Your owner contract (AIA A101/A201) stipulates what every sub must carry and provide — the insurance limits, the lien waivers due at each payment. ZeroLien reconciles the paper you've collected against what the contract requires, and shows exactly where it doesn't match: a certificate short of the required limit, a payment released without its lien waiver. Compliance, checked across the board.
Request a free review See a sample reviewA sample. Yours reconciles your own certificates and waiver records against your contract's requirements — where you comply, and where you don't.
Qualitative — we report what the documents show, not a dollar "uninsured" figure. A certificate isn't the policy and doesn't carry the contract value at risk, so a dollar number off a cert folder alone would be manufactured, not measured. You get the specific documents to take to your broker.
These lien dollars are the sum of real amounts on real pay-app documents you provide — not a projection. Each line ties to a specific payment and a specific missing or wrong document. Where records aren't provided, that exposure isn't shown — we don't estimate it.
A certificate of insurance is not coverage — and two courts have made that binding.
ACORD 25 — the standard certificate form — says so in its own words: "issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights... does not constitute a contract." ACORD 25 disclaimer
A COI listing you as additional insured does not make you one. AI status requires an actual policy endorsement plus, where the endorsement requires it, a contract executed before the loss. Suffolk Construction v. Illinois Union (2011) · United Stationers v. Zurich (2008)
CG 20 10 covers ongoing operations; CG 20 37 covers completed operations — where most construction-defect claims surface. A 1985 form, a 2004 form, and a 2013 form grant materially different coverage. The wrong one on file is a gap you can't see. ISO endorsement editions, per IRMI
Payment alone doesn't release a lien right — a signed waiver does. Without the right waiver on file (and the final unconditional release), a sub you've paid, or a supplier the sub never paid, can still record a mechanic's lien against your project. That's the second exposure, and it's why the report reads both. Mechanic's-lien statutes; conditional vs. unconditional release
The COI diagnostic is the front door. ZeroLien tracks the entire compliance chain that puts your project at risk: insurance, waivers, and lien rights.
Every sub's coverage, edition, and expiry in one view — verified against the backing endorsement, not the certificate's say-so. Automatic renewal reminders so nothing lapses on active work.
Conditional and unconditional waivers tracked against every pay application. No waiver, no release — so a paid sub can't turn around and lien the property.
Preliminary notices, deadlines, and lien-right status for every party on the job — subs and their suppliers. See the whole chain of who could encumber the property, before they do.
One platform for the COI exposure, the waiver chain, and the lien-rights picture — the view that doesn't exist anywhere else. Start in 30 minutes; no IT department required.
A free contract-compliance review. No login, no commitment — a clear read of where your project complies and where it doesn't.
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