What property managers require of plumbing and HVAC vendors: service contracts for occupied buildings and how to prove you meet them

What a property manager requires of a plumbing or HVAC vendor

QUICK ANSWER

A property manager's mechanical vendor program typically requires general liability of $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate with $2M products-completed operations, the owner and management company as additional insureds for ongoing and completed operations, waivers of subrogation on every policy, commercial auto of $1M combined single limit, statutory workers' compensation with $1M employers' liability, pollution liability for refrigerants and fuel, and an umbrella of $1M to $5M, with certificates filed before service calls are dispatched.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 11, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Typical requirements and how to check them
Requirement	What they usually ask for	How to check what you have
Commercial general liability	$1M each occurrence / $2M aggregate, $2M products-completed operations, occurrence form, with the owner and manager as additional insureds for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory, and no water-intrusion or residential exclusion for apartment and condominium work	Dec page limits, both additional insured forms, and the exclusions page; water damage in an occupied building is the claim managers see most from these trades.
Waiver of subrogation	In favour of the owner and manager on general liability, auto, workers' compensation and umbrella	Waiver endorsement on each policy.
Contractors' pollution liability	$1M per claim for refrigerants, fuel oil, gas work and mould arising from the work, required by most programs that include boiler and chiller service	A pollution policy or endorsement with its own limit.
Commercial auto	$1M combined single limit on service vans and trucks, with hired and non-owned	Auto dec page symbol and limit.
Workers' compensation and employers' liability	Statutory in every state of the portfolio plus employers' liability of $1M / $1M / $1M, with a waiver and the plumbing or HVAC class codes	Information page with each state, Part Two limits, waiver endorsement and classification lines.
Umbrella or excess liability	$1M to $5M following form, higher for high-rise and senior-living portfolios	Umbrella dec page and underlying schedule.
Technician access conditions	Background checks for technicians entering occupied units, licences on file, and a vendor agreement with hold-harmless wording supported by contractual liability coverage	Vendor onboarding documents; the general liability policy's insured contract definition without a limiting endorsement.
Certificates through a compliance service	Certificates and endorsement copies uploaded to the manager's compliance service, which blocks dispatch until compliant and expires them at each renewal	The service's requirements sheet; a live certificate with endorsements attached is accepted by most services.

Requirement

What they usually ask for

How to check what you have

Commercial general liability

$1M each occurrence / $2M aggregate, $2M products-completed operations, occurrence form, with the owner and manager as additional insureds for ongoing and completed operations, primary and non-contributory, and no water-intrusion or residential exclusion for apartment and condominium work

Dec page limits, both additional insured forms, and the exclusions page; water damage in an occupied building is the claim managers see most from these trades.

Waiver of subrogation

In favour of the owner and manager on general liability, auto, workers' compensation and umbrella

Waiver endorsement on each policy.

Contractors' pollution liability

$1M per claim for refrigerants, fuel oil, gas work and mould arising from the work, required by most programs that include boiler and chiller service

A pollution policy or endorsement with its own limit.

Commercial auto

$1M combined single limit on service vans and trucks, with hired and non-owned

Auto dec page symbol and limit.

Workers' compensation and employers' liability

Statutory in every state of the portfolio plus employers' liability of $1M / $1M / $1M, with a waiver and the plumbing or HVAC class codes

Information page with each state, Part Two limits, waiver endorsement and classification lines.

Umbrella or excess liability

$1M to $5M following form, higher for high-rise and senior-living portfolios

Umbrella dec page and underlying schedule.

Technician access conditions

Background checks for technicians entering occupied units, licences on file, and a vendor agreement with hold-harmless wording supported by contractual liability coverage

Vendor onboarding documents; the general liability policy's insured contract definition without a limiting endorsement.

Certificates through a compliance service

Certificates and endorsement copies uploaded to the manager's compliance service, which blocks dispatch until compliant and expires them at each renewal

The service's requirements sheet; a live certificate with endorsements attached is accepted by most services.

What the manager is protecting

A mechanical vendor works inside occupied units and on the systems that flood, burn or release refrigerant when they fail. The manager's program protects every owner in the portfolio from those claims during and after the work, from a technician's injury, and from the hold-harmless in the vendor agreement being unsupported by the vendor's policy.

The lines a mechanical vendor program names

General liability with the owners and manager added for ongoing and completed operations, read for water-intrusion and residential exclusions. Pollution liability for refrigerants, fuel and mould. Waivers on every policy. Auto for service vans. Workers' compensation in every portfolio state. An umbrella scaled to the buildings. Technician background checks and licences, and certificates filed with the compliance service that controls dispatch.

How to check your policies against the program

Get the compliance service's requirements sheet. Match the general liability limits, confirm both additional insured forms and primary wording by number, and read the exclusions page. Confirm pollution coverage and its limit, the waiver on each policy, the auto limit, the workers' compensation states and the umbrella schedule. Upload the endorsements with the certificate and keep technician licences in the vendor file.

Keep the certificate current

Compliance services expire certificates at each renewal and stop dispatching work orders the same day. A live certificate link stays current as policies renew, carries the endorsements as attachments and notifies the manager when a line changes, which keeps service calls coming across the portfolio.

Questions people actually ask

Why does a service-call vendor need completed-operations coverage?

Because a water heater, valve or condensate line you serviced can fail months later and flood the units below. The manager wants your policy, including completed-operations additional insured status, to respond rather than the owner's.

We service apartments. Is a residential exclusion a problem?

Yes. Multifamily managers reject policies that exclude residential work. Declare the habitational work to your carrier so the exclusion is not added.

The manager asks for pollution liability for routine HVAC service. Is that normal?

Increasingly, yes. Refrigerant releases and mould from condensate problems are pollution claims under the general liability form, and managers of senior-living and high-rise buildings in particular require the coverage.

Do we need a separate certificate for every owner entity?

The blanket additional insured endorsement covers any owner the written agreement requires. Most compliance services accept one certificate naming the management company and the owners of the properties it manages, with a schedule on request.