Insurance For Roofers Guide
If you are a roofing contractor, you expose yourself daily to a hazardous work environment where many things could go wrong. To protect yourself and your business, you need roofing insurance. This guide will go over what this type of insurance covers, how much it costs, and where you can get it.
Do You Need Roofing Company Insurance?
Before we explain everything roofing insurance covers, let’s answer the first question you probably have: do you really need roofer insurance? The answer is yes.
As a legal requirement, roofers usually must carry general liability insurance, workers’ compensation (if you have any employees), and a surety bond. The exact amounts required will depend on your state.
Are you looking for Roofers Insurance?
You need roofing insurance for a couple of other reasons too. For starters, as a roofing contractor, you will find it easier to find work if you have it. Some general contractors may only work with you if you do.
For another thing, you need the roofer insurance to protect your business should something go awry. Here are just a few examples:
- You or one of your workers could slip and fall. You could even fall off of the roof.
- A tool could slide off the roof and strike the client or someone else, injuring them.
- Your tools could be damaged or stolen, interrupting your ability to work.
- An omission in your work could result in a leak. Or, a customer could claim you caused a leak, even if you did not.
Roofer insurance can come to the rescue in scenarios like those above.
Types of Roofer Business Insurance

As a roofing contractor, here are some key types of policies to protect your business:
- General liability insurance: This type of roofer insurance policy is one of the core types you will need to satisfy legal requirements in most states. General liability insurance for roofing contractors covers injuries and damages to third parties or their property. So, for example, if your tool falls off the roof and hits a passerby, this type of insurance would pay out toward their medical bills and/or lawsuit against you.
- Errors and omissions insurance: This type of insurance covers professional negligence (actual or perceived). If a client claims that you damaged their home through negligence, they might sue you. You could lean on this type of insurance to help you pay your legal costs.
- Workers’ compensation: Any roofing contractor who employs one or more persons is legally required to pay for workers’ compensation. If your worker becomes sick or injured on the job, workers’ compensation can help pay the cost of their medical bills and/or time out of work.
- Tools and equipment insurance: This is a type of insurance that covers your tools and equipment, as the name suggests. This can be very important for a roofing contractor, as you rely on your tools in order to be able to perform your work.
- Commercial auto insurance: You cannot use personal auto insurance to cover the vehicle you are using for work when you are using it for commercial purposes. For that, you will require commercial auto insurance.
- Product liability insurance: This type of insurance is helpful if you ever sell products to your customers. It can pay out if a customer sues you for something, i.e. for recommending a product that later turned out to be unsafe, etc.
- Business interruption insurance: If an injury, damaged tools, or anything else of that nature ever prevents you from working for a period of time, this type of coverage can pay out to help compensate for some of your lost wages.
- Surety bond: If you cannot complete a job for whatever reason, getting a surety bond ensures that a third party will guarantee completion of the work. They either will find someone else to do it, or they will compensate the client.
There may be other types of roofer insurance as well that you can consider.
How Much Does Roofer Insurance Cost?
Now you are familiar with the different kinds of insurance policies available to roofers. But what does this type of insurance cost each month?
There is significant variance in rates for roofing insurance based on a variety of factors. For example, for general liability insurance policies, roofers may pay anywhere from around $250 a month to up to $800 a month.
Other policies for roofers might run as low as $8 in some cases (i.e. for surety bonds) to hundreds more.
Here is a summary of some of the most prevalent factors that can impact the cost for roofer insurance premiums:
- Deductible: The amount you have to pay out of pocket before coverage begins is the deductible. Raising the deductible can lower your premiums. Remember though that if you have to use your insurance, you will end up paying more with a higher deductible. You have to weigh the pros and cons of a higher or lower deductible to make up your mind about which to choose.
- Maximum amount: A higher maximum coverage amount will mean paying higher monthly premiums for roofing insurance. But it also may be helpful if you end up with a high expense you need the insurance to cover.
- Which policies you get: If you need to buy a lot of different types of policies, then you will pay more than if you only needed several.
- Nature of work: The exact types of roofing jobs you perform may impact your insurance rates, as some types of roofing work may impose more risks than others.
- Work environment: Where you work will impact your rates. Someone working on roofs with steeper slopes or higher off the ground might have higher rates, for example.
- Geographical area: Some geographical regions may be riskier to work in than others. If the area gets a lot of strong gusts of wind, for example, or rain, roofing contractors could be at a higher risk for injuries than in dry, calm climates.
- Years in business: The longer you have been operating as a roofing contractor, the more time and practice you have had to learn how to do your job safely. This may help you to qualify for more affordable premiums than someone who is just getting started in this field.
- Payroll: For roofing contractors who have employees, the size of the payroll will impact the cost to pay for workers’ compensation. The more employees you have and the higher their salaries, the more you will pay to protect them with workers’ comp policies.
- Discounts: Many insurance companies reward customers for safe practices, for bundling policies, or for staying with them for a long period of time. You should talk to any insurance companies you are considering to ask them what types of discounts they offer, and which you might qualify for now and years down the road.
- Underwriting: How each individual insurance company underwrites policies is unique to that company. No two companies have an identical assessment of risk. That is why they will give you different quotes for your premiums.
Shopping around is the best way to make sure that you are getting affordable insurance rates for your roofing business.
Where to Get Roofing Business Insurance Quotes
If you are ready to get the roofer insurance that your business needs to operate smoothly, click on any of the links below to request custom quotes from our recommended insurance carriers for roofing contractors.