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How to Track Subcontractor Insurance Certificates (COIs)

By Ajay Suryawanshi · November 6, 2026 · 6 min read

To track a subcontractor’s certificate of insurance, record each policy on it as its own item with its own end date, set reminders that fire before that date, and re-collect a fresh certificate before any policy ends. Tracking the certificate as one document is the common mistake, because the policies printed on it almost never end on the same day.

This guide covers what a certificate contains, what to ask a sub for before they start, what to write down, how often to re-collect, who should own the job, and a simple system you can run in a spreadsheet or in ContractorLicenseAlert.

What is on a certificate of insurance?

A certificate of insurance (COI) is a summary, usually produced by the sub’s insurance broker, listing the policies the sub holds on the date it was issued. It is a snapshot. It tells you what was in force that day, not what will still be in force three months into your job. For the tracking, these are the parts that matter:

The insured: the subcontractor’s legal business name, which should match your subcontract.
Each policy type, such as general liability, workers’ compensation, auto or umbrella, with its own insurer and policy number.
The policy period for each one, printed as an effective date and an expiration date.
The limits for each policy.
The certificate holder: who the certificate was issued to, which should be you.
The description of operations, where additional-insured wording often appears.

What should you collect from a sub before they start?

Decide the requirement before you ask. Your subcontract, and your own insurance advisor or attorney, set which policies and limits you require, so this guide does not. What a tracking system needs is a checklist you can apply the same way to every sub:

A certificate dated recently enough that every required policy is shown as in force on the start date.
Every policy type your contract requires, each visible on the certificate.
Limits at or above what the contract states.
Your company named as certificate holder, and any additional-insured or endorsement documents the contract asks for.
A legal name on the certificate that matches the name on the subcontract.

What should you record for each policy?

Record one line per policy, not one line per certificate. A sub with three policies on one page is three lines, because they will renew on three different days. Whatever tool you use, capture the same few things:

The subcontractor, and the job or jobs they are on.
The policy type, insurer and policy number.
The end date, which is the one that drives everything else.
The limits, so a renewal can be compared with the last one.
The certificate file itself, stored with the policy.

How do you know a policy lapsed mid-job?

There are two different events here. The first is a policy reaching the end date printed on the certificate. That one is fully predictable, and a countdown catches it. The second is a policy being cancelled or not renewed before the printed date. A certificate cannot tell you about that, because it was accurate the day it was issued.

For the first, date tracking is the whole answer. For the second, no spreadsheet or app knows what an insurer did. Ask the sub’s broker, and your own advisor, how and whether you would be told about a cancellation, and do not assume a certificate holder is notified automatically. Tracking dates reduces the risk. It does not insure it away.

How often should you re-collect a certificate?

Collect a fresh one at the start of every job, even from a sub you have used before. After that, re-collect whenever a policy end date falls inside the job. Here is an illustrative example. A sub starts on February 1 on a job that runs to August. Their general liability ends March 15 and their workers’ compensation ends July 1. That job has two renewal points, and a certificate collected in February is out of date for both.

For subs you use year-round, treat each policy’s end date as the trigger rather than the calendar. Ask for the renewed certificate before the old policy ends, not after you notice it did.

Who should own subcontractor insurance?

Give each subcontractor one named owner, and a backup. The project manager who brought the sub on is often the right person to ask for the certificate, because they have the relationship. The office is often the right place for the records, because it outlasts any one job. The failure to avoid is two people each assuming the other one collected it. Write the owner next to the sub’s record, the same way you would assign one of your own licenses.

A simple system, step by step

Step 1: List every sub who is on a job or could be, with the contact who actually deals with insurance.
Step 2: Collect a certificate before the first day and check it against the checklist above.
Step 3: Enter one record per policy, with the end date and the certificate attached.
Step 4: Set a reminder for each policy that fires early enough to get a renewal collected before the date.
Step 5: When a reminder fires, ask the sub for the renewed certificate, check it, and update the end date.
Step 6: Once a month, sort by end date and chase anything coming up that nobody has asked about.

How does ContractorLicenseAlert handle this?

Upload a sub’s certificate and every policy on it is read separately, each with its own number, insurer and end date. You check the reading against the document, then save one policy or all of them as separate records in one click. Nothing is saved until you confirm, and a date that cannot be read is left blank rather than guessed. Subs go in your People directory and do not need an account.

Reminders count down to the date you need to start renewing, which for general liability and workers’ compensation defaults to 30 days before the policy ends. They go to the sub who holds the policy and to whoever on your team chases it, and an overdue item gets an overdue subject line. To collect the renewal, send the sub an upload link valid for one week, two weeks, 30 or 60 days. They send the document without signing up, and it waits for your review. The product tracks dates. It does not verify coverage with any insurer.