Contractor certificates of insurance and gate codes for garage condos

Why the gate is the right checkpoint

Garage condo communities are often gated, and owners hire detailers, lift installers, electricians and builders to work in their units. The gate is the one place every contractor passes, so it’s where to ask for insurance: no current certificate, no code.

Write the contractor insurance rule

Condo practice is a certificate of insurance before a contractor steps on the property. An insurance agent quoted by New England Condominium magazine recommends general liability of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, workers’ compensation at statutory limits, and a certificate that names the association as additional insured. A rule along those lines:

Commercial general liability at or above your minimum per occurrence; $1,000,000 is the condo practice.
Workers’ compensation, where the contractor has employees.
The association named as additional insured, with its exact legal name.
The association, at its mailing address, as the certificate holder.

The Davis-Stirling legal resource for California associations adds two points worth knowing: ask for additional-insured coverage for both ongoing and completed operations, and watch for a multi-family or multi-unit exclusion in the contractor’s liability policy, which a certificate won’t show. Ask your association’s insurance agent which requirements fit your community; this guide isn’t legal or insurance advice.

What to check on a certificate

The contractor. The insured named on the certificate is the company doing the work.
The coverage. General liability at or above your minimum, and workers’ compensation if your rule asks for it.
The dates. The policy period covers the job. Record the end date.
Additional insured. The association is named, and the certificate or an attached endorsement shows it.
Where it came from. Davis-Stirling warns that vendors have been known to alter certificates, and recommends getting proof directly from the carrier or the agent.

Issue gate codes that end

One code per contractor, never a shared code.
Set the days and hours of the job, and a stop date no later than the certificate’s end date.
Record who has each code, for which unit and job, and the day it should stop.
Take the code out of the gate on that day, or enter the end date when you program it, if your gate system can.
When the contractor sends a renewed certificate, issue a new code.

Owners’ own vehicles and insurance

In a typical garage condo community the association insures the building shell, and owners insure their interior improvements, tools and vehicles. If your rules ask owners to keep vehicle registration and insurance on file, track those end dates the same way you track contractors’ certificates.

At the gate

Whoever minds the gate needs a quick answer: is this contractor cleared today, and is this vehicle current? A printed list of cleared contractors and current vehicles works; so does a status-only check page that shows status without owners’ names or addresses.

Doing this in Baybook

In Baybook for garage condos the office issues a contractor a gate code only when their certificate meets your rules. Baybook records each code with its days, hours and the day it should stop, emails it to the contractor, keeps it on their record, and shows the code as ended when the certificate ends. Baybook doesn’t connect to your gate; the office programs the code. Owners keep their vehicle documents current from a personal link, and whoever minds the gate gets a check page. See pricing, or try the garage condo demo.

Template: contractor insurance and gate access rules

Send this to owners and post it where contractors will see it, with your own numbers in the braces.

{Association name}: contractors, insurance and gate codes

Every contractor or vendor working on site needs a current certificate of insurance on file before receiving a gate code.

The certificate must show
- Commercial general liability of at least {$1,000,000} per occurrence.
- Workers’ compensation at statutory limits, if the contractor has employees.
- {Association legal name}, {association mailing address}, named as additional insured.
- Policy dates that cover the work.

Send it to {office email}, or ask your insurance agent to send it to us directly.

Gate codes
- Each contractor gets their own code, for the days and hours of the job.
- A code stops on the job’s last day or the certificate’s end date, whichever comes first.
- Codes aren’t shared. A shared code is removed from the gate.

Owners
- If you hire a contractor, ask them to send the certificate at least {2 business days} before the work starts.

Questions: {office or property manager}, {phone}.

Download as a text file

Questions

Should every contractor get their own gate code?

Yes. A code per contractor lets you end one contractor’s access without changing anyone else’s, and if your gate keeps a log, it shows who came in.

How much general liability should a contractor carry?

Condo practice is at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, with the association named as additional insured. Your association’s insurance agent can tell you whether bigger jobs, such as a mezzanine or electrical work, need more.

What happens when a contractor’s certificate expires mid-job?

Their code should stop on that day. Ask for the renewed certificate before then, and issue a new code once it’s in.

Sources

The published rules and articles this guide quotes, as we read them in October 2026. Each community’s own documents are the final word on its rules.

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