got my first real commercial job booked, its for a property management company doing aerial photos of a few of their buildings. they emailed me asking for proof of insurance and to be listed as an additional insured on my policy. i have a policy through Skywatch already but im not sure if what i have actually covers this or how to get them the paperwork they need. my policy just shows my coverage amounts when i log in, theres no certificate or anything obvious to download.

also they asked about my FAA credentials which is easy, i can just send my part 107 cert. but the insurance thing is tripping me up. do all commercial clients ask for this or did i just happen to get a more corporate one first

yeah corporate clients almost always want a COI - certificate of insurance. the additional insured request is also super standard for property managers and bigger companies. you basically need to contact Skywatch directly and ask them to issue a certificate of insurance naming the client as an additional insured. most insurers can do this pretty quickly, sometimes same day. if your current plan doesnt support additional insured riders you might need to upgrade or switch to an annual policy, the day-rate stuff from Skywatch doesnt always include that feature depending on the tier.

honestly this is one of those things that catches a lot of newer commercial pilots off guard. its not a red flag from the client, its just how business works. get this sorted out and you'll know the drill for every client after this

every serious commercial client ive worked with asks for it, the ones who dont are usually smaller individual clients or people who just dont know to ask. i'd actually be a little concerned if a bigger company DIDN'T ask because it makes me wonder if they even know what they're dealing with liability wise lol. but yeah call or email Skywatch support, they're pretty responsive in my experience. and save that COI template for next time because once you figure out the process it's like a 10 minute thing