The Five Things Snow Contracts Ask For
- Certificate of insurance — the summary document proving you carry what you say you carry
- Additional insured endorsement — the actual policy change that extends your coverage to the property owner
- Primary and non-contributory — your policy pays first and does not ask the owner's insurer to share
- Waiver of subrogation — your carrier gives up its right to recover from the owner after paying a claim
- Hold-harmless / indemnity — your contractual promise to absorb defined liabilities, which is the clause with real teeth
A certificate is not coverage
This is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding in the trade. A certificate of insurance is a description. If the additional insured endorsement was never actually added to the policy, the owner is not covered no matter what the certificate says — and you are in breach of a contract you believed you had satisfied.
Reading the Indemnity Clause
Indemnity language comes in three broad flavours, and the difference is worth more than the contract itself.
| Form | You indemnify for | Insurable? |
|---|---|---|
| Limited | Your own negligence | Yes — normal and reasonable |
| Intermediate | Your negligence plus shared fault | Usually, with contractual liability coverage |
| Broad form | All claims, including the owner's sole negligence | Frequently not — and unenforceable in some states |
Broad-form indemnity in a snow contract asks you to pay for a fall that happened because the owner's own lighting failed or their drainage created the ice. Several states void that language by statute; others enforce it. Either way it belongs in a negotiation, not a signature.
Getting Certificates Out Fast
Snow contracts get awarded in a hurry, often in October, and a slow certificate loses work. Send us the insurance exhibit and the certificate holder details and we turn it around same day in season — with the endorsements actually on the policy, not just described on the form.