COI tracking for HVAC contractors

Your certificate versus the people you hire

The certificate you send upstream is your firm's policy: general liability, workers' compensation, and auto for the vans, often with an umbrella because the mechanical specification asks for higher limits. That document is usually produced by your broker when the GC's portal emails you. It is not the same PDF as the one you should be collecting from the crane company. If both files share a folder called Insurance, the office manager will attach the wrong one on a Friday.

Downstream, the expiry that matters is the policy date on the sub's form. A controls contractor who wired the last school job in August may still be in your contacts when their liability policy ended in October. The next bid that includes them should not assume the old file is current. Put them on the board as a party even if you only use them a few times a year.

Service agreements and the van fleet

Commercial service contracts often require you to keep insurance in force for the whole term, not just at signing. A twelve-month maintenance agreement signed in January still needs a fresh certificate when your policy renews in July. The reminder window is how that renewal gets requested before the property manager notices. Default reminders are 30, 14, and 7 days before the date you typed from the form.

Automobile liability belongs on its own line. The vans are how technicians reach the job, and a GC who asks for auto will not accept a certificate that only shows general liability. Workers' compensation belongs on its own line too, including any exemption you have decided to accept from a one-person insulator. An exemption is not a policy. Give it an end date so it gets looked at again.

• Keep the certificate you send to GCs separate from certificates you collect from subs.
• Record auto for any partner who drives to the site, not only the shop's own fleet.
• Ask for the renewal through an update link so the new PDF lands in Review.
• Do not treat a broker's email time stamp as the expiration.

Limits that match the shop, not a fictional headcount

A residential replacement shop with a short list of crane and insulation partners often fits Starter: 25 parties and 3 seats. A commercial mechanical contractor with a rotating list of sheet-metal, controls, and balancing firms is usually on Pro: 100 parties and 10 seats. Business is 300 parties and 25 seats when several project managers share the board. Annual billing is the monthly price times ten, shown as two months free, with the same limits. The 7-day trial is for first-time subscribers only.

License and continuing-education dates for your own technicians are a different page. This one is the certificate file. If you also need EPA section 608 cards and state mechanical licenses on the same board, the HVAC technician page describes that employee-license setup. The tracker does not interpret coverage forms. If a specification demands a particular additional-insured endorsement, use the checklist and confirm it with your broker.