Construction Indemnity and Additional-Insured Clauses
Indemnity and insurance clauses decide who pays when someone is hurt or property is damaged. Broad-form indemnity for the other party’s own fault is limited in many states.
Last reviewed: May 26, 2026 by the BizLeaseCheck Editorial Team
General information, not legal advice.
Overview
Indemnity clauses make one party responsible for certain claims and losses of another. In construction they are paired with insurance and additional-insured requirements that fund the indemnity.
The scope matters: limited-form (your fault only), intermediate-form (shared fault), and broad-form (covering the other party’s own negligence). Broad-form indemnity is limited or void by anti-indemnity statutes in many states.
Topics to check
Limited-form indemnity covers losses caused by your own negligence. Intermediate-form covers losses caused partly by you. Broad-form makes you indemnify the other party even for losses caused solely by that party’s own negligence.
Many states have anti-indemnity statutes that void or limit broad-form (and sometimes intermediate-form) indemnity in construction contracts. Whether a given clause is enforceable is a state-law question.
Contracts commonly require you to name the other party as an additional insured and to waive subrogation. The real coverage depends on the policy endorsement — its form, whether it covers ongoing and completed operations, and whether it is primary and non-contributory.
A contract promise to provide additional-insured coverage is only as good as the actual endorsement; confirm the endorsement matches the contract requirement.
Seek indemnity limited to the extent of your own negligence (comparative-fault indemnity), align indemnity with available insurance, and confirm the additional-insured endorsement actually provides the promised coverage. Watch for a duty to defend that is broader than the duty to indemnify.
Coordinate indemnity, insurance, and any waiver of subrogation so you are not promising more than your policy will fund.
Surety bond (Cornell LII Wex)Key takeaways
- Indemnity comes in limited, intermediate, and broad forms by fault allocation.
- Anti-indemnity statutes in many states limit or void broad-form indemnity.
- Additional-insured coverage depends on the actual policy endorsement, not just the contract.
- A duty to defend can be broader than the duty to indemnify.
- Align indemnity with available insurance and seek comparative-fault limits.
Official resources
Legal-review notes
Guide confidence marker: Needs lawyer verification.
- Anti-indemnity statutes and additional-insured/duty-to-defend rules vary by state and depend on the exact policy endorsement.
- Confirm indemnity and insurance scope with a construction attorney and a licensed insurance broker.
- This guide is general information from the BizLeaseCheck Editorial Team, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can I be made to indemnify a party for their own negligence?
Broad-form indemnity tries to do that, but many states have anti-indemnity statutes that void or limit it in construction contracts. Whether a clause is enforceable is a state-law question for a construction attorney.
Is an additional-insured clause the same as indemnity?
No. Indemnity is a contractual promise between the parties; additional-insured status is coverage under an insurance policy. They work together, but the real coverage depends on the policy endorsement form.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is general information for issue-spotting. Construction-contract enforceability — pay-if-paid, no-damages-for-delay, indemnity, lien and lien-waiver rules, retainage limits, and prompt-payment rights — varies by state and by whether the project is public or private, so confirm high-stakes points with a construction attorney licensed in the project’s state.