What is a certificate of insurance (COI)?
A certificate of insurance, or COI, is a short document that summarizes the insurance a business carries. It is issued by the business's insurance agent, broker or insurer, and it is how a vendor shows it is insured before it works on someone else's property.
A typical certificate fits on a single page. It lists the named insured, which is the vendor's legal name, the insurers, the types of coverage, the policy numbers, the limits of each policy, and the dates each policy starts and ends. It also names the certificate holder: the person or company it was issued to, usually whoever asked for it.
A certificate is evidence of insurance, not the insurance itself. The policy decides what is covered, and the certificate reports it as of the day it was issued. Most certificates say on the page that they are issued for information only and do not change the policy.
What is a Form W-9?
Form W-9 is the IRS form a business or an individual fills in and signs to give its taxpayer identification number to a business that is going to pay it. The vendor completes it, and the business paying the vendor keeps it on file.
It carries the vendor's legal name, any business name it trades under, its federal tax classification, its address and its taxpayer identification number, which for many businesses is an employer identification number (EIN). The vendor signs it to confirm that the number is correct.
A W-9 goes to the business that asked for it, not to the IRS. That business uses it to set the vendor up and to report payments to the IRS where a report is required. Which payments need reporting is a question for your accountant, not for your vendor.
What is the difference between a COI and a W-9?
A COI is about risk and a W-9 is about payment. The certificate shows that a vendor is insured for the work, and the W-9 lets the accounts team set the vendor up and pay it.
They come from different places and go out of date for different reasons. The certificate comes from the vendor's insurance agent or insurer, and it goes out of date when a policy on it expires. The W-9 comes from the vendor and is replaced when the vendor's name, tax classification, address or number changes.
Different people read them, too. The certificate is checked by whoever manages the building or the project, sometimes with an insurance or risk team behind them, and the W-9 goes to accounts payable. Asking for both at once, with the same name on each, saves a second round of emails.
Why does a property manager want a COI before a crew is on site?
A property manager wants a COI before a crew is on site because the certificate is the evidence, on file before anyone starts, that the vendor working in the building carries general liability insurance. General liability is the insurance a business carries against claims that its work damaged someone else's property or injured someone outside the business.
A furniture install is a lot of movement through finished space: carts across the lobby, cartons along the corridors, a loaded service lift, and on some jobs pieces anchored to a wall. When a lift door gets dented, the time to know the vendor was insured is before the job, not after it.
That is why a building usually wants the certificate on file before it releases the dock or the lift, and why a crew that arrives ahead of its paperwork can be turned away at the door. The rest of what a building asks for before day one is in what a commercial buildout involves.
Why do developers and general contractors ask for them too?
Developers and general contractors ask because each of them carries risk on the site or pays for the work.
A general contractor is often required by its own contract to collect certificates from everyone working on its site. A developer that books a vendor directly wants the certificate for the same reason, and the W-9 because it is the one paying.
Furniture installers sit in an awkward spot here. On an office buildout or an apartment lease-up, the installer is often booked by the owner, the property manager or the furniture supplier rather than by the general contractor, but it still works on the general contractor's site, so the general contractor asks as well.
One vendor can be asked for the same two documents by three parties on one project. The answer is the same each time: a certificate made out to whoever asked, and the W-9 to whoever pays.
What should a property manager ask a vendor for?
Ask for a current certificate of insurance and a signed W-9, together, before the job is booked, and check them against each other and against your own requirements. The checks are short:
- Dates: every policy on the certificate runs past the last day of the work
- Certificate holder: the exact name and address your company or the owner wants on it
- Coverage: the types of insurance your vendor rules, lease or contract call for
- Names: the named insured on the certificate matches the legal name on the W-9 and on the invoice
- Signature: the W-9 signed and dated, with the taxpayer identification number filled in
Your requirements come from your side, not the vendor's: the management agreement, the lease, the owner's insurance program or your company's own vendor policy. If a certificate does not match them, say what has to change and ask for it to be reissued before the install date, not on it.
When should you ask a vendor for a COI and a W-9?
Ask at the quote stage, before an install date is set. That leaves room to correct a certificate that does not match the building's requirements while the date is still open, rather than on the morning of the install.
The W-9 belongs at the same stage. Many accounts teams will not set up a vendor, or pay its first invoice, without one, so it should travel with the certificate rather than follow it.
Keep both in the job file with the floor plan and the delivery schedule, so whoever books the dock can show the building the certificate without hunting for it.
Does Masterwork Assembly provide a COI and a W-9?
Yes. Masterwork Assembly is commercially insured with general liability coverage, and a COI and a W-9 are available on request.
Property managers, developers and general contractors usually want both on file before an install date is set, and you can have them before you commit to anything.
Ask through the quote form or at service@masterworkassembly.com, with the scope of the job and the name and address the certificate should be issued to. If your building's requirements are in writing, send them with the request.
Anthony or Logan will call you back in business hours, usually the same day. How our commercial jobs run, from the scope review to the walkthrough, is on the commercial furniture installation page, and how a lease-up is sequenced around the paperwork, the dock and the lift is in lease-up furniture: the order a leasing team needs it in.
Commercial clients who have worked with Masterwork Assembly include TransUnion, Travis ATX, Austin Lighthouse for the Blind, Strategic Thermal Labs, NETSOL, Subcritical Systems, Renewed Office Interiors, Elevate Healthcare and RYSE Management.
Common questions
Does a W-9 get sent to the IRS?
No. A W-9 goes to the business that asked for it, and the form itself says not to send it to the IRS. The business that receives it keeps it on file and uses the details on it (the vendor's legal name, tax classification and taxpayer identification number) when it reports payments to the IRS where a report is required. Because it carries a taxpayer identification number, it should go only to the person who asked for it. What your company reports is a question for your accountant.
Does a W-9 expire?
No, a W-9 has no expiration date. A new one is usually requested when something on it changes, such as the vendor's legal name, its tax classification or its taxpayer identification number. Many companies also ask their vendors for an updated W-9 on a schedule of their own, or when the IRS releases a new version of the form, so follow whatever your accounts team keeps to. Masterwork Assembly issues a current W-9 on request.
How often should a property manager ask for an updated COI?
Commonly, when a policy on the certificate on file expires, and at the start of each new project. A certificate shows a vendor's insurance as of the day it was issued, so an old certificate says nothing about coverage today. Many property managers track the expiration dates on their vendors' certificates and ask for a renewed one before the old one lapses, so access is not held up on the morning of a job. A current COI from Masterwork Assembly is available on request.
Does a small job still need a certificate of insurance?
Yes, if the building asks for one. The requirement usually comes from the building's vendor rules, not the size of the job, so a single conference table built in a managed office tower can need the same certificate as a full floor. Check with the property manager when the job is booked, and ask the vendor for the certificate at the same time, made out to the name the building gives you. A COI from Masterwork Assembly is available on request, for jobs of any size.
Do condo buildings ask for a COI for home furniture assembly?
Often, yes. Many condo and apartment buildings ask for a COI from any vendor who uses the service lift or the loading dock, for a single sofa as much as for a whole move-in, and the management office decides what it has to show. Ask the building what it needs when you book the lift, and ask the assembler for the certificate at the same time. Masterwork Assembly carries general liability coverage on every job, residential or commercial, and a COI goes out on request.
