The Risk Transfer Brief
Construction risk transfer, read closely.
Practitioner articles on endorsement wording, contract insurance exhibits, tender defense and COI operations, written by Pikorua Security's risk engineering and product team for US risk managers, project teams and property operators.
Start here
New to endorsement review? Read these three in order.
- 1Why Certificates of Insurance Offer Zero Legal Rights in CourtClaims & Tender Defense / 5 min read
- 2The CG 20 10 Trap: Why Ongoing Operations Leaves You Exposed to Completed ClaimsLegal & Risk Transfer / 6 min read
- 3How to Build an Ironclad Tender Defense Package When a Subcontractor Gets SuedClaims & Tender Defense / 5 min read
Latest issue
The CG 20 10 Trap: Why Ongoing Operations Leaves You Exposed to Completed Claims
Most subcontractor certificates say "additional insured" and stop there. If the endorsement behind that line is a modern CG 20 10 with no CG 20 37 beside it, your protection ends the day the sub's work is finished.
Key takeaways
- 01Since the 10 93 edition, CG 20 10 covers the additional insured only for the subcontractor's ongoing operations.
- 02CG 20 37, or a blanket completed operations form such as CG 20 39 or CG 20 40, is what keeps you covered after turnover.
- 03Read the causation wording as well as the date: 07 04 and later forms require the sub's acts to be at least a proximate cause.
- 04Require copies of both endorsements at intake. A certificate remark saying "AI per contract" proves neither.
Four pillars
What the Brief covers
Legal & Risk Transfer
Endorsement editions, indemnity, other insurance clauses and carrier quality: the contract and policy language that decides who pays.
- The CG 20 10 Trap: Why Ongoing Operations Leaves You Exposed to Completed Claims
- Understanding Action Over Claims and How Subcontractor GL Endorsements Respond
Operational Efficiency
How risk, project and accounting teams split COI work, chase brokers and enforce compliance without slowing the job.
- Why Construction Project Managers Shouldn't Be Reviewing Insurance Certificates
- How Automated Invoice Holds Eliminate Non-Compliant Subcontractors
Property Management
Tenant lease requirements and vendor checklists for office, retail and mixed-use portfolios.
- Managing Tenant Lease Insurance Requirements in Commercial Office Portals
- Vendor COI Checklists for Multi-Tenant Retail Centers
Claims & Tender Defense
What a certificate proves in a dispute, how tenders get accepted and the file defects that sink them.
- How to Build an Ironclad Tender Defense Package When a Subcontractor Gets Sued
- Why Certificates of Insurance Offer Zero Legal Rights in Court
Archive
Every article, newest first
11 more articles, newest first
- Legal & Risk Transfer
6 min read
Understanding Action Over Claims and How Subcontractor GL Endorsements Respond
An injured worker cannot sue his own employer, so he sues you. Then you sue his employer. Whether the subcontractor's general liability policy pays for that second lawsuit depends on a few lines most COI reviews never read.
Kavya Reddy, Head of Risk Engineering
- 6 min read
Legal & Risk Transfer
Primary and Non-Contributory vs. Excess: The Difference in a Loss
Two policies cover the same accident. Which one pays first, and whether the first one can bill the second, decides whose retention and loss history absorb the claim. Here is how the Other Insurance condition settles it.
Ananya Rao, Co-founder & CEO
- 6 min read
Operational Efficiency
Why Construction Project Managers Shouldn't Be Reviewing Insurance Certificates
Project managers are asked to approve certificates between RFIs and pay apps, with no training in endorsement forms and every incentive to get the sub on site. The fix is not more training. It is moving the review off their desk.
Ananya Rao, Co-founder & CEO
- 5 min read
Operational Efficiency
How Automated Invoice Holds Eliminate Non-Compliant Subcontractors
Deficiency letters get ignored. A held pay application does not. Here is how an invoice hold tied to verified endorsements works inside Procore, CMiC or Vista, and how to set one up without starving good subs of cash.
Nisha Varghese, Head of Integrations
- 5 min read
Property Management
Managing Tenant Lease Insurance Requirements in Commercial Office Portals
Every office lease carries its own insurance clause, and most tenant certificates are checked once at move-in. Here is how property teams turn lease abstracts into rules that run inside Yardi, MRI or AppFolio for the life of the lease.
Nisha Varghese, Head of Integrations
- 5 min read
Property Management
Vendor COI Checklists for Multi-Tenant Retail Centers
A shopping center runs on vendors: snow plows, sweepers, guards, roofers and HVAC techs. Each brings a different exposure to your parking lot and common areas. Here is a COI checklist organized by vendor type.
Arjun Bhatia, VP Product
- 5 min read
Claims & Tender Defense
How to Build an Ironclad Tender Defense Package When a Subcontractor Gets Sued
When a claim names you and your subcontractor's work, the first weeks after service decide whose policy pays. This is the document package that gets a tender accepted, and the timeline for sending it.
Kavya Reddy, Head of Risk Engineering
- 5 min read
Claims & Tender Defense
Why Certificates of Insurance Offer Zero Legal Rights in Court
The ACORD 25 says it in capital letters at the top of the form: it is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights. Courts take that sentence at its word. Here is what that means for your files.
Ananya Rao, Co-founder & CEO
- 5 min read
Legal & Risk Transfer
AM Best Ratings for Subcontractor Carriers: What "A- VII" Really Means
Most insurance exhibits require carriers rated "A- VII or better" by AM Best. Few teams check the rating, and fewer know what the two halves of that phrase measure. A practical guide for COI reviewers.
Arjun Bhatia, VP Product
- 5 min read
Claims & Tender Defense
Named Insured Mismatch: When the LLC on the Contract Isn't the Company on the Policy
Keystone Mechanical LLC signs your subcontract. The certificate says Keystone Mechanical Services. The policy was issued to the owner personally, doing business as Keystone Mechanical. Those are three different insureds, and only one of them owes you anything.
Kavya Reddy, Head of Risk Engineering
- 5 min read
Operational Efficiency
Renewal Chasing on a 60/30/15 Cadence: Closing the Gap Before a Policy Lapses
Most COI lapses are not cancellations. They are renewals that happened on time but never reached your file. A fixed 60, 30, 15 and 0 day cadence, sent to the right person, closes that gap.
Arjun Bhatia, VP Product
ISO Endorsement Library
Explore 20 ISO endorsement guides
Every form the Brief cites has its own guide: edition history, the defect traps reviewers miss, model contract wording and how the form holds up when a tender is on the line.
Open the libraryWho writes the Brief
Written by people who have read the endorsement pages
Kavya Reddy, ARM, CRIS
Head of Risk Engineering
Kavya leads Pikorua Security's risk engineering team, which writes the contract rules and endorsement checks behind the product. She spent 11 years in US construction risk transfer before joining Pikorua Security and holds the ARM and CRIS designations.
4 articles in the Brief
Ananya Rao
Co-founder & CEO
Ananya co-founded Pikorua Security after working as a construction risk manager for a US ENR Top 100 general contractor, where she reviewed subcontractor insurance packets and tender files firsthand. She studied civil engineering at IIT Madras.
3 articles in the Brief
Arjun Bhatia
VP Product
Arjun leads product at Pikorua Security, including the contract rule builder, AM Best checks and the renewal cadence. He previously built insurance platforms at Tata Consultancy Services.
3 articles in the Brief
Nisha Varghese
Head of Integrations
Nisha leads Pikorua Security's integrations team, which builds the Procore and Yardi connectors that carry compliance status into the project and property systems teams already use.
2 articles in the Brief
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The Risk Transfer Brief
Construction insurance litigation, endorsement changes and risk transfer strategy, once a month. No vendor pitches.
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