What is a CG 20 37 endorsement?

The practical answer

CG 20 37 is the ISO form titled 'Additional Insured: Owners, Lessees or Contractors: Completed Operations'. It grants additional insured status for liability arising out of work the contractor has already finished, which is the exposure that outlives the job.

It exists because the ongoing-operations form does not do this. If your contract asks for additional insured status and you receive only a CG 20 10, you are covered while the crew is on site and unprotected the day they leave. Most construction claims arrive long after that day.

What CG 20 37 actually grants

The endorsement adds the person or organization shown in its schedule as an additional insured on the contractor's commercial general liability policy, but only for bodily injury or property damage caused by the contractor's completed work, and only for work included in the products-completed operations hazard.

The practical consequence is timing. A roof installed in March that leaks in November is a completed-operations claim. Without CG 20 37 or equivalent carrier wording, the owner and the general contractor are defending that claim on their own policies.

Why CG 20 10 alone leaves a gap

The 1985 edition of CG 20 10 used the phrase 'arising out of your work', which was widely read to reach completed operations as well as ongoing work. That is why some contracts still specify 'CG 20 10 11 85' by name, decades after it stopped being the current form.

From the 10 01 edition onward the two exposures were separated. CG 20 10 covers ongoing operations, CG 20 37 covers completed operations, and a contract that wants both has to ask for both. A requirement written as 'additional insured on a primary and non-contributory basis' does not by itself get you the second form.

The edition date changes the coverage

Two forms with the same number are not the same contract. Check the edition date printed on the endorsement, not just the form number:

• 10 01: separates completed operations from ongoing operations and establishes CG 20 37 as the completed-operations form.
• 07 04: narrows the trigger from 'arising out of' to damage 'caused, in whole or in part, by' the named insured's acts or omissions. Sole negligence of the additional insured stops being covered.
• 04 13: caps the grant at the coverage the written contract actually requires, and no broader than what the law of the jurisdiction permits. A contract demanding more than the form allows does not extend it.

How to verify CG 20 37 on a certificate

The ADDL INSD column on an ACORD 25 is a checkbox. It records that somebody believed additional insured status exists. It does not say which form, which edition, or whether completed operations are included. Verification means reading the endorsement pages:

• Get the endorsement itself, not the certificate face.
• Confirm the form number reads CG 20 37, and note the edition date beside it.
• Check that the policy number and effective dates on the endorsement match the certificate.
• Read the schedule: your legal entity should be named, or a blanket wording should clearly reach parties in your position.
• Confirm the general liability policy carries products-completed operations coverage at all, and that the aggregate has not been dedicated elsewhere.
• Check primary and non-contributory wording separately. It is a different provision and often a different endorsement.

Blanket forms and completed operations

Blanket endorsements grant status automatically to parties the contractor agreed in writing to cover, which saves issuing a scheduled form per project. CG 20 33 and CG 20 38 are the common ISO blanket forms for ongoing operations.

Completed-operations status through a blanket form is more often delivered by carrier proprietary wording than by a standard ISO number, and the wording varies considerably between carriers. If a contractor answers a CG 20 37 requirement with a blanket endorsement, read whether that specific form grants completed operations rather than assuming it does.