CG 20 37: the completed-operations additional insured endorsement
Of every additional-insured form a general contractor demands from a subcontractor, the CG 20 37 is the one most likely to be promised, invoiced for, and then quietly absent at the next renewal. It's the endorsement that keeps the upstream party covered after the job is finished — the years when a roof leaks, a weld cracks, or a foundation settles. A renewal that carries the ongoing-operations form forward but drops this one looks fine on the declarations and fails exactly when a completed-operations claim lands. That is a textbook silent gap, and it's an E&O exposure for the agency that placed it.
This page is a plain-English reference to the FACTS of the CG 20 37: what it does, its edition history, how it pairs with the CG 20 10, and why comparing your renewal's form schedule against the expiring policy is the only reliable way to catch a dropped one. It describes form facts only and does not reproduce any copyrighted ISO wording. For the side-by-side of ongoing vs. completed operations, see our additional-insured-endorsements guide.
What the CG 20 37 does
The CG 20 37 — Additional Insured, Owners, Lessees or Contractors, Completed Operations — is an ISO commercial general liability endorsement that adds a scheduled person or organization as an additional insured, but only for liability included in the 'products-completed operations hazard' and caused, in whole or part, by the named insured's work performed for that additional insured. In plain terms: after the sub finishes the job and demobilizes, if the completed work later causes bodily injury or property damage that the upstream party gets sued over, the CG 20 37 is what may respond on the sub's policy.
This is a scheduled form — the additional insured and the location/description of the work go in the schedule. It is deliberately narrow: it does not cover ongoing operations (that's the CG 20 10's job), and it responds only within the products-completed operations hazard as defined in the CGL.
Why it's separate from the CG 20 10
The two forms are complementary halves of the same protection, split by timeline. The CG 20 10 grants additional-insured status for the named insured's ONGOING operations — while crews are on site and work is in progress. Its grant generally ends when operations are complete. The CG 20 37 picks up from there and extends status into the completed-operations phase, which for construction defect is where most claims actually surface, often years after handover.
A contract that requires 'completed operations' or 'products-completed operations' additional-insured coverage needs the CG 20 37 specifically — the CG 20 10 alone will not satisfy it. This is the pairing that gets broken at renewal: the ongoing form survives the re-underwrite and the completed-ops form silently doesn't.
- CG 20 10 — ongoing operations; ends at completion.
- CG 20 37 — completed operations; the products-completed operations hazard window.
- Many construction contracts require BOTH — keep them together on every renewal.
- Some 20 10 editions (2013 and later) added exclusions and now often travel with a separate CG 20 37 to preserve the completed-ops half.
Editions matter — and so does the schedule
The CG 20 37 has moved through several ISO editions, and the edition date printed on the form is not cosmetic. Widely-seen editions include CG 20 37 07 04, CG 20 37 04 13, and CG 20 37 12 19. Later editions tightened the grant — for example tying coverage more explicitly to what a written contract or agreement actually requires, and aligning limits to the lesser of the contract or the policy. An edition change between the expiring policy and the renewal can quietly narrow the additional insured's protection even when the form number is identical.
Beyond the edition, check the schedule. A CG 20 37 is only as good as the parties named in it, and a blanket variant is only as good as the contract language it points to. Confirm the required upstream parties are actually scheduled — a form present on the policy but naming the wrong entity is functionally a gap.
- Compare the EDITION DATE, not just the form number — 07 04 vs 04 13 vs 12 19 differ.
- Confirm the scheduled additional insured matches the parties the contract names.
- Watch for blanket 'where required by written contract' language and whether the contract triggers it.
- A newer edition can narrow the grant even when the form 'carried forward.'
How BindCheck catches a dropped or downgraded CG 20 37
BindCheck diffs the renewal against the prior policy (or the accepted quote) deterministically — same two documents, same result — and reports every ISO/AAIS form that was added, dropped, reduced, or edition-changed, each finding cited to its source page. If last term's policy carried a CG 20 37 and the renewal doesn't, that shows up as a dropped completed-operations additional-insured endorsement, not a line you have to notice by eye across two hundred pages. An edition change from CG 20 37 04 13 to a later edition is flagged as an edition change so you can confirm the grant wasn't narrowed.
Because the diff is E&O-defensible and page-cited, you have a record that the completed-ops form was checked at renewal — the kind of documentation that matters if a claim ever questions the placement. Manuscript or carrier-drafted additional-insured endorsements are never auto-interpreted; they're flagged for a human, because a non-standard AI form is not safely assumed equivalent to a CG 20 37.
Frequently asked questions
Does a certificate of insurance prove the CG 20 37 is in force?
No. The 'completed operations' box on an ACORD certificate is an assertion, not proof — the endorsement form on the actual policy is the proof. Policy checking works from the policy's form schedule, which is where the coverage really lives. A certificate can show completed-ops checked while the endorsement is missing or on the wrong edition.
Why would a renewal drop the CG 20 37 if nothing changed?
Usually it isn't deliberate. A re-underwritten renewal is rebuilt from the carrier's current forms library, and a scheduled endorsement like the CG 20 37 can simply fail to carry forward while the more common CG 20 10 does. That mismatch is exactly why comparing the renewal's form schedule to the expiring term's is worth doing on every account.
Is CG 20 37 the same as CG 20 10?
No — they cover different phases. CG 20 10 grants additional-insured status for ongoing operations and generally ends at completion; CG 20 37 covers the completed-operations (products-completed operations hazard) phase after the work is done. A contract requiring completed-ops coverage needs the CG 20 37 specifically. See our additional-insured-endorsements guide for the full comparison.
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