Certificates of insurance for cleaning companies: COIs, AI and waivers

What a certificate of insurance proves for a cleaning business

A COI tells a property manager that your policies exist. It shows who wrote them, when they run and what the limits are. For most commercial cleaning contracts, the form is the ACORD 25, the certificate of liability insurance.

The form says so itself, in capital letters at the top. It exists to inform, not to grant the holder any rights. It doesn't amend, extend or alter the coverage in the policies it lists.

The box just below goes further. When the holder is listed as an additional insured, your policy needs built-in AI wording or an endorsement to back that up. A subrogation waiver may need its own endorsement too.

Some states put this into law. In Texas, an insurer or agent can't issue a COI that changes a policy's coverage or terms. A COI there can't give the holder a contract right, either. That rule took effect September 1, 2011. Texas also bars a COI form the state insurance department hasn't approved, though standard ACORD forms count as approved once they're filed.

New York's Insurance Law also says a COI can't change coverage. It bars a client from demanding certificate wording the policy itself doesn't include. New York cleaning contractors see this with office and school accounts.

So if a client wants wording your policy doesn't back up, the fix is an endorsement. A better-worded COI won't do it. For how these laws apply to your contract, ask your state insurance department or an attorney.

The parts of an ACORD 25 a facility manager checks

• Insured: your company's legal name. It should match the name that signs the cleaning contract, down to the "LLC."
• Policy lines: each policy (general liability, auto, umbrella, workers' comp) with its insurer and policy number, plus its dates and limits. The newest edition, ACORD 25 (2025/12), adds a note that the limits shown may be only the amounts the holder asked for, not your full policy limits. Georgia has its own version, the ACORD 25 GA (2026/09), which leaves that note out after the state's insurance office objected to it.
• ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD columns: a "Y" in these thin columns reports AI status or a waived subrogation right on that line.
• Description of operations: the building, the contract and the names to be covered. Notes like "primary and non-contributory" go here.
• Certificate holder: the client, at the exact address they give you.
• Cancellation box: on recent editions, notice goes out under the policy's own terms. It doesn't promise the holder a set number of days.

Additional insured on a certificate: blanket vs. scheduled

Additional insured (AI) status puts your client under your general liability policy. It applies to claims tied to your work in their building. Picture a tenant who slips on a floor your night crew just scrubbed. She sues the building owner.

With AI status, the owner may get a defense under your policy, not just its own. The endorsement creates that right. A "Y" on the COI only reports it.

On ISO's 04 13 and later forms, AI coverage has limits. It generally responds only when your acts, or your crew's, caused the harm in whole or in part. It's also no broader than your contract requires.

So it won't usually help the owner with a loose stair rail your crew never touched. Read more on the general liability policy these endorsements attach to.

Scheduled additional insured

A scheduled endorsement lists each client by name. Two common ISO forms do this. CG 20 26, Additional Insured – Designated Person or Organization, covers the people or groups you list. CG 20 10, Additional Insured – Owners, Lessees or Contractors – Scheduled Person or Organization, covers the clients you list for your ongoing work.

Names are precise, but each new building or name change means another endorsement request.

Blanket additional insured

A blanket endorsement covers anyone you've agreed in writing to add. It doesn't list names. That helps when you pick up a new office building every month. But read the trigger. CG 20 33 is a common ISO blanket form. Its title points to a "construction agreement with you." It also tends to reach only parties that signed a contract with you directly.

A nightly cleaning contract isn't a construction job. And the management company may sign your contract while the exhibit also names the owner. Ask whether your blanket wording fits a service contract and reaches every name on the list. If it doesn't, a scheduled endorsement for that account may be the simpler fix.

Ongoing vs. completed operations

CG 20 10 covers your ongoing work, while your crew is on site. CG 20 37 adds the client for completed work, after the job is done.

For routine nightly cleaning, ongoing work is usually what matters. Post-construction cleanup contracts and some public buyers may ask for completed work too. Check the exhibit.

Example scenario: At 7:40 a.m., a day porter wipes up spilled coffee in a medical office lobby and sets out a sign. Twenty minutes later a visitor falls near the elevators and sues both the building owner and the management company. Your blanket endorsement may reach only the management company, since it signed your contract. Whether the owner gets a defense under your policy can come down to that wording.

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Primary and non-contributory wording (CG 20 01)

"Primary and non-contributory" means your policy pays first for the AI. The client's own insurer stays out of it. Without it, the "other insurance" rules in two policies can leave two insurers sorting out who pays. CG 20 01 is the ISO endorsement for this. It makes your policy primary and non-contributory for an AI when a written contract calls for it and the AI is a named insured on the other policy.

Property managers want a slip in a lobby your crew mopped to land on your policy first, not theirs. School districts and other public buyers often ask for the same thing. If the exhibit says "primary and non-contributory" and your policy has no matching endorsement, no COI can close that gap.

Waiver of subrogation: CG 24 04 and the workers' comp version

Subrogation is your insurer's right to collect from someone else after it pays a claim for you. A waiver of subrogation gives up that right against a named party. Your insurer then won't go after your client to get its money back.

For a liability policy, ISO's waiver form is CG 24 04. Its title is Waiver of Transfer of Rights of Recovery Against Others to Us, and the 12 19 edition adds "(Waiver of Subrogation)" to the title.

For a cleaning company, the request that often matters most is on workers' comp. Picture a crew member who trips on a torn entry mat in a client's building. Your comp carrier pays the claim. Then it may try to recover from the building owner. A waiver stops that.

NCCI's form is WC 00 03 13, Waiver of Our Right to Recover From Others Endorsement. Its standard wording can limit the waiver to work you do under a written contract that requires it.

Insurers may charge for it. Some offer a blanket version that covers every contract that requires one.

See workers' comp for cleaning companies for how the policy itself works.

Two cautions. A waiver doesn't make the client an AI. Those are separate requests. And the standard comp policy says you'll do everything necessary to protect the insurer's right to recover, so a contract that promises a waiver can clash with that duty unless the endorsement is on. Get it in place before the first shift.

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Umbrella follow-form plus the auto and comp lines on a certificate

When an exhibit asks for more than $1 million, an umbrella is the usual way to get there. A "follow form" umbrella or excess policy follows the policy beneath it for most of its terms, though it may keep some exclusions and conditions of its own.

Exhibits ask for this so the client's AI status and waiver carry up into the higher layer. Ask whether your umbrella policy picks up AIs on its own or needs its own wording.

The other lines on the COI work the same way:

• Auto. If your crews drive company vans between buildings, the exhibit may want the client named on your commercial auto policy too.
• Workers' comp. The COI shows state-set limits and employer's liability limits. It also asks if any owner, partner or officer is left off the policy. A "Y" there gets explained in the description box.

Verdict on certificates, additional insured and waivers

A certificate of insurance for a cleaning business is the last step, not the first. The real work is matching the exhibit to your policies.

Put the right names on the right endorsements. Use wording that fits a service contract. Make sure the umbrella follows form, and carry the bond amount the client wants. Do that when you bid, and the COI becomes a quick request, not a delay to your start date.