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AIA A201-2017 insurance requirements, provision by provision

What AIA A201-2017 Article 11 and the A101 Exhibit A require of owner and contractor: liability, builder's risk, waivers, bonds and what to negotiate.

4BusinessInsurance · Published October 10, 2026

On an AIA project, the insurance obligations sit in two documents. Article 11 of the A201-2017 General Conditions sets the mechanics: who buys, notice of lapse, the mutual waiver of subrogation and how a property loss gets adjusted. Exhibit A to the A101-2017 owner-contractor agreement (Insurance and Bonds) sets the substance: the contractor's liability coverages and limits, the owner's builder's risk policy, optional coverages and the bonds.

AIA documents are copyrighted, so we paraphrase each provision and cite its number. Numbers follow the unmodified 2017 forms; project copies are usually edited. AIA's own help center notes that the 2017 edition moved the types and amounts of insurance out of A101 and A201 and into Exhibit A, and added a requirement that insurers and sureties be licensed where the project is located (AIA Contract Documents).

Read both: the exhibit has no waiver terms and Article 11 has no dollar limits. An empty blank in the exhibit can mean no requirement at all, or a later dispute.

A201-2017 Article 11, section by section

Section	What it does, in plain terms
11.1.1	Contractor buys the insurance described in the Agreement (Exhibit A) from insurers licensed in the project's jurisdiction, and the owner, architect and architect's consultants become additional insureds on the contractor's CGL
11.1.2	Contractor furnishes the bonds the contract documents call for, from a surety licensed in that jurisdiction
11.1.3	Anyone who appears to be a potential payment bond beneficiary (a sub or supplier) can ask for a copy of the bond, and the contractor must provide it
11.1.4	Contractor must tell the owner within three business days of learning a required policy is being cancelled or will expire; the owner may stop the work until replacement coverage is in place
11.2.1	Owner buys the insurance assigned to it in the Agreement, also from licensed insurers
11.2.2	An owner that will not buy the required property insurance must say so in writing before work starts; the contractor may delay and insure itself at the owner's cost, and the owner waives claims for losses the missing policy would have paid
11.2.3	Mirror of 11.1.4 for the owner's property insurance, with an equitable adjustment and the same owner waiver
11.3.1	Mutual waiver of subrogation for property losses covered by the project property insurance (detail below)
11.3.2	Extends the owner's waiver to its separate policies on adjacent property during construction and on the completed building after final payment, to the extent those policies allow
11.4	Owner may buy loss-of-use or delay insurance, and waives claims against the contractor and architect for loss of use of its property from fire or other hazards, however caused
11.5.1	Owner adjusts an insured property loss as fiduciary for everyone insured and pays out the shares, subject to any mortgagee clause
11.5.2	Contractor gets 14 days to object to a proposed settlement or allocation; disputes go to Article 15

Indemnity is not in Article 11. It is in §3.18.1, a limited-form clause that reaches bodily injury and property damage (other than the Work itself) only to the extent caused by the contractor's side's negligence. Because the CGL definition of an insured contract covers that kind of tort liability assumed by contract, the contractor's policy normally responds to it; see indemnification and hold harmless clauses and your insurance.

A101-2017 Exhibit A: the owner's side (Article A.2)

A.2.1 and A.2.2. Owner insures before work begins, gives the contractor a copy of the property policy on request (ask; certificates hide sublimits) and keeps its usual liability insurance.
A.2.3.1 Required property insurance. Unless the contractor takes this on under A.3.3.2.1, the owner buys a builder's risk policy on an "all-risks" completed value form, for the full project value on a replacement cost basis, at least the contract sum plus modifications and work by others. The owner, contractor and all tiers of subcontractors are insureds; mortgagees are loss payees. It runs to Substantial Completion.
A.2.3.1.1 Causes of loss. The policy may not exclude fire, explosion, theft, vandalism, collapse, earthquake, flood or windstorm, and must cover ensuing loss from faulty design, workmanship or materials. Sublimits are filled in. Earthquake, flood and named windstorm are often sublimited in the market, so the blank is where reality gets written down.
A.2.3.1.2 Specific coverages. Falsework, testing and startup, debris removal including code-driven demolition, and post-loss professional fees and claim preparation costs.
A.2.3.1.3 After Substantial Completion. Owner continues or replaces the property coverage on the completed project through the one-year correction period in A201 §12.2.2.
A.2.3.1.4 Deductibles. Owner absorbs losses within its deductible or retention.
A.2.3.2 Early occupancy. No partial occupancy until the property insurer consents in writing, because builder's risk forms commonly end or restrict coverage at occupancy.
A.2.3.3 Existing structures. On renovations and additions, the owner insures the existing building on a replacement cost basis through the correction period and bears any coinsurance penalty. Many builder's risk policies exclude existing structures, so this is usually the owner's own property policy.
A.2.4 Optional extended property. Checkboxes for delay in completion, ordinance or law, expediting cost, extra expense, civil authority, ingress/egress and soft costs.
A.2.5 Other optional insurance. Cyber coverage for the owner, plus a blank for anything else.

Exhibit A: the contractor's side (Article A.3)

A.3.1.1 Certificates. Due before work starts, at each renewal and on request, plus one showing continued completed operations coverage with the final payment application and at later renewals.
A.3.1.2 Deductibles. Contractor discloses its deductibles and retentions.
A.3.1.3 Additional insured. The CGL must cover the owner, architect and architect's consultants for claims caused in whole or in part by the contractor's negligence during operations, and the owner for completed operations; coverage is primary and noncontributory to the owner's own liability insurance; and, where commercially available, at least as broad as ISO CG 20 10 07 04 and CG 20 37 07 04 (CG 20 32 07 04 for the design team). The "in whole or in part" trigger and the 07 04 editions are deliberate: the later 04 13 editions add that the coverage applies only to the extent the law permits and is no broader than the contract requires. Check which edition your carrier issues; additional insured endorsements explained explains the differences.
A.3.2.1 Duration. Unless a different period is written in, the contractor keeps the required insurance through the correction period.
A.3.2.2.1 CGL. Occurrence form with per-occurrence, general aggregate and products-completed operations aggregate limits filled in, covering bodily injury, personal and advertising injury, property damage, completed operations and the §3.18 indemnity.
A.3.2.2.2 Prohibited exclusions. The CGL may not carry insured-versus-insured restrictions, exclusions of damage to the contractor's completed work performed by subcontractors (that is, the subcontractor exception to the "your work" exclusion must remain), action-over or employee-injury indemnity exclusions, prior work or prior injury exclusions, and, where the job involves them, habitational, roofing, EIFS, subsidence, or explosion-collapse-underground exclusions. This is where a cheap policy fails compliance; have your broker check every endorsement against the list.
A.3.2.3 to A.3.2.6. Auto liability on owned and non-owned vehicles; umbrella or excess may make up the limits, but must be no narrower than the primary and may not insist that exhaustion happen only by the underlying insurer's actual payment; statutory workers' compensation; employers' liability limits.
A.3.2.7 to A.3.2.10. Jones Act and USL&H for work near navigable waters, professional liability if the contractor provides design, pollution liability if the work involves pollutants, or a combined professional and pollution policy.
A.3.3. Optional checkboxes: builder's risk bought by the contractor instead (A.3.3.2.1), railroad protective liability within 50 feet of rail property, asbestos abatement, property in transit and storage, and contractor's equipment.
A.3.4 Bonds. The parties write in each bond's type and penal sum; bonds are on AIA A312 or identical terms.
A.4. Special terms, where the project-specific changes go.

The waiver of subrogation in practice

Under §11.3.1, owner and contractor give up claims against each other, the architect and its consultants, separate contractors, and everyone's subcontractors, agents and employees, for damage covered by the required property insurance or any other property insurance on the project. Matching waivers must flow down the chain, the policies must allow them, and the waiver applies even to a party that would otherwise owe indemnity or paid no premium.

So if a roofer's torch starts a fire, the builder's risk carrier pays and cannot sue the roofer. The waiver does not reach the deductible or loss above a sublimit, and it says nothing about liability policies; contracts that want waivers on CGL, auto and workers' compensation say so separately. Courts in different states read "covered by" differently when one owner policy insures both the Work and other property, so §11.3.2 deserves attention. The mechanics of endorsing a waiver are in waiver of subrogation: what it is and when contracts require it.

Hypothetical: a fire before Substantial Completion

Say a fire damages a half-built medical office and the owner's builder's risk policy pays. Under §11.5.2 the owner sends the contractor the proposed settlement and allocation; the contractor objects within 14 days because its extended general conditions are missing. The owner settles anyway, directs reconstruction, and the allocation fight goes to Article 15. Because of §11.3.1, nobody pursues the electrician whose temporary wiring caused the fire. The owner's lost rent from the delay stays with the owner under §11.4 unless it checked the A.2.4.1 delay coverage.

What to negotiate

Contractors:

Fill or strike every blank.
Match the A.3.2.2.2 exclusion list to your policy before bid, and price the fixes.
Ask whether a blanket additional insured endorsement in current ISO editions will be accepted in place of the 07 04 forms.
Read the owner's builder's risk sublimits, deductibles and occupancy clause. If you are asked to buy it under A.3.3.2.1, price it and settle who pays the deductible.
Watch the completed operations duration; a period tied to the statute of repose is a real cost.
Flow the same terms to subcontractors with the subcontractor insurance requirements builder (see also managing subcontractor insurance and certificates).

Owners:

Decide early who buys builder's risk, and whether a wrap-up replaces the standard scheme.
Choose the A.2.4 options deliberately; soft costs and delay coverage keep a lender whole.
On renovations, tell your property carrier about the work and confirm it allows the waiver.
Set bond penal sums and confirm the surety is licensed; see bid, performance and payment bonds: how contract surety works.

Have a construction attorney and a construction broker review the edited documents together. The contract insurance requirements checker organizes the comparison; insurance requirements by contract type: a side-by-side guide compares AIA with ConsensusDocs and other contracts.

Key takeaways

A201-2017 Article 11 holds the mechanics (notice, waivers, loss adjustment); A101 Exhibit A holds the coverages, limits, builder's risk terms and bonds.
The owner buys builder's risk by default, on a completed value, replacement cost form that names all tiers of contractors as insureds.
The §11.3.1 waiver applies only to losses covered by property insurance; deductibles, sublimits and liability claims fall outside it.
Exhibit A's additional insured standard (CG 20 10 and CG 20 37, 07 04 editions, primary and noncontributory) and its list of prohibited CGL exclusions are where contractors most often fall short.
Complete every blank and checkbox, and read the owner's actual property policy before work starts.

Terms used in this guide

Builder's risk Property insurance for a building under construction or renovation, covering the structure, materials and temporary works until completion or occupancy. Waiver of subrogation An endorsement in which an insurer gives up its right to recover a paid claim from a named party, usually one the policyholder contracted with. Additional insured A person or business added by endorsement to someone else's liability policy so it can claim directly for suits tied to the policyholder's work or premises. Completed operations Liability coverage for injury or damage that occurs after a contractor or service provider finishes a job and leaves, arising out of the finished work. Primary and noncontributory Wording that makes your liability policy respond first to a party you named as an additional insured, without drawing on that party's own insurance. Performance bond A surety bond guaranteeing a contractor will finish a project under its contract; if it defaults, the surety completes the work or pays the owner.

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