What is the difference between CG 20 10 and CG 20 37?

Key takeaways

• In the 2013 and 2019 editions, CG 20 10 covers injury or damage caused in whole or in part by the named insured's ongoing operations and excludes injury or damage after the work is completed or put to its intended use; CG 20 37 covers injury or damage caused in whole or in part by 'your work' within the products-completed operations hazard.
• The split dates from ISO's 1993 'ongoing operations' revision and the 2001 introduction of CG 20 37; the 11 85 edition of CG 20 10 had no ongoing/completed distinction and is generally no longer available.
• Since 2013 both endorsements apply only 'to the extent permitted by law,' no broader than the contract requires, and for no more than the lesser of the contract-required amount and the policy limit, so the project state's anti-indemnity statute and the contract's insurance clause are part of the coverage analysis.
• A certificate of insurance confers no rights and does not amend the policy; only the issued endorsement, with its edition date and schedule, shows what was granted.
• Primary and noncontributory wording (CG 20 01), waiver of subrogation (CG 24 04), and umbrella follow-form treatment are separate endorsements and separate questions.

What each endorsement grants in the current editions

CG 20 10 04 13 amends Who Is An Insured to add the scheduled person or organization, but only for bodily injury, property damage, or personal and advertising injury caused, in whole or in part, by the named insured's acts or omissions, or those of someone acting on its behalf, in the performance of ongoing operations for the additional insured at the scheduled location. A second paragraph then removes coverage for injury or damage that occurs after all work on the project (other than service, maintenance, or repairs) has been completed, or after the portion of the work out of which the injury or damage arises has been put to its intended use by anyone other than another contractor on the same project. The 12 19 edition keeps that grant and exclusion.

CG 20 37 04 13 adds the scheduled person or organization for bodily injury or property damage caused, in whole or in part, by 'your work' at the location designated in the schedule, performed for that additional insured, and included in the products-completed operations hazard. It carries no personal and advertising injury grant, because that exposure belongs to ongoing operations. The two endorsements are therefore complements: one responds while the work is under way, the other after it is completed or put to use, and a party who needs both must have both attached.

Both 2013 editions add the same two provisos and the same limits paragraph. The insurance applies to the additional insured only to the extent permitted by law; where the contract requires the coverage, it will not be broader than the contract requires; and the most the insurer pays on the additional insured's behalf is the lesser of the amount required by the contract and the applicable limit of insurance. The 12 19 editions restate the limits paragraph to refer to the 'applicable limits of insurance' and add that the endorsement 'shall not increase the applicable limits of insurance.'

Sources for this section: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs: CG 20 10 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization (sample); Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 37 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations; Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 10 12 19, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization; Saxe Doernberger & Vita (SDV Fenchurch): The 2019 ISO Forms: Additions, Revisions, and Pitfalls (December 2019).

How the editions changed: 1985, 1993, 2001, 2004, 2013, and 2019

The form number tells you the family; the edition date tells you the grant. The 11 85 edition of CG 20 10 (then titled Form B) added the scheduled party as an insured for liability 'arising out of your work for that insured by or for you,' with no reference to ongoing operations and no completed-operations exclusion, and courts and commentators generally read it to reach completed operations. ISO's 1993 revision rewrote the grant around the named insured's 'ongoing operations,' which excluded completed operations by implication; a 1997 restyling made no substantive change.

The 2001 revision made the completed-operations exclusion in CG 20 10 express and introduced CG 20 37 as the separate completed-operations endorsement, so that an owner or upstream contractor wanting post-completion protection had to ask for a second form. The 2004 editions replaced 'arising out of' with the narrower 'caused, in whole or in part, by' causation standard in both endorsements. The 2013 editions added the 'to the extent permitted by law' and 'not broader than required by the contract' provisos and the lesser-of limits paragraph, which ISO adopted against the background of state anti-indemnity statutes. The December 2019 editions restated the limits paragraph and were filed alongside new automatic completed-operations endorsements, CG 20 39 and CG 20 40, which extend CG 20 37-type protection without naming each additional insured when a written construction agreement requires it.

• 11 85: 'arising out of your work' grant; no ongoing or completed-operations language; generally no longer available from insurers.
• 10 93 (restyled 1997): grant limited to the named insured's 'ongoing operations'; completed operations fell outside the endorsement.
• 10 01: express completed-operations exclusion in CG 20 10; CG 20 37 introduced for the products-completed operations hazard.
• 07 04: 'caused, in whole or in part, by' replaces 'arising out of' in both endorsements.
• 04 13: 'to the extent permitted by law,' 'not broader than required by the contract,' and limits equal to the lesser of the contract amount and the declarations limit.
• 12 19: limits paragraph restated ('shall not increase the applicable limits of insurance'); automatic completed-operations endorsements CG 20 39 and CG 20 40 issued.

Sources for this section: International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): 2013 ISO Additional Insured Endorsements: Putting the Changes into Context for the Construction Industry (Mark Bell, August 2013); State of Nevada Risk Management Division: CG 20 10 11 85, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors (Form B) (reproduction of the ISO form); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insureds and Completed Operations (Jeffrey Woodward, January 2001); Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: CG 20 37 10 01, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations; International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insured Endorsements—A Potential Minefield—Part 3 (Craig Stanovich, March 2006); Saxe Doernberger & Vita (SDV Fenchurch): The 2019 ISO Forms: Additions, Revisions, and Pitfalls (December 2019).

Where the answer depends on edition, wording, jurisdiction, and contract

Everything above describes the ISO text of specific editions. Whether a particular additional insured is protected for a particular claim depends on four variables that no form number resolves, and each of them should be checked against documents rather than assumed.

• Edition. A contract that asks for 'CG 20 10 11 85 or its equivalent' is asking for a grant most insurers no longer offer; a contract that names CG 20 10 without an edition will usually be met with the current scheduled form, which excludes completed operations. Identify the edition date printed on the endorsement before deciding whether the requirement is satisfied.
• Policy wording. Carriers often substitute proprietary additional-insured endorsements or blanket and automatic ISO forms (CG 20 33 and CG 20 38 for ongoing operations, CG 20 39 and CG 20 40 for completed operations) whose grants depend on a written contract signed before the loss, and whose other-insurance, professional-services, and residential exclusions may differ from the scheduled forms. The underlying policy's exclusions, insured-contract definition, and other-insurance condition apply to the additional insured as well.
• Jurisdiction. Most states have construction anti-indemnity statutes, and several of them also void additional-insured coverage to the extent it would insure the indemnitee's own negligence; the 2013 'to the extent permitted by law' proviso ties the endorsement to that statute. The same grant can therefore respond differently in two states, and only counsel in the project state can say how.
• Contract. Since 2013 the endorsement promises coverage no broader than the contract requires and limits no greater than the contract requires. A short or ambiguous insurance clause can narrow the coverage the additional insured receives, and an indemnity clause that exceeds what the state allows can be unenforceable even when the endorsement is attached. The contract, the endorsement, and the statute have to be read together.

Sources for this section: International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): 2013 ISO Additional Insured Endorsements: Putting the Changes into Context for the Construction Industry (Mark Bell, August 2013); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Contractual Insurance Requirements and Anti-Indemnity Statutes (Gregory Podolak, July 2016); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Questions and Answers on Additional Insured Issues—Part 2 (Jack Gibson, July 2009); New York City Department of Cultural Affairs: CG 20 10 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization (sample); Saxe Doernberger & Vita (SDV Fenchurch): The 2019 ISO Forms: Additions, Revisions, and Pitfalls (December 2019); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Effective Contractual Risk Transfer in Construction (Ann Hickman, March 2021).

Read the endorsement, not only its number

Request the complete endorsement with its title, edition date, schedule, and any manuscript modifications. Check the named additional insured, the described location or project, the covered operations, the causal connection to the named insured's work, the limits paragraph, and the provisos. Then compare the underlying policy's insured-contract definition, occurrence trigger, completed-operations coverage, exclusions, and other-insurance condition.

A certificate of insurance is not a substitute. The ACORD 25 form states on its face that it is issued as a matter of information only, confers no rights upon the certificate holder, and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage afforded by the listed policies; ACORD's own guidance adds that only an endorsement, rider, or amendment to the policy changes coverage. The form number typed on a certificate may be incomplete, may omit the edition, or may stand in for a carrier equivalent. Ask for the actual form and document any difference.

Sources for this section: City of Riverside, California: Sample certificate package: ACORD 25 with CG 20 26 04 13, CG 24 04 05 09, CG 20 01 04 13, CA 04 44, and workers compensation waiver endorsements; ACORD: Certificates of Insurance: Frequently Asked Questions; International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Questions and Answers on Additional Insured Issues—Part 2 (Jack Gibson, July 2009).

Check the policy tower and contract package

If the required protection extends to an umbrella or excess policy, compare its additional-insured, follow-form, self-insured-retention, and other-insurance provisions. A follow-form excess policy follows the primary policy's additional-insured terms only to the extent its own terms do not differ, and primary-and-noncontributory and waiver-of-subrogation terms often do not reach the excess layer without a specific endorsement.

Primary and noncontributory wording and waiver of subrogation are separate requests evidenced by separate endorsements. ISO's CG 20 01 (04 13) makes the CGL primary to, and bars contribution from, other insurance on which the additional insured is a named insured, but only where the named insured agreed to that in a written contract. The waiver endorsement, CG 24 04, waives only the insurer's rights of recovery against the scheduled party, not the named insured's own rights. Review the prime contract, subcontract, indemnity language, project insurance program, and claims-notice process together; additional-insured status is not a warranty for faulty work, a replacement for professional liability, or a substitute for the contractor's own policy.

Sources for this section: International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insured Coverage under Excess Policies (Gregory Podolak, June 2017); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Primary and Noncontributory (Craig Stanovich, December 2018); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): The 2013 Edition of the CGL Policy (Craig Stanovich, March 2013); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Subrogation and the CGL Policy (Craig Stanovich, December 2013).

Build a usable endorsement file

Before mobilization, collect the subcontract, insurance exhibit, certificate, actual endorsements, policy dates, declarations, and exception approvals. At closeout, retain evidence for completed operations and record the completion, acceptance, and warranty milestones. Completed-operations additional-insured protection for a period after completion exists only while an endorsement such as CG 20 37 (or an automatic equivalent) is attached to each successive policy during that period, so the file should show how the requirement will be carried forward at each renewal. Set retention with counsel and the contract rather than using a universal number.

When an allegation arrives, notify potentially responsive insurers promptly and preserve the contract and work records. The endorsement can define who may tender and what protection is available, but no form name by itself predicts defense, indemnity, priority, or payment.

Sources for this section: International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Questions and Answers on Additional Insured Issues—Part 2 (Jack Gibson, July 2009).

CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 by edition

Sources for this section: State of Nevada Risk Management Division: CG 20 10 11 85, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors (Form B) (reproduction of the ISO form); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): 2013 ISO Additional Insured Endorsements: Putting the Changes into Context for the Construction Industry (Mark Bell, August 2013); International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insureds and Completed Operations (Jeffrey Woodward, January 2001); Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: CG 20 37 10 01, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations; International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insured Endorsements—A Potential Minefield—Part 3 (Craig Stanovich, March 2006); New York City Department of Cultural Affairs: CG 20 10 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization (sample); Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 37 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations; Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 10 12 19, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization; Saxe Doernberger & Vita (SDV Fenchurch): The 2019 ISO Forms: Additions, Revisions, and Pitfalls (December 2019).

Additional-insured endorsement review

• Obtain the full endorsement, title, edition date, schedule, and carrier—not just a certificate reference.
• Identify the named additional insured, project or location, operations, and any written-contract condition.
• Confirm which form (or automatic equivalent) provides ongoing operations and which provides completed operations, and match each to the contract's dates and closeout terms.
• Read the 'to the extent permitted by law,' 'not broader than required by the contract,' and lesser-of limits paragraphs against the contract's insurance clause and the project state's anti-indemnity statute.
• Review occurrence, insured-contract, exclusions, limits, aggregate, and other-insurance wording in the underlying policy.
• Check umbrella or excess follow-form terms and separately verify primary-and-noncontributory (CG 20 01) and waiver (CG 24 04) requests.
• Preserve the contract, endorsement, policy, completion evidence, and exception approvals, and diarize the completed-operations requirement for each renewal.

Hypothetical: Hypothetical — form number on a certificate

A GC receives a certificate listing CG 20 10 04 13, but the owner's insurance exhibit requires completed-operations additional-insured status for ten years after substantial completion. The certificate does not show whether the endorsement was issued or whether CG 20 37 or an automatic completed-operations form is attached, and the 04 13 CG 20 10 excludes injury or damage after the work is completed or put to its intended use. The GC should obtain the actual endorsement package and resolve the completed-operations requirement, including how it will be carried on each successive policy, before relying on it.

Sources

• State of Nevada Risk Management Division: CG 20 10 11 85, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors (Form B) (reproduction of the ISO form) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the wording of the November 1985 edition of CG 20 10, which grants insured status for liability "arising out of 'your work' for that insured by or for you" with no ongoing-operations limitation and no completed-operations exclusion..
• New York City Department of Cultural Affairs: CG 20 10 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization (sample) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the April 2013 edition of CG 20 10: coverage for injury or damage "caused, in whole or in part" by the named insured's acts or omissions in the performance of ongoing operations, the "to the extent permitted by law" and "not broader than required by the contract" provisos, the exclusion for injury or damage after the work is completed or put to its intended use, and the limits paragraph paying the lesser of the contract-required amount and the declarations limit..
• Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 10 12 19, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Scheduled Person or Organization — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the December 2019 edition of CG 20 10, which keeps the 2013 ongoing-operations grant, provisos, and completed-operations exclusion and restates the limits paragraph as the lesser of the amount required by contract and the amount "available under the applicable limits of insurance.".
• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: CG 20 37 10 01, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the October 2001 edition of CG 20 37, which grants insured status for liability "arising out of 'your work'" at the scheduled location performed for the additional insured and "included in the 'products-completed operations hazard'.".
• Independent Insurance Agents of Texas: CG 20 37 04 13, Additional Insured—Owners, Lessees or Contractors—Completed Operations — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the April 2013 edition of CG 20 37: coverage for injury or damage "caused, in whole or in part, by 'your work'" at the scheduled location and included in the products-completed operations hazard, with the same "to the extent permitted by law," "not broader than required by the contract," and lesser-of limits provisions as the 2013 CG 20 10..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): 2013 ISO Additional Insured Endorsements: Putting the Changes into Context for the Construction Industry (Mark Bell, August 2013) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the edition history of the owners/lessees/contractors additional-insured endorsements: the 1985 'arising out of your work' grant with no ongoing/completed distinction, the 1993 'ongoing operations' limitation, the 2001 completed-operations exclusions and the introduction of CG 20 37, the 2004 'caused, in whole or in part' causation standard, and the 2013 'to the extent permitted by law,' 'not broader than required by contract,' and lesser-of limits provisions, with the anti-indemnity-statute background for those changes..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insureds and Completed Operations (Jeffrey Woodward, January 2001) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the explanation that the 1993 revision of the ISO additional-insured endorsements excluded completed operations by limiting coverage to ongoing operations, while the earlier 'your work' editions were widely assumed to include completed operations..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insured Endorsements—A Potential Minefield—Part 3 (Craig Stanovich, March 2006) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the comparison of CG 20 10 07 04 (which excludes injury or damage occurring after the work is completed or put to its intended use) with CG 20 37 07 04 (which provides completed-operations additional-insured coverage), and the observation that CG 20 37 can be difficult to obtain and that the 11 85 edition of CG 20 10 is generally no longer available..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Questions and Answers on Additional Insured Issues—Part 2 (Jack Gibson, July 2009) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that a certificate of insurance confers no coverage, that completed-operations additional-insured coverage for a post-completion period requires an endorsement such as CG 20 37 on each successive policy during that period, and that anti-indemnity statutes in some states limit the additional-insured coverage a contract may require..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Additional Insured Coverage under Excess Policies (Gregory Podolak, June 2017) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that a follow-form excess or umbrella policy follows the primary policy's additional-insured terms only to the extent its own terms do not differ, and that primary-and-noncontributory and waiver-of-subrogation terms often do not carry to the excess layer without a specific endorsement..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Contractual Insurance Requirements and Anti-Indemnity Statutes (Gregory Podolak, July 2016) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the count of states with construction anti-indemnity statutes (46 as of the article) and the examples of states whose statutes also void additional-insured coverage for the indemnitee's sole negligence (Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, and Oregon)..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Primary and Noncontributory (Craig Stanovich, December 2018) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that ISO introduced the Primary and Noncontributory—Other Insurance Condition endorsement CG 20 01 04 13 (available in most states April 2013) in response to contract demands for that wording, and that proprietary carrier additional-insured endorsements frequently alter the ISO other-insurance condition..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): The 2013 Edition of the CGL Policy (Craig Stanovich, March 2013) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that CG 20 01 applies only if the named insured agreed to primary and noncontributory terms in a written contract or agreement, and that its practical effect is to let 'primary and noncontributory' be shown on a certificate because the unendorsed ISO CGL does not use that phrase..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Subrogation and the CGL Policy (Craig Stanovich, December 2013) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that the CGL policy's operative wording is the Transfer of Rights of Recovery Against Others to Us condition, that the waiver endorsement is titled Waiver of Transfer of Rights of Recovery Against Others to Us (CG 24 04 05 09), and that under it only the insurer, not the named insured, waives rights of recovery against the scheduled party..
• International Risk Management Institute (IRMI): Effective Contractual Risk Transfer in Construction (Ann Hickman, March 2021) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports that ISO CG 20 10 (ongoing operations) and CG 20 37 (completed operations) are the standard owner/upstream-contractor additional-insured endorsements; that many contractors cannot provide the broader coverage of prior editions, notably the 11 85 edition of CG 20 10; that insurers resist manuscript additional-insured endorsements; and that CG 20 01 makes coverage primary and noncontributory when a written contract requires it..
• Saxe Doernberger & Vita (SDV Fenchurch): The 2019 ISO Forms: Additions, Revisions, and Pitfalls (December 2019) — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the December 2019 ISO revisions: the restated limits wording in the additional-insured endorsements including CG 20 10 and CG 20 37, the new automatic completed-operations additional-insured endorsements CG 20 39 and CG 20 40 and their written-contract condition, and the revised CG 24 04 and new automatic waiver endorsement CG 24 53..
• ACORD: Certificates of Insurance: Frequently Asked Questions — accessed 2026-10-18; supports ACORD's statement that a certificate of insurance is not an insurance policy and does not provide, endorse, amend, extend, or alter policy terms; only an endorsement, rider, or amendment to the policy changes coverage, and a reference to a contract on a certificate does not provide coverage..
• City of Riverside, California: Sample certificate package: ACORD 25 with CG 20 26 04 13, CG 24 04 05 09, CG 20 01 04 13, CA 04 44, and workers compensation waiver endorsements — accessed 2026-10-18; supports the ACORD 25 certificate's own notice that it is issued as a matter of information only, confers no rights on the certificate holder, does not amend, extend, or alter the policies, and that additional-insured status or a waiver of subrogation requires a policy endorsement; the package also reproduces CG 20 01 04 13, which makes the CGL primary and noncontributory toward other insurance on which the additional insured is a named insured only where the named insured agreed to that in a written contract, and shows that the general liability, auto, and workers compensation waivers are separate endorsements..