Vendor Insurance Requirements by Trade and Risk Tier

Vendor insurance requirements should match the physical and financial risk of the work performed on your premises. COIScreen organizes standard requirements into three built-in presets—Standard Commercial General Contractor (gc_standard, $2M/$4M GL), Low-Risk Janitorial / Landscaping (low_risk_services, $1M/$2M GL), and Retail Tenant (retail_tenant, $1M/$2M GL + $2M Umbrella)—and lets you check incoming ACORD 25 certificates for free against those benchmarks.

Why One-Size-Fits-All Insurance Rules Slow Down Operations

Setting identical insurance requirements for every vendor or tenant causes two predictable problems:

1. Under-protecting high-hazard work: Allowing a roofing, elevator, or structural plumbing contractor onto a commercial building with only $1,000,000 in General Liability and no CG 20 37 completed operations endorsement leaves the property owner exposed to multi-million-dollar water, fire, or structural claims months after the job ends.
2. Over-burdening low-hazard service vendors: Demanding $2,000,000 primary General Liability and CG 20 37 completed operations forms from a routine janitorial or landscaping crew creates avoidable exception requests.

According to guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), commercial coverage types and limits scale with operational hazards, payroll, vehicle usage, and contract obligations.

Standard 3-Preset Vendor & Tenant Insurance Matrix

Use these three built-in presets across commercial real estate, community associations, and construction projects:

Requirement Criteria	Preset 1: Standard Commercial General Contractor (gc_standard)	Preset 2: Low-Risk Janitorial / Landscaping (low_risk_services)	Preset 3: Retail Tenant (retail_tenant)
Typical Use Case	Plumbing, Electrical, Roofing, Structural, Elevator, Excavation, General Contracting	Janitorial, Landscaping, Day-Porter, Routine Grounds Maintenance	Commercial Retail Suites, Restaurant & Ground-Floor Leaseholders
GL Each Occurrence	$2,000,000 (active occurrence Umbrella stacks)	$1,000,000 (active occurrence Umbrella stacks)	$1,000,000 (active occurrence Umbrella stacks)
GL General Aggregate	$4,000,000	$2,000,000	$2,000,000
GL Products-Comp/Op Agg	$4,000,000	$2,000,000	$2,000,000
Auto Combined Single Limit	$1,000,000 (Any Auto)	$1,000,000 (Any Auto)	Not required by default
Umbrella / Excess	Optional (stacks toward GL/Auto/EL)	Optional (stacks toward GL/Auto/EL)	$2,000,000 Each Occurrence / $2,000,000 Aggregate
Workers' Compensation	Statutory Limits + $1,000,000 Employers' Liability	Statutory Limits + $500,000 Employers' Liability	Statutory Limits + $1,000,000 Employers' Liability
Additional Insured	GL & Auto (CG 20 10 ongoing + CG 20 37 completed ops; page required)	GL ongoing operations (ADDL INSD = Y)	GL ongoing operations (endorsement page required)
Primary & Non-Contributory	Required on GL	Optional	Required on GL
Waiver of Subrogation	Required on GL, Auto & WC	Required on GL	Required on GL & WC
W-9 Required	Yes	Yes	Optional

Worked Example: Assigning Presets Across Two Building Vendors

Suppose Harborview Property Management Inc. manages a mixed-use property owned by 123 Main Street Holdings LLC. They onboard two vendors in the same week:

1. Apex Plumbing LLC is contracted to replace pressurized domestic water lines across six floors. Because a pipe failure during or after installation could flood multiple commercial suites, Harborview Property Management Inc. assigns the Standard Commercial General Contractor (gc_standard) preset ($2,000,000 Each Occurrence / $4,000,000 General Aggregate, $1,000,000 Any Auto CSL, $1,000,000 Employers' Liability, CG 20 10 04 13 and CG 20 37 04 13 endorsement pages, Primary & Non-Contributory, Waiver of Subrogation on GL/Auto/WC, and W-9).
2. Metro HVAC Services Inc. is contracted for routine grounds and filter maintenance. Harborview Property Management Inc. assigns the Low-Risk Janitorial / Landscaping (low_risk_services) preset ($1,000,000 Each Occurrence / $2,000,000 General Aggregate, $1,000,000 Any Auto CSL, $500,000 Employers' Liability, GL Additional Insured, GL Waiver of Subrogation, and W-9).

In both contracts, the Certificate Holder and Additional Insured clause specifies:

"123 Main Street Holdings LLC (Owner) and Harborview Property Management Inc. (Managing Agent), and their respective officers, directors, members, and employees, shall be named as Additional Insureds on a Primary and Non-Contributory basis."

Extracting Custom Requirements From Existing Leases and Contracts

What if a commercial tenant lease or master subcontractor agreement specifies non-standard limits—such as $5,000,000 Umbrella Liability or $250,000 Damage to Rented Premises? Rather than typing custom rules manually, you can upload the signed lease or vendor contract PDF into COIScreen's lease and contract insurance requirement extractor to pull out exact limits with page citations and save them as a reusable template.

Screen Every Vendor Against the Right Benchmark

Whether you manage COI tracking for property management, HOA vendor insurance, or subcontractor COI tracking, COIScreen includes built-in presets for every trade tier. Grab our copyable contract clauses on the vendor insurance requirements template page or check an ACORD 25 certificate for free right now.