Liability Insurance

WilliamH

Who do you use for your liability insurance? I worked for a roofer (was a roofer, now a GC contracting the roofing). From what I could gather prior to my end of employment with him, he wasn't quite "straight up" with his insurance company. This was his idea...as far as the insurance company knew, he only did remodeling. He never mentioned roofing. If he had a roofing issue, he would just make any repairs himself. Obviously, that's not the correct way to do business. Problem is, I can't find anyone to give me a quote. Is roofing liability insurance really that expensive?

thom

liability insurance does not cover faulty workmanship.

It might cover damage to property that is caused by the builder.

It might cover damage to property that is cause by the faulty workmanship.

If the roof leaks, it will not cover fixing the roof leak.

WilliamH

I realize the insurance doesn't pay to fix the leak. When I said my previous employer would take care of things himself, I meant that he would repair any damages caused by his roofers or contractors (instead of turning it in on his insurance). I assume the liability insurance, if someone chose to use it, would pay for whatever they are responsible for per the policy guidelines.

I appreciate the comment, but that still doesn't answer my question. Does anyone on this forum have coverage specifically for roofing? My previous employer made the following assumption..."If a major claim should arise from some work I do as a GC, even though I never told my insurance company I constract roofers, they will pay the claim, but cancel my policy aftwards." Is it common practice to not be upfront about the roofing? I just need to know the name of a company that will cover roofers up front (not spring a claim on them after a major claim and hope they cover after they find out I do roofing when I didn't tell them so in the beginning).

Chris G

There are some great roofing contractors on this forum, I am sure they will be along shortly to help you out, but........

PUT YOUR LOCATION IN YOUR PROFILE!

WilliamH

Thanks Chris. I didn't realize I didn't have it in there.

dougger222

A lot of roofers cheat with insurance by buying a remodeling or painting policy rather than a roofing policy. My Uncle only subbed new construction a few years ago and had remodeling insurance and one day his insurance company called his builders and asked what he did for them. They said roofing and he got dropped.

One of the questions when you get insurance is if you touch bundles. If you say yes even to load a roof the insurance goes up. My builders used to have the framers load the roof until a few years ago when they were told they would have to pay $200-300 more per job to load the roof. Now what I do is load the shingles and charge that to the builder.

For me as owner operator a $2 million dollar roofing liability policy runs me $3,000, cheap by all standards. By way of comparison a $2 million dollar general liability policy would cost me $1,300. Two years ago all the roofers in my family and myself got dropped by our old insurance company because one day they decided it was no longer profitable to insure roofers. My family has a over 100 years combined with liability insurance and there has never been a claim.

For the first time ever last year with the new insurance company I had to meet in person with an underwriter, Northfield Insurance Company, $500 deductible.

WilliamH

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post. The information is helpful.

dougger222

You are very welcome.

A couple years ago when talking with my insurance agent he said a guy who barely spoke English went in his office and said he wanted to get insurance to roof and was told he could just buy a general policy for way cheaper than roofing insurance. The agent said he had to turn him away. At least the "roofer" was honest!!!

Renegade

Yes, we have coverage strictly for roofing, because that's all we are is a roofing company. Not all companies will do roofing insurance and, yes, it is quite expensive compared to other trades. The cost depends on a number of things like the principal's credit, the size of your company, the type of roofing you want to cover, and the STATE you are working in. To give you an idea of the difference state-wise, we carry a $2million general and $1million veh policy. We also still do quite a bit of hot and torchdown which adds to it (for some reason they get nervous with open flames around the bldgs) In Idaho, our rates for the above run about $11,000/yr, very reasonable compared to our rate in Washington of around $40,000 for the EXACT same coverage.

As you can see, there is a HUGE difference depending on what state you are in, how big you are and what type of roofing you are doing. You just have to find agencies in your area to find out how good or bad your state is. (washington sux for roofers)

Also most will exclude condo's and multi dwellings unless you get added riders because apparently condo's and h.o. organizations are VERY sue-happy people so insurance companies just plain don't want to deal with them. Even if there is a problem with the foundation, they will still sue everyone involved, even the roofer.

dougger222

Your right on about the sue crazy condo folks. My dad got tied into a $50 million dollar law suit for 50 roofs he worked on in a townhome developement. The first thing my father told their lawyers is why none of the home owners had called him about a leaky roof in the 9 years they lived there.

The builder got sued and then tied every possible sub into the lawsuit. After an investation on behalf of the multi-million dollar builder (very deep pockets) the roof/roofers were found to be at no fault for the rot issues. They even tied the deceased brick layer into the lawsuit, they tried to tap into his multi-milion dollar estate he left his wife and kids.

My dad lost a lot of sleep and hair over the ordeal. In the end his name was dropped from any wrong doing.