What is a blanket additional insured endorsement?

When a property manager, general contractor, or municipality hires your tree service, they almost always require that they be listed as an additional insured on your general liability policy. Without a blanket endorsement, you would need to contact your broker every time a new client requests additional insured status, wait for the carrier to issue a specific endorsement naming that party, and then provide the updated certificate. For a busy tree service handling dozens of jobs per month, this process creates delays and administrative headaches.

A blanket additional insured endorsement solves this by automatically granting additional insured status to any person or organization that your written contract requires you to add. The endorsement is built into the policy at inception, so no individual processing is needed. When a client requests a COI showing them as additional insured, your broker can issue it immediately because the blanket endorsement already covers the requirement. The key condition is that a written contract or agreement must exist — verbal agreements do not trigger blanket coverage.

The scope of coverage provided to the additional insured is typically limited to liability arising out of your ongoing operations performed for that party. Most blanket endorsements use ISO form CG 20 33 or a carrier-proprietary equivalent. Some versions also extend to completed operations (CG 20 37), which is important because many commercial contracts now require additional insured status for both ongoing and completed operations. Tree service companies should confirm which version their policy includes, as completed operations coverage is critical when a client could face a claim after your work is finished — for example, a tree you pruned that later drops a limb.

Blanket additional insured endorsements do not increase your policy limits. The additional insured shares your existing per-occurrence and aggregate limits. If a claim is filed against both you and the additional insured, the payout comes from the same pool of coverage. This is why many contracts also require you to carry minimum limits of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate — and why an umbrella or excess policy is valuable to protect your limits from being depleted by claims involving additional insureds.

Most commercial GL policies for tree services include a blanket additional insured endorsement as standard or for a nominal additional premium. If yours does not, request it at your next renewal. The small cost is far outweighed by the operational efficiency and the ability to respond immediately to client insurance requirements — which in competitive bidding situations can be the difference between winning and losing a contract.