Certificates of insurance from vendors and contractors: a request letter, a tracking log and the Florida checks

The hood cleaner's technician slips on the roof. The plumber's helper cuts a hand under your dish sink. The linen service's driver backs into your patio rail. In each case the first question is whose insurance pays, and the answer usually depends on a piece of paper you were supposed to ask for before they started: their certificate of insurance.

This post gives you what to ask for and from whom, how to check a Florida contractor's license and workers' compensation in the state's own databases, a request letter, a renewal letter, and a log that tells you when a certificate is about to expire.

General information, not legal or insurance advice. What limits to ask for, and whether you need to be named on a vendor's policy, is a question for your own insurance agent and your lease: many leases and permits set requirements of their own. Florida rules are quoted from the state's own sources.

What a certificate is, and what it isn't

A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page summary an insurance agent issues to show that a business has a policy: the insurer, the policy numbers, the dates, the limits. Three things to know before you file it:

• It's a snapshot. A certificate shows the policy on the day it was issued. A policy can lapse or be cancelled afterwards, so check the dates and ask for a new one at renewal.
• Being the "certificate holder" isn't the same as being covered. If you want the vendor's liability policy to cover claims against you arising from their work, the policy itself needs an endorsement naming you (an "additional insured" endorsement). Ask for a copy of the endorsement, not only the certificate, and ask your agent whether you need it.
• Ask the agent, not the vendor. A certificate sent directly by the vendor's insurance agent or broker is harder to alter than a PDF forwarded by the vendor, and the agent's contact details are usually on it if you have a question.

What to ask for, by vendor type

Whether you need the auto policy, an umbrella, or particular limits depends on the job and your own policies: write down what your agent tells you in the "We require" lines of the letter below. Our restaurant insurance basics covers your side.

The Florida checks

Workers' compensation: who has to carry it. Florida's Division of Workers' Compensation sets two rules (DFS, Coverage Requirements):

• Construction industry: "Employers with one or more employees, including the owner of the business who are corporate officers or Limited Liability Company (LLC) members, must have workers' compensation coverage." The construction trades are listed in rule 69L-6.021 of the Florida Administrative Code.
• Non-construction industry: "Employers with four (4) or more employees", counted the same way, must have it. And "Non-construction industry Sole Proprietors or partners in a Partnership are not employees" unless they choose to be covered.

So a small construction company whose only workers are officers with exemptions may legally have no workers' comp policy at all. Ask for the exemption instead, and check it.

Checking coverage and exemptions. The Division's Proof of Coverage database "provides information regarding workers' compensation coverage and exemptions from workers' compensation", searchable by employer name, FEIN or policy number, and its Exemption search shows officer and member exemptions. Search the company name on the certificate, and check that the policy or exemption covers the dates of your job.

Checking a contractor's license. Use the DBPR's Verify a Licensee search. It matters for more than quality: under Florida law, "contracts entered into on or after October 1, 1990, by an unlicensed contractor shall be unenforceable in law or in equity by the unlicensed contractor", and an unlicensed contractor has no lien or bond claim for the work (§ 489.128, Florida Statutes). A local business tax receipt isn't a license for this purpose (§ 489.128(1)(b)).

Small jobs. The licensing part of Chapter 489 doesn't apply to "Any work or operation of a casual, minor, or inconsequential nature in which the aggregate contract price for labor, materials, and all other items is less than $2,500", but not when the job is part of a larger one split up to stay under the limit, and not to someone who advertises as a contractor (§ 489.103(9)). A handyman fixing a shelf may not need a license; a handyman advertising "licensed contractor" who isn't one is another matter.

Taxes. Get a W-9 from anyone you pay for services before the first payment; our W-2s, 1099s and January deadlines (coming Dec 25) post has the 1099 rules.

The request letter

Send it with the purchase order or the quote approval, before anyone is scheduled to start.

Subject: Certificate of insurance needed before work starts · [your business name]

Hello [name],

Thank you for [the quote / working with us]. Before [the work on (date) / your first delivery], please ask your insurance agent to send us a current certificate of insurance.

We require:

• Commercial general liability: [limits your agent advised]
• Workers' compensation: a current policy, or a copy of your Florida exemption [construction / non-construction], and the policy or exemption must cover [dates]
• Commercial auto: [limits], if your vehicles are on our property
• [Additional insured endorsement naming us, with a copy of the endorsement]

Certificate holder: [Legal business name] [Address]

Please also send [your contractor license number / your W-9].

Please have it sent to [email] by [date]. We're not able to schedule work until it's on file. If anything on your policy changes or is cancelled while you're working for us, please let us know.

Thank you, [Name] · [Title] · [Phone]

The renewal letter

Send it 30 days before the date on the log.

Subject: Updated certificate of insurance · [your business name]

Hello [name],

Our records show your [general liability / workers' compensation / auto] policy on file expires on [date]. Please ask your agent to send us the renewed certificate by [date], with the same certificate holder: [legal business name, address].

Thank you, [Name]

The checklist, per vendor

Vendor insurance check · [vendor name] · [service]

• [ ] Certificate received from the agent, dated [ ]
• [ ] Named insured matches the company on the contract and invoice: [name]
• [ ] Certificate holder is us, spelled correctly
• [ ] General liability: limits [ ], dates [ ] to [ ]
• [ ] Workers' comp: policy [ ] dates [ ], or exemption [number] checked in the DFS search on [date]
• [ ] Auto (if needed): limits [ ], dates [ ]
• [ ] Additional insured endorsement (if required): copy received
• [ ] License checked on DBPR (if a contractor): [license number], active on [date]
• [ ] W-9 received
• [ ] Our procedures shared (e.g. lockout/tagout, keys, kitchen hours)

Checked by: [name] · Date: [date]

Service technicians who work on equipment that can start up or release energy should tell you how they lock it out, and you tell them how you do; our lockout/tagout post has the rule for outside personnel.

The tracking log

One row per policy, sorted by the earliest expiry date. Check it on the first of each month.

Certificates of insurance log · [location]

Rule: no work on site with an expired certificate. Exceptions approved by: …………………

Your certificate of insurance checklist

• [ ] What you require written down, from your agent and your lease
• [ ] A request letter sent with every new contract or service
• [ ] Certificates come from the agent, not the vendor
• [ ] Workers' comp or the exemption checked in the DFS search
• [ ] Contractor licenses checked on DBPR
• [ ] Every policy on the log with its expiry date
• [ ] Renewal letters 30 days ahead
• [ ] No certificate, no work

Where Mays fits

• Vendors in one list. Your suppliers are under Inventory → Vendors, with their contact, phone, email and each location's rep, so the request letter goes to the right person. See Vendors and vendor catalogs.
• The certificates in one folder. Upload each certificate PDF to a Knowledge Base folder such as Vendor insurance. A new top-level folder starts Private (you and your admins), so share it only with the managers who need it. See Your knowledge base and Who can see what in the knowledge base.
• A reminder on the right day. In the app, create a one-off task such as Request renewed COI from [vendor] with its Due Date set 30 days before the expiry; it appears on the list for that date. See Creating one-off tasks.

What Mays doesn't do: vendors have no insurance fields, document slots or expiry dates, and nothing warns you when a certificate lapses or blocks an invoice from a vendor whose certificate has expired. The tracking log and the reminder tasks are how you cover that.

No certificate, no work: ask first, check the state's databases, track the dates

A certificate takes the vendor's agent a few minutes to send, and it's only useful if it arrives before the work starts. Ask for it with the quote, check Florida's coverage and license databases yourself, and keep one log with every expiry date on it.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your vendors and document folders with you.