The highest-rated class code in construction, and the leak arrives years later.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — Roofing sits in one of the highest-rated class codes in the system, it is the coverage standard carriers decline first, and defaulting to the state fund is what most roofers end up doing.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — A leak that presents two years after the job is a completed operations claim, and it is the claim this trade actually has.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — Loaded trucks, trailers, tear-off debris and material deliveries run all day.

Inland marine & equipment

Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.

Without it — Compressors, nail guns, kettles, lifts and staging are stolen off sites constantly and property coverage stops at the yard.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — General contractors and property managers require limits above primary, and a fall claim exhausts them.

Contractors errors & omissions

Covers faulty workmanship and professional mistakes: the cost of the work itself being wrong, which general liability excludes by design.

Without it — A specified system that fails, or the wrong assembly for the deck, is a workmanship claim general liability excludes.

Contractors pollution liability

Bodily injury, property damage and clean-up caused by a pollutant your work released: chemical drift, run-off, fuel spills. The standard general liability form excludes all of it.

Without it — Tear-off can disturb asbestos, and hot tar and solvent are releases a general liability policy excludes.

Builders risk

Covers a structure while it is going up, and ends at completion. Not the same as the contractor’s general liability.

Without it — An open roof overnight is exposed to exactly the weather it exists to keep out.

Why is roofing workers comp so expensive?

Because falls from height are the most serious common injury in construction and roofing does nothing else. Most states rate roofers under NCCI class code 5551, and California under its own bureau code 5552, and either way it is among the highest-rated codes there is. It is also one of the hardest classes to place at all: standard carriers decline it, and a great many roofers end up in the state fund by default rather than by choice. Defaulting there is the part worth challenging, because eligible accounts frequently place better than they assume.

Does hot work change my policy?

It changes who will write you. Torch-down, tar kettles and any open flame introduce a fire exposure on somebody else’s building, and carriers ask about it specifically: what you use, on what assemblies, and what your hot work procedure is. A written procedure with a fire watch after work stops is worth real money here, and being vague about it reads as having none.

Why does everyone ask about completed operations?

Because the roofing claim is a leak, and a leak does not appear on the day you finish. It appears in the third storm of the following winter, inside a finished building, having damaged everything under it. That is a completed operations claim, so a policy that excludes the hazard or a general contractor’s additional insured endorsement that only covers ongoing work leaves exactly the wrong gap. On this trade, completed operations is the coverage, not an extra.

I do residential tract work. Is that a problem?

It is the exclusion to look for before you rely on the policy. Multi-unit and tract housing residential exclusions are common on contractor forms, and roofing on a development is precisely what they are written to remove: a defect repeated across a tract arrives as a class action or a homeowners association claim rather than as one dispute. It is placeable with carriers whose appetite includes residential, and not by arguing with one whose does not.

Does storm and hail work count against me?

It invites questions, and honest local roofers pay for the reputation of transient storm-chasing operations. What separates you from that on paper is evidence of permanence: how long you have been at the address, the proportion of revenue from repeat and referral work, your license history, and whether your crews are employees or a rotating cast. Those are worth putting in the submission rather than waiting to be asked.

My crews are subcontracted. What happens at audit?

Their payroll becomes yours unless they can produce their own certificate. On a class rated as highly as roofing, that is the most expensive audit surprise in construction: uncertificated sub labor gets added at your rate. Collecting certificates before the first shift is the single cheapest thing a roofer can do to control premium, and it is worth doing even when it is awkward.

What does a roofing insurance application ask for?

The applications for roofing businesses ask about 4 things above all: what kind of contracting work do you do; how many people do you employ; how do you screen or check out new equipment operators; who is your current insurance company, or your last one if you don't have coverage now. Have your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs and certificates of insurance from your subcontractors showing your company as additional insured ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.