Comparison
Pikorua Security vs. Your Broker's Certificate Desk
Many contractors and property managers ask their own insurance broker to collect and log subcontractor certificates. The broker's service team knows insurance, but it does not hold your subcontracts, your payment system or your jobsite access, and routine logging usually stops at the certificate. Pikorua Security verifies every endorsement against your contract exhibit and enforces the result in your own systems, while your broker keeps advising you on coverage.
Scorecard
13 verification and enforcement checks, scored from the table below.
Broker certificate desk
2 / 13 built in
2 yes, 9 partial, 2 no
Time per packet: About 20 minutes of your team's time per packet, plus the desk's turnaround.
Pikorua Security
13 / 13 built in
13 yes, 0 partial, 0 no
Time per packet: About 15 seconds to read, then about 3 minutes of human sign-off on flagged results.
Capability by capability
Broker certificate desk and Pikorua Security, row by row.
15 capabilities, side by side
- Yes, built in
- Partial or manual
- No
| Capability | Broker certificate desk | Pikorua Security |
|---|---|---|
| Reads ACORD 25 and ACORD 28 fields | Yes. The service team logs certificate fields, usually in the brokerage's own system. | Yes. Limits by line, policy numbers, dates, insurers and certificate holder, extracted in about 15 seconds. |
| Reads attached endorsement pages | Partial. Depends on the service agreement; routine logging usually covers the certificate, not each endorsement. | Yes. Deep OCR on every attached form, with the form number and edition read from the page footer. |
| Validates ISO edition dates | Partial. An experienced account manager will spot an old edition when asked to look at a vendor. | Yes. Compares 11 85, 10 01, 07 04 and 04 13 editions with the edition your exhibit allows. |
| Detects missing CG 20 37 completed operations | Partial. Checked when you ask about a specific vendor, not across every file. | Yes. Requires CG 20 37 or equivalent completed operations wording whenever the exhibit calls for it. |
| Flags limiting exclusions (CG 21 39, CG 22 94, CG 21 44) | Partial. Possible on request; pulling forms schedules for every vendor is outside most service agreements. | Yes. Flags CG 21 39, CG 24 26, CG 22 94 and CG 21 44 wherever they appear in the packet. |
| Verifies waivers of subrogation (CG 24 04, WC 00 03 13, CA 04 44) | Partial. Logged from the certificate checkbox unless the endorsement is reviewed. | Yes. Checks the form and the party it names on general liability, auto and workers compensation. |
| Confirms primary and non-contributory wording (CG 20 01) | Partial. Same as waivers: verified when someone asks. | Yes. Verifies CG 20 01 or equivalent wording against the tier the vendor's contract requires. |
| AM Best rating check (A- VII or better) | Yes. Brokers have direct access to carrier ratings. | Yes. Checks Financial Strength Rating and Financial Size Category on every packet. |
| Chases the vendor and its retail insurance agent | Partial. The desk contacts the vendor's agent; your PM still chases the vendor and decides on holds. | Yes. One deficiency checklist to the vendor and its agent, with a zero-login upload link. |
| Renewal cadence | Partial. Expiration reminders, on the desk's schedule and staffing. | Yes. 60, 30, 15 and 0 days before expiration, automatically. |
| Payment holds in Procore, CMiC, Yardi or AppFolio | No. Your broker has no access to payments in Procore, CMiC, Yardi or AppFolio. | Yes. Places and releases holds through the connector as documents fail or verify. |
| Jobsite and building access control | No. Site and building access stay with your team. | Yes. Locks Openpath or Brivo badges for deficient vendors on Enterprise. |
| Audit trail for tender defense | Partial. Records live in the broker's system and are exported on request. | Yes. Time-stamped verification log, every document version and the exhibit, exported as one packet. |
| Reviewer time per COI packet | About 20 minutes of your team's time per packet, plus the desk's turnaround. | About 15 seconds to read, then about 3 minutes of human sign-off on flagged results. |
| Annual cost at 150 vendors | Often bundled into broker compensation, plus about 380 internal hours (about $17,200). | $8,388 a year on Professional, plus about 79 reviewer hours (about $3,550). |
Cost of approach
The cost of each approach, in hours and dollars.
Your inputs
Subcontractors, suppliers or carriers that send you COIs in a year.
CFMA Time Study: 25 to 40 minutes per COI and endorsement packet.
A $45 loaded project manager hour is the default.
Leave at 0 to compare staff time only.
Estimated annual cost
Broker certificate desk
$17,203
382 hours of your team's time. $17,203 in staff time.
Pikorua Security
$11,939
79 hours of your team's time. $3,551 staff time + $8,388 Professional plan.
- Hours returned to your team
- 303
- Annual difference in Pikorua Security's favor
- $5,265
How this is calculated
- Each vendor sends 2 packets a year (initial COI and one renewal). 71% of packets are deficient on first review (AGC Risk Committee Audit), and each deficient packet is reviewed again when the correction arrives.
- The broker's service team logs certificates; your team spends about 60% of a full review on coordination and endorsement spot checks.
- The desk contacts the vendor's agent; your PM still spends about 60 minutes per defect chasing the vendor and applying holds.
- Pikorua Security reads each packet automatically; a person spends about 3 minutes signing off flagged results and about 15 minutes on escalations per defect. Broker chasing runs on the 60, 30, 15 and 0 day cadence.
- Plan by vendor count: Starter up to 75 ($3,588 a year), Professional 75 to 300 ($8,388), Enterprise above 300 (from $16,800).
What your broker's service team does well
Your insurance broker knows coverage, knows the carriers and usually runs a certificate team that issues your own certificates to owners, lenders and landlords every day. Many brokers will also collect and log your subcontractors' certificates as a service, and for a contractor or property manager without a risk manager, that is a reasonable first step.
A good account manager will catch an obviously wrong limit, a carrier with a weak AM Best rating or an expired policy. When you ask about a specific vendor, you get an informed opinion from someone who reads endorsements for a living.
Why the broker can't enforce your contract
Your broker does not hold your subcontracts, your payment system or your jobsite access. The desk works from the requirements you send it, logs what the certificate shows and reports back. Whether a deficient subcontractor keeps getting paid is decided in Procore, CMiC, Yardi or AppFolio, and nobody at the brokerage can place that hold.
The desk also works on the brokerage's schedule. Certificate logging competes with your own renewals, other clients' requests and the certificates the team issues every day. Endorsement-level review of every vendor at every renewal is usually outside the service agreement, so it happens when you ask about one vendor rather than across all of them.
There is a second gap: your broker is not your subcontractor's broker. The vendor's retail insurance agent is the only person who can fix a missing endorsement, and the request has to reach that agent with the specific form, edition and contract clause before anything moves.
Who carries the risk when a tender fails
When a subcontractor's carrier denies an additional insured tender, the cost lands on your own general liability program. Typical self-insured retentions for mid-market general contractors run $50,000 to $250,000, and the average out-of-pocket litigation and SIR loss on a denied tender runs $150,000 to $450,000, according to the Commercial Casualty Actuarial Study. Your broker can help you place coverage and manage the claim. It cannot add a missing CG 20 37 after the loss.
That is why verification and enforcement belong with the party that holds the contract. Pikorua Security keeps the decision, the evidence and the hold in your own systems, with a time-stamped record of what was verified and when.
Using Pikorua Security with your broker
Most customers keep their broker exactly where it is. The broker advises on requirements and coverage; Pikorua Security verifies every vendor against those requirements and chases the vendor's agent. Your account manager can have a seat to see deficiency reports and renewal status.
Brokerages that want to offer COI compliance to their own clients use the Broker / Managed Partner tier: multi-client seats and a white-label compliance portal, with Pikorua Security doing the reading, chasing and enforcement underneath.
Questions
Questions teams ask before they switch.
Will our broker object to us using Pikorua Security?
Can our broker see the results in Pikorua Security?
Does Pikorua Security give coverage advice or place insurance?
Other comparisons
Not how you work today?
Manual spreadsheets
Front-page OCR tools
Outsourced review services
Related reading: customer stories, CG 20 37 completed operations and CG 20 10 editions.
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