# What we heard at our first IRMI Construction Risk Conference > We came to National Harbor in orange polos with a field guide and one question. Here's what the construction risk community told us about contractor COIs. Published Oct 27, 2026 by Forsured. Forsured news. Source: https://forsured.ai/blog/forsured-at-irmi-crc-2026/ ![What we heard at IRMI CRC 2026: Too many alerts, not enough answers; Brokers want renewal data; Carriers watch contractor management; Big projects still run on spreadsheets; The words matter](https://forsured.ai/blog/forsured-at-irmi-crc-2026/hero.png) ## The short version - Forsured spent IRMI's 2026 Construction Risk Conference in National Harbor meeting brokers, carriers and contractors about contractor COIs. - The loudest complaint: today's COI tools throw too many red alerts and reject certificates over small issues without explaining what actually matters. - Brokers and carriers want contractor COI data they can bring to renewals and share with clients, not more paperwork. - Neutral wording, "project requirements" and "contractor COIs", landed with general contractors and trade contractors alike, so that's how we talk now. This week Forsured showed up at IRMI's Construction Risk Conference at the Gaylord National in National Harbor. It was our first CRC. We weren't on the sponsor list and we didn't have a booth. We had orange polos, an [independent field guide to the conference](/irmi-field-guide/), a short video about catching the COI gap, and one question for everyone we met: what happens to a contractor COI after it's filed? The answers were consistent enough that we want to share them. Nobody below is named, because these were hallway conversations, not interviews. ## 1. Too many red alerts, not enough answers The complaint we heard most came from people already paying for COI tracking. Their tools flag everything. Certificates get rejected over small formatting issues, contractors get frustrated, and the alerts that matter (a lapsed policy, an umbrella below the project requirement, an additional insured endorsement without completed operations) get lost in the noise. What they want is a review that reads the certificate and the endorsements the way a risk manager would, ranks what actually exposes the project, and says why. ## 2. Brokers want data for renewals Brokers told us the same thing in different words: show me what my client's contracts actually required last year, and how often their contractors fell short. With umbrella and excess rates still rising (WTW expects another 5% to 15% in 2027), walking into a renewal with that data is worth more than another stack of certificates. ## 3. Carriers care how contractors manage the trades they hire Underwriters are paying attention to contractor management. Carrier teams we spoke with were interested in tools they could point their construction insureds to, because a contractor that checks every COI against project requirements is a better risk. ## 4. Big projects are still run on spreadsheets Some of the largest projects represented at CRC still track contractor insurance in spreadsheets and inboxes. Certificates arrive in different formats from different countries, and the people responsible know they can't see the whole picture. ## 5. The words matter We came in using the general contractor's shorthand for the paperwork. By the end of day 1 we'd switched to "project requirements" and "contractor COIs." The neutral wording works for general contractors, trade contractors and owners alike, and it describes the real job: every contractor, checked against what the project requires. ## What's next We're following up with everyone who asked to see Forsured on their own paperwork. If we didn't get to meet you at the Gaylord, the offer is the same: a free COI risk check, no strings attached. Send one project's requirements and a contractor COI or two to hello@forsured.ai, and we'll walk you through every gap we find. We'll also keep writing here every weekday about what's moving in construction insurance and contractor COI compliance. Thank you to IRMI and everyone in National Harbor who stopped to talk. ## Common questions ### Was Forsured a sponsor or exhibitor at IRMI CRC 2026? No. Forsured attended IRMI's Construction Risk Conference independently. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by IRMI. Our field guide to the event was an independent guide we made for attendees. ### What is Forsured? Forsured is construction insurance compliance software. It checks every contractor COI against a project's insurance requirements, flags coverage and endorsement gaps, brings the contractor's broker into the fix, and keeps checking for the life of the project. ## Sources 1. [IRMI Construction Risk Conference (CRC)](https://www.irmi.com/conferences/construction-risk-conference), IRMI 2. [Insurance Marketplace Realities 2027: Construction](https://www.wtwco.com/en-us/insights/2026/10/insurance-marketplace-realities-2027-construction), WTW, Oct 1, 2026 --- Forsured: construction insurance compliance software. https://forsured.ai ยท hello@forsured.ai