Remodelers and home builders

COI tracking for remodelers and home builders

A remodeler might have a framer, an electrician, a plumber, a drywall crew, a painter, and a floor installer in one house in one month. A small home builder repeats that cast across a handful of lots. Each trade emailed a certificate at some point, often to whoever was the superintendent that week. The homeowner's insurer, or the construction lender, does not care which inbox it landed in. They care whether the policy was in force while the work was happening.

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One house, many expirations

Collect general liability and workers' compensation from every trade that brings workers who are not on your payroll. Auto belongs in the file when they park a truck in the driveway or the street. Umbrella shows up for roofing and sometimes for the framer if your contract flowed a higher limit down. A painter who is truly a sole proprietor with no employees may give you an exemption instead of workers' compensation. Store that exemption with an end date. Do not treat it as permanent.

Your own firm's certificate is what you hand the homeowner or the lender. Keep it on the company record with your policy expiration. It is not a substitute for the electrician's certificate. If a claim story starts with who was on the ladder, you will want the electrician's file, not a second copy of your own.

Supers change. The dates should not live in their phone.

Remodel supers and builder supers turn over. A text message with a PDF attached leaves when they leave. The board stays with the company. Each trade is a party. Each coverage line is a document. Reminders at 30, 14, and 7 days go to the email on the party, which can be the trade's office rather than the lead carpenter. The update link does not require them to remember your new superintendent's address.

Review matters on remodels because homeowners forward certificates too. A file that arrives from the homeowner might be an old certificate the painter sent them directly, naming nobody. Look at the certificate holder and the dates before you accept it. The review queue is that look. It is not automatic approval.

Add the trade once and reuse them on the next house.
Do not make a new party for every lot unless the legal name changes.
Record workers' compensation exemptions with an end date.
Keep your firm's certificate separate from the trades' certificates.

Plans for a small builder's office

A design-build remodeler with a stable trade list often fits Starter, 25 parties and 3 seats. A builder with several supers and a wider trade list is usually Pro, 100 parties and 10 seats. Business is there if you are past that, at 300 parties and 25 seats. Annual billing costs ten months of the monthly rate. The label on the pricing page is two months free. Limits do not shrink or grow because you paid yearly.

The 7-day trial is for first-time subscribers only. The product will not tell you if a trade's limit meets the lender's minimum. Compare the certificate to the requirement with the checklist, and call your broker if the additional insured wording is part of the loan or the client contract. What you get here is a date that someone will still see after the superintendent's phone is gone.

Questions

Should each house be a workspace?

No. One workspace for the company. Trades repeat. A workspace per house would duplicate the same electrician six times and you would miss that their policy expired between lot 4 and lot 5.

The homeowner hired the painter directly. Do I track them?

Only if you are responsible for their insurance under your contract. If they are the owner's separate contractor, say so in your file and do not pretend their certificate is in your control. If you coordinated them, collect the certificate anyway so the question has an answer.

We are a custom builder with two office people. Which plan?

Count parties, not employees. If the trade list is under 25 companies, Starter's 3 seats is enough for two office people and one super. Move to Pro when the list or the seat count no longer fits.