Roofing Insurance ?

budreau

hello
i'm new here just found the site and find it very usefull. i live in tx and have all my life and have roofed for over 25 yrs. i don't storm chase or anything like that, just working around where i live. that being said we had a bad storm 30 mls away last yr in a small town and i know lots of people there and am still working that storm now. my ? is my insurance company is up for renewal and they are jacking my premiums thru the roof (no pun intended). what are some options for a small company (1 crew) to look at.
they are tell me based on last yrs payroll -$200,000 in insurance would be around $11,500 per yr. . i was looking for a million coverage.
thanks for any help you may have

Astrix

Roofing is one of the more expensive types of construction work to insure. I assume you are only doing residential shingling (no commercial hot tar) and that the premium you quoted ($11,500) is for liability only, not a package policy including your tools & equipment, etc.

Here in Ontario the average rate for shingling is about $25 per $1,000 revenue, so up here you could expect to pay around $5,000.

The more information you can give your broker/agent, the better they will be able to negotiate a better insurance rate for you.

- How long have you had your business and have you always had insurance? Can you provide your previous insurance policy numbers as proof?
- What about claims? Can you give them a claims history?
- If you go with a higher deductible that will help lower your rate.
- Explain your hiring practices for your employees. Are they employees who are qualified (years experience, etc.) and have they stayed with you year-to-year; or do you just hire temporary casual labour off the street as you need it?
- Do you have a written safety procedure that you require all employees to sign off on?
- Do you belong to any roofing associations? Sometimes these associations have a program for insurance at better rates than what you be able to find on your own. Also, being part of an association shows the underwriter that you are committed to the business and not just fly-by-night.

I know that some of this might seem over-done for a small 1-crew operation but all this would help convince an insurance underwriter that you are a low risk and not a high risk.

budreau

libility only, never had a claim, 20 yrs on my own, insurance for all, but al of a sudden looks like i'm the bad guy for some reason.
thanks for the info.

buildpinnacle

Budreau,

When I was strictly roofing commercial buildings prior to full scale ins resto, my premiums ran around $42,000 per year on approx $1.5mill in gross sales. Roofing companies that carry the proper insurance and bid their jobs correctly can't even think about competing with a non-insured, non-licensed contractor. As Astrix stated, I believe hazardous waste haulers and steel workers are the only higher insurable risk. $11,500 on $200,000 in payroll doesn't sound that bad for $1mill.

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BobsLandscaping

Try the Hartford Group. I get my insurance through them, it's reasonable.

budreau

the $11,500 was for $200,000 coverage. i was looking for 1 mil. my payroll is around $150,000

budreau

thanks for everybodys help. i'll just keep looking ,its out there

apehangeralfy

Call John at MainLine. 888-467-6612, There in Calif. so afternoon is best...

Tell him Alfy from Florida sent you... Mine is less than half that for 1,000,000 in coverage, no extra charge for add. insured. $2,500 deductible... I shopped for a while and he gave me the best policy for the price.

DavidP

The sad part about insurance is that you can do everything right and not have any claims, but others make multiple claims and your rates go up too. This isn't fair in my opinion but the insurance companies haven't asked me what I thought of it lately.

buildpinnacle

My last full fledged 'roofing' policy had more things I couldn't do than what I could.

1. no work over 3 stories
2. no torch down
3. no heat weld
4. no apartment work
5. no condo work
6. no coverage if I used scaffolding

and much more. All that for $42k a year. The next policy actually gave me grief about using 'hot tar' since it's 500 degree. The glue for EPDM probably isn't low VOC. Where does it end? I guess I'll just start spreading peanut butter atop the buildings....then, of course, I could be sued b/c the peanut butter is bad and has salmanilla in it. How do we win?

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budreau

thats the kinda stuff i'm getting. is it a texas thing ?