary and non-contributory wording, a waiver of subrogation, umbrella limits that follow the same additional insured status, and sometimes a specific carrier rating.
That last one is worth flagging: some contracts require a carrier with a stated financial rating. We do not display rating letters on this website, for reasons set out on our credentials page, but where your contract requires one we will of course confirm that the carrier meets it — the objection is to borrowing a rating as marketing, not to using it as a contractual fact.
Send us the schedule before you sign the contract. Almost every expensive certificate problem we see started with a subcontract signed in March and read in June.
How to get one from us
Telephone or email with the holder's exact legal name and address, what the contract requires, and when it is needed. If additional insured status is required and the endorsement is already on your policy, the certificate is usually with you inside the hour. If the endorsement has to be added first, we tell you immediately what it costs and how quickly the carrier can do it.
There is no charge and no limit on how many you need. If you hold a standing arrangement with a landlord or a general contractor, we will diary the renewal so the replacement certificate goes out before yours expires rather than after somebody chases you for it.
A certificate reports cover; it does not create any. A certificate of insurance is evidence, not cover. It is a snapshot of what was in force on the day it printed, it confers no rights on the person holding it, and it does not amend the policy. If your contract needs somebody named as an additional insured, or needs a waiver of subrogation, that comes from an endorsement on the policy — which costs something, has to be requested, and is the only thing that actually changes what is covered. We will not issue a certificate describing cover that has not been endorsed, however urgently the general contractor wants it.
Included as standard
How we handle this line
Usually within the hour
During office hours, for any policy placed here, with no charge and no limit on the number.
The endorsement checked before printing
Every time, including at half past four on a Friday. The check is the service; the certificate is just paper.
The requirements schedule read
Before you sign, so compliance is priced rather than discovered. Most expensive certificate problems start with an unread subcontract.
Renewal certificates sent automatically
Diarised for standing holders, so the replacement arrives before expiry rather than after a chase.
Endorsement costs quoted immediately
If additional insured or a waiver is needed and not in place, you get the price and the timing in the same reply.
Nothing described that does not exist
A certificate reporting cover you do not have is worse than no certificate, because you will rely on it.
When to ring us
Signs this is worth a conversation
- A general contractor has asked for something your policy does not currently do.
- Your certificate names an additional insured you never paid an endorsement for.
- You have signed a subcontract without pricing its insurance schedule.
- You are asked for primary and non-contributory wording and do not know if you have it.
- Your standing certificate is about to expire and nobody has sent a replacement.
- A contract requires an umbrella that follows additional insured status.
Certificates — what this costs you
- Unlimited, for policies placed here. An additional insured or waiver of subrogation endorsement is a policy change and carries the carrier's own charge.No charge
This one is our own charge, and it is nothing. We are paid a commission by the carrier whose policy you buy; we charge no broker fee and no policy fee, and we take no fee for claims work or for certificates — which is also what keeps this agency on the correct side of the New York public adjuster licensing line. Ask what we are paid on your policy and you will get the percentage and the carrier in writing.
Questions we are actually asked
Certificates — frequently asked
How fast can I get a certificate of insurance?
Usually within the hour during office hours, for policies placed here, at no charge. If the contract requires an endorsement that is not yet on your policy, we will tell you immediately what it costs and how quickly the carrier can add it — and the certificate follows once it is actually there.
Does a certificate mean the holder is covered?
No. A certificate is evidence of what was in force on the day it printed. It confers no rights on the holder and does not amend the policy — the form says so on its face. Additional insured status comes only from an endorsement on the policy itself.
Why won't you just write it on the certificate?
Because it would be false and it would leave you personally exposed. If the holder relies on it, tenders a claim and the carrier finds no endorsement, the tender is refused and the holder comes to you under your indemnity with no insurance behind it. Refusing on Friday is cheaper for you than that.
Do you charge for certificates?
No, and there is no limit. An additional insured or waiver of subrogation endorsement is a policy change and carries the carrier's own charge, which we will quote before requesting it — but the certificate itself is free.
Related cover
Usually considered alongside this
General liability
The policy every landlord and every general contractor asks you for, priced off your receipts and your trade rather than your luck.
$600 – $2,400
Contractors insurance
Liability, tools, the vehicle and the certificate the general contractor wants by Friday — plus New York Labour Law 240, which changes the arithmetic entirely.
$1,800 – $9,500
Business insurance
The businessowners policy that covers most small Queens businesses properly, and the four risks it is famous for leaving out.
$800 – $2,800
Commercial umbrella
The extra layer that contracts increasingly demand, sitting above your liability, your auto and usually your employers liability.
$900 – $4,500Bring the declarations page and we will read it with you
Ask us what it would cost
Send or bring the summary pages of what you already have — those two sheets are where most of the useful conversation is. We will tell you what we would place it with and what that would cost, what we are paid for doing it, and whether you should move at all. Quite often the answer is that your current policy is priced fairly and you should keep it, and that is an answer we give in writing like any other.