How Maverick Exteriors turned a $30,000 audit into a verified crew roster
A family roofing and exteriors company in Lenexa, Kansas, running every job on subcontracted crews. They had certificates on file for all of them. The audit showed what the certificates were worth.
$30,000 audit charge taken to $0
The workers comp premium audit Maverick was hit with before TradeGuard.
Michael Blake, Co-Owner
3x more subcontractors on the roster
Every crew added since TradeGuard started is verified against Maverick's agreement.
100% of active subs properly endorsed
Certificates name the right entity and carry the endorsements the agreement requires.
At a glance
- Company
- Maverick Exteriors (Blake Enterprises Inc.)
- Location
- Lenexa, Kansas
- What they do
- Residential and commercial roofing, siding, windows, gutters
- Workforce
- Subcontracted crews on every job
- Using
- TradeGuard Insurance and TradeGuard Compliance
- Customer since
- March 2026
- On camera
- Michael Blake, Co-Owner
The setup
Maverick Exteriors has been roofing Kansas City since 2000. Michael and Jack Blake run the company now, with Brent Blake as president, and like nearly every roofing contractor in the market, the people on the roof are subcontracted crews, not employees.
That's normal. What it means for the business is that every crew's insurance is Maverick's risk. If a sub's coverage lapses, or his certificate names the wrong company, or his policy doesn't extend to Maverick's jobs, the claim lands on Maverick.
Before TradeGuard, the control for that risk was a folder.
“We used to handle COIs just by collecting the documentation and looking at it. As long as we had something in writing, we pretty much called it good.”
What was actually in the folder
When TradeGuard started reading those certificates against Maverick's subcontractor agreement, the folder came apart.
- Several certificates were made out to “Maverick Exteriors” instead of the legal entity, Blake Enterprises Inc. A certificate naming the wrong holder is a piece of paper, not coverage.
- Most of the roster was missing the endorsements that make a sub's policy actually protect the hiring contractor: Additional Insured for ongoing and completed operations, Primary and Non-Contributory, Waiver of Subrogation. Some certificates read “Proof of Insurance” in the description box and nothing else.
- W-9s were missing for part of the roster, and the subcontractor agreement itself was being rewritten mid-season.
None of this was visible from the folder. Every sub had a certificate. That was the whole problem.
The audit
Then the workers comp audit arrived. The carrier's auditor looked at Maverick's payroll, looked at what the subs could prove, and charged Maverick $30,000 for coverage the subs should have been carrying themselves.
“We were so busy scaling the business and learning. We got hit with a thirty thousand dollar insurance audit. Before we were with TradeGuard, we had no idea why these things were happening or what was going on.”
A premium audit is where sub compliance stops being paperwork and becomes a bill. If a sub can't prove his own workers comp, the carrier assumes his payroll is yours.
What TradeGuard did
Maverick came to TradeGuard for insurance first. The audit was already on the table.
Erased the audit charge.
TradeGuard took over Maverick's workers comp and general liability as broker of record, tracked down the correct certificates for every sub the auditor had counted, organized the file the way an auditor reads it, and told Maverick exactly what to say and send. The $30,000 charge went to zero.
Rebuilt the requirements.
TradeGuard read Maverick's 2026 subcontractor agreement and turned it into a specific requirement set per sub: liability limits, workers comp or a valid exemption, the correct certificate holder, and the four endorsements that make the coverage real.
Went to the subs' brokers.
For every sub with a gap, TradeGuard contacted the sub's own insurance agency, named the specific endorsements missing, and chased revised certificates until they were right. Maverick's office did none of this.
Turned on monitoring.
Every sub's policy is tracked to expiration, renewals are chased before they lapse, and a lapse shows up as a status change, not a surprise.
Built the audit file.
The next premium audit package is generated in one step: a folder per sub, current certificates labeled, verification history, and a summary report, ready to hand to the auditor.
“They walked us through the whole process. They helped us get it fixed and prevent it from happening again.”
What changed
The roster tripled. Maverick has brought on three times the subcontractors it had when it started with TradeGuard, and each new one is handed off the day Maverick decides to use them.
“Every time we bring on a new subcontractor, we immediately send everything over to TradeGuard. I know that the minute I send it to them, it's handled completely.”
The certificates mean something now. Every active sub names the right entity and carries the endorsements Maverick's agreement requires, confirmed with the sub's broker, not assumed from a checkbox.
The audit is a file, not a bill. When the carrier's auditor comes back, Maverick sends the package.
“From start to finish with all of our new subcontractors, I don't have to worry about it anymore. I know I have them in my corner and everything's going to be handled.”
The short version
Maverick had certificates for every crew and no coverage for most of them, and found out the expensive way. TradeGuard erased the audit, rewrote the standard from Maverick's own agreement, made the subs' brokers meet it, and keeps it that way. Insurance and sub compliance from one team, because for a roofing contractor they're the same problem.
“If you're a contractor trying to level up your operations and bring on new crews, TradeGuard is a company that's going to have the systems and processes to take you there.”
Find out what your subs' certificates are actually worth
Send us three current sub COIs and your subcontractor agreement. We'll tell you which ones would hold up in an audit, on a 20-minute call.