HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical & Roofing Contractors
The certificate requirements every GC assumes you already understand.
Certificates of insurance, additional insured endorsements, waivers of subrogation, and Florida's one-employee workers' comp rule — in plain terms, for artisan and roofing contractors.
If you work as a sub for general contractors or property managers, you already know the drill: no certificate of insurance, no job. What’s less obvious is exactly what that certificate needs to say — the right limits, the right endorsements, your name matching your license exactly — and how often that paperwork gets treated as a box to check once a year, until a GC’s insurance requirement changes mid-job or a claim exposes a gap nobody caught.
Florida also treats construction differently than almost any other industry when it comes to workers’ comp: one employee is enough to require it, not four. Between that rule and the certificate requirements built into most subcontracts, artisan and roofing contractors end up navigating more insurance paperwork than most trades realize going in — and getting it wrong can cost you a bid, not just a claim.
In plain terms
The seven terms that actually matter.
Certificate of Insurance (COI)
The document that proves your coverage is active — general contractors and property managers almost always require one before letting you on a job, and it usually needs to show specific limits, not just that a policy exists. Treating this as a formality you handle once a year is how a lapsed policy quietly costs you a job before anyone notices.
Additional Insured endorsement
When a general contractor or property owner asks to be added to your general liability policy, this is what they mean — it extends your coverage to protect them for claims arising out of your work on their project. It's a specific endorsement, not something that happens automatically just because you're on a job, and many contracts won't let you start work without it in hand.
Waiver of subrogation
After your insurer pays a claim, it normally has the right to go after whoever's at fault to recover that money — including the general contractor or property owner you were working for. A waiver of subrogation gives up that right in advance. More commercial contracts require it than they used to, and it's an endorsement that has to be added, not assumed.
Completed operations vs. faulty workmanship
General liability covers bodily injury or property damage that shows up after a job is finished — a light fixture you installed that causes a fire months later, for example. It does not cover the cost of redoing your own bad work. Contractors who think a GL policy protects them if a client simply isn't happy with the job are almost always wrong about what that policy actually does.
Florida's one-employee rule
Most Florida businesses only need workers' comp once they hit four employees. Construction is the exception — the threshold drops to just one. If you've got a single W-2 employee swinging a hammer, running conduit, or on a roof with you, Florida requires coverage, full stop. This is one of the most common gaps we find contractors don't realize applies to them.
Class codes & experience modifier
Workers' comp premium is driven by a classification code tied to the actual work being done, and an experience modifier that adjusts your rate based on your claims history. Two contractors with identical payroll can pay very different premiums if they're coded differently or carry different loss history — roofing in particular carries one of the highest-rated class codes in the book because of fall exposure.
Surplus lines placement
When a standard-market carrier won't write a particular trade — roofing is the clearest example, with many carriers excluding or heavily restricting it outright — the policy gets placed in the surplus lines market instead. It comes with different paperwork and a surplus lines tax, but it's a completely legitimate, common way to get a hard-to-place trade covered rather than going without.
This is general information, not legal advice — contract language and carrier appetite vary, and it’s worth confirming your own subcontract wording and trade classification with your agent before assuming how any of this applies to your business.