Every sub’s COI verified before they hit the site.
Ella reads every Certificate of Insurance the moment it lands in your inbox — extracts coverage, limits, expiry, and additional insureds — and flags any sub whose policy is expired, under-limit, or missing endorsements before they step on site.
Why manual COI tracking fails
Every GC starts a project with the same plan: collect a Certificate of Insurance from every sub before they mobilize, file it in a folder, and renew it before it expires. By the third month of a busy job, the plan is breaking. New subs start work before their COI is reviewed. Renewal dates slip past with nobody noticing. The COI tracker spreadsheet has three versions floating around. And somewhere, a sub is working on the project right now with a policy that lapsed last week.
The cost of getting this wrong is real. An injury claim, property damage, or third-party suit that should have been covered by the sub’s insurance instead lands on the GC’s policy — driving premiums up, deductibles forward, and your Experience Modification Rate higher for years. Insurance carriers and bonding companies actively audit COI discipline, and gaps show up in your underwriting.
The work that needs to happen — reading every COI, validating every field, tracking every expiry, matching every sub to every project — is doable for any one COI. Across 20–40 subs on 3–5 active projects, it’s impossible to do well by hand. Ella does it automatically.
Six checks on every certificate, automatic
Ella reads the ACORD 25 form (or any other COI format) and runs every check your underwriter would run — every time, without anyone remembering to look.
Coverage type
GL, workers' comp, auto, umbrella, and any project-specific policies required by your subcontract.
Limits per policy
Per-occurrence and aggregate limits validated against your subcontract requirements — flags insufficient limits before the sub is approved.
Effective and expiry dates
Active-policy check on every COI received. Expiry alerts at 30, 14, and 3 days before lapse.
Additional insureds
Validates the GC (and owner where required) are named on a primary, non-contributory basis.
Waiver of subrogation
Confirms the WOS endorsement is in place where the subcontract requires it.
Carrier rating
Flags COIs from non-admitted or low-rated carriers (typically A.M. Best B+ or below).
Four COI gaps Ella catches before they cost you
Every one of these is the kind of compliance gap that’s routine in construction — and routinely missed.
The COI that expired last Tuesday
Your electrical sub's general liability policy expired four days ago. Their crew is on site this morning. Without Ella, this gets caught when an accountant pulls the COI tracker at month-end. With Ella, you got a renewal request 30 days ago, a reminder 14 days ago, and a payment hold the moment the policy expired.
The sub with the wrong limits
Your subcontract requires $2M/$4M GL for excavation trades. The sub's COI shows $1M/$2M. Manually scanning every COI for limit compliance is impossible across 20+ subs. Ella reads the subcontract once and flags every COI that doesn't meet the required limits — before the sub is approved on the project.
The COI without additional insureds
A new sub's COI looks clean — current dates, right limits, real carrier. But the additional insureds section is blank. The sub's agent forgot to add the endorsement, or worse, the endorsement was never issued. Ella flags it before the sub starts work.
The COI from a non-admitted carrier
A small sub provides a COI from a surplus-lines carrier with no A.M. Best rating you recognize. Probably fine — but worth a second look. Ella surfaces the carrier rating in the flag and lets your team decide.
How Kiron tracks COIs
Reads every COI as it arrives
COIs from agents, brokers, or subs land in your project inbox. Ella reads each one — extracting carrier, policy numbers, limits, dates, and additional insureds.
Validates against subcontract requirements
Ella reads your subcontract template once and knows what each sub needs. Every incoming COI is checked against the right requirements — and flagged if anything doesn't match.
Tracks expiry, holds payments on lapse
Renewal alerts at 30, 14, and 3 days. After expiry, sub invoices are held automatically until a renewed COI is on file. No more uninsured work paid in error.
COI tracking questions, answered
What is a Certificate of Insurance (COI)?
A Certificate of Insurance is a one-page document — almost always issued on ACORD form 25 — that summarizes an insured party's active insurance policies. In construction, every subcontractor on a project must provide a current COI to their general contractor showing active general liability, workers' compensation, and (where applicable) commercial auto coverage. The COI lists the insurer, policy numbers, coverage limits, effective and expiration dates, and any additional insureds named on the policies. Full breakdown of every COI field at /learn/certificate-of-insurance.
Why does COI tracking matter for a GC?
If a subcontractor performs work on your project with lapsed or insufficient insurance, your insurance is exposed. An on-site injury claim, property damage, or third-party suit can fall back on the GC's policy — driving up your premiums, deductibles, and Experience Modification Rate for years. COI tracking is the discipline of making sure every sub working on every project has current, valid coverage with the right limits and additional-insured endorsements. Manual tracking via spreadsheets fails — Kiron automates it.
What does Ella check on every COI?
Ella reads every Certificate of Insurance the moment it lands in your project inbox and extracts: insurance carrier, policy numbers (GL, WC, auto, umbrella), coverage limits per policy, effective and expiration dates, additional insureds listed, waiver of subrogation endorsements, and any project-specific endorsements. She then matches the COI against your project's insurance requirements and the subcontractor it should cover — flagging missing coverage, insufficient limits, expired dates, missing additional insureds, or wrong policy types.
How does Ella handle COI expiration tracking?
Ella tracks the expiration date on every active COI and alerts your team before a policy lapses — by default at 30, 14, and 3 days before expiry. The expiring sub appears in your review queue automatically with a renewal request ready to send. After expiration, any incoming invoice from that sub is held until a renewed COI is on file.
What insurance limits are typical for a construction subcontractor COI?
Most U.S. construction contracts require subs to carry: general liability of $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate (commonly raised to $2M/$4M for higher-risk trades), workers' compensation per statutory requirements with employer's liability at $500K–$1M, and commercial auto at $1M combined single limit. Excess/umbrella coverage of $1M–$5M is required on larger or higher-risk projects. The exact limits are set in your subcontract — Kiron reads your subcontract template once and validates every incoming COI against those required limits.
What is an additional insured endorsement and why does Kiron check for it?
An additional insured endorsement extends the subcontractor's general liability coverage to also protect the GC for claims arising from the sub's work. Without this endorsement, a claim against the GC for the sub's negligence might not be covered. Most construction contracts require the sub to name the GC (and often the owner) as additional insureds on a primary and non-contributory basis. Kiron validates that every COI lists the right additional insureds in the right format — and flags COIs that show "per written contract" without the underlying endorsement documents attached.
How does Kiron handle subs working on multiple projects?
Subs that work on more than one of your projects only need one COI per active policy period — but the additional insureds list must match every project they're billing on. Ella tracks the policy across projects, validates the additional insureds list for each project the sub is invoicing, and flags any project where the sub appears on the cost ledger but isn't named on the COI.
Does Kiron integrate with insurance carriers or COI vendors?
Today Kiron reads COIs from the email inbox you connect — which is how most COIs already arrive (from the sub's agent or directly from the sub). Direct API integrations with insurance carriers and dedicated COI vendors (CertFocus, MyCOI, EBix, JDi) are on the roadmap. The email-based intake covers the same documents because that's where the COI already flows.
See Ella catch a lapsed COI on your project
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