GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR ROOFERS: WHAT IT COVERS AND WHAT IT DOESN'T
The straight truth about GL insurance for roofing contractors. What is actually covered, the completed operations trap, roofing exclusions, and what your policy may be missing.
General liability insurance is the most misunderstood policy in the roofing contractor's insurance stack. Most roofers know they need it. Many assume that having a GL policy means they are covered. The reality is more complicated — and for roofing contractors specifically, the gap between "having GL" and "having the right GL" can cost you your business.
This article breaks down exactly what GL covers, what it does not cover, and the specific issues that roofers face that other contractors may not.
The Basic Structure of Commercial GL
A commercial general liability policy (CGL) provides coverage across three major areas:
Coverage A — Bodily Injury and Property Damage: This is the core of GL. It pays for claims brought against you by third parties (not your employees) alleging that your operations caused bodily injury or property damage.
Coverage B — Personal and Advertising Injury: Covers claims of libel, slander, defamation, copyright infringement, wrongful eviction, and similar torts related to your business activities or advertising.
Coverage C — Medical Payments: Pays for immediate medical costs for people injured on your premises or by your operations, regardless of fault. Typically a small sublimit ($5,000-$10,000). Not a substitute for liability coverage.
For roofing contractors, Coverage A is where almost all meaningful claims land.
What GL Covers for Roofers
Third-Party Bodily Injury
If someone who is not your employee is injured because of your work or your presence on a job site, that is a third-party bodily injury claim.
Examples:
- A homeowner trips over your material staging area and breaks her wrist
- A passerby is struck by a tool that falls from your work area
- A building occupant slips on debris tracked into a hallway by your crew
- A child enters an unsecured job site area and is injured
Your GL pays: medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering damages, and legal defense costs if they sue.
Third-Party Property Damage
If you or your crew damage property that belongs to someone else, that is a third-party property damage claim.
Examples:
- Your worker backs a truck into a client's fence
- A bundle of shingles falls and damages a parked vehicle
- Your crew accidentally breaks a skylight during a tear-off
- Roofing debris damages neighboring landscaping
Your GL pays: repair or replacement cost for the damaged property, plus legal defense.
Products and Completed Operations
This is the most critical coverage for roofers — and the most commonly excluded. Products and completed operations covers claims arising from work that has already been completed.
Examples:
- A roof you installed eight months ago develops leaks due to improper flashing
- Water intrusion from a re-roofing project causes mold in a home's interior
- A commercial flat roof you installed develops ponding issues that damage rooftop HVAC equipment
- A metal roof you installed has improper fastener patterns that cause sections to lift in high wind
These claims happen after you finish the job and leave. Without products and completed operations coverage, your GL only protects you while you are actively working on a project. Once you're done and paid, you are on your own if something goes wrong later.
Legal Defense
Even if a claim against you is completely frivolous, you still need to hire a lawyer to defend yourself. GL pays those defense costs within your policy limits. In roofing-related lawsuits, legal defense alone can run $25,000-$100,000 before the case is even resolved.
What GL Does NOT Cover for Roofers
This is where most contractors get surprised.
Your Own Injuries
GL covers other people's bodily injury. It does not cover injuries to you or your employees. That is workers comp.
Your Own Tools and Equipment
GL covers damage you cause to other people's property. It does not cover your tools, equipment, or materials. That is a contractor equipment floater (tools and equipment policy).
Your Vehicles
GL does not cover accidents involving your vehicles. That is commercial auto insurance.
Your Own Property
If your materials are stolen from a job site or your compressor falls off a roof, GL does not cover it. Tools and equipment covers it.
Faulty Workmanship Itself
This is a crucial distinction that surprises many contractors. GL covers damage resulting from faulty workmanship — but it does not cover the cost of fixing the faulty workmanship itself.
Example: You install flashing incorrectly. The incorrect flashing allows water to intrude, damaging the ceiling, insulation, and flooring in the room below. GL covers the water damage to the ceiling, insulation, and flooring. It does not cover the cost of reinstalling the flashing correctly.
The distinction between "fixing your mistake" and "damage caused by your mistake" matters enormously in claim handling.
Professional Errors (in some policies)
Standard GL does not cover professional liability (errors and omissions). If you provide design advice, consulting, or drawings related to a roofing system and those recommendations cause loss, that may fall under professional liability rather than GL. For most residential and commercial reroofing contractors, this is not an issue — but for contractors who design roofing systems, specify materials, or provide engineering recommendations, it is a gap worth noting.
Intentional Acts
GL covers accidental damage. It does not cover intentional acts. If you or your crew deliberately damage a client's property, no GL policy covers it.
Employee Injuries
Covered by workers comp, not GL. (The employers liability section of your WC policy handles certain related claims.)
The Roofing Exclusion Problem
Here is the section that most roofing contractors need to read twice.
Roofing is explicitly classified as a high-hazard trade. Many standard commercial GL policies — especially those marketed as "general contractor" or "handyman" policies — contain exclusions for roofing work in the fine print.
These exclusions appear in several forms:
Classification-based exclusions: Your policy is issued under a specific class code (say, GC — general building). The policy language limits coverage to operations consistent with that classification. Roofing, classified separately, is excluded.
High-hazard work exclusions: Some policies have explicit "high-hazard operations" exclusions that list specific trades by name, with roofing among them.
Completed operations exclusions for roofing: Some policies cover roofing during operations but exclude roofing from completed operations coverage — meaning once the job is done, you have no coverage for post-completion claims.
Height exclusions: Some policies exclude liability from work performed above a certain height (10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet) — which covers virtually every roofing job.
If your policy has any of these exclusions and you have a roofing-related claim, the carrier will point to the exclusion and deny your claim. You paid premiums for a policy that does not cover your work.
The fix: Your GL policy should be written under roofing contractor classification codes (typically NCCI code 91581 for GL), explicitly including roofing operations and products and completed operations for roofing work.
Additional Insured Endorsements
Most roofing contracts require you to add the GC, property owner, or property manager as an additional insured on your GL policy. This extends some of your coverage to them, protecting them from claims arising from your work.
Additional insured endorsements should be worded correctly — the most common required form is CG 20 10 (for ongoing operations) and CG 20 37 (for completed operations). Some contracts require both. Know what form your GC requires and confirm your policy can issue it.
Additional insureds and certificate holders are different things. A certificate holder just receives proof of coverage. An additional insured has actual protection under your policy.
Occurrence vs. Claims-Made
CGL policies are written in one of two forms:
Occurrence: Covers incidents that happen during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is reported. If your policy was in force when you did the work, you are covered for claims that arise later — even years later.
Claims-made: Covers claims that are both filed and occurred during the policy period. To maintain coverage for past work, you need to keep the policy in force or purchase tail coverage.
For roofing contractors, occurrence form is almost always preferable. Completed operations claims from roofing work can surface months or years after the job. An occurrence policy keeps you covered for those old jobs as long as the policy was in force when the work was done. With claims-made, if you switch carriers or let your policy lapse, you may have no coverage for prior work.
How Much GL Does a Roofer Need?
Standard limits by project type:
If you are bidding commercial work and uncertain about limit requirements, call the GC before bidding. Finding out mid-job that you have insufficient limits is a much worse problem than pricing in the right coverage from the start.
Getting the Right GL Policy
Working with a specialist matters more for GL than for almost any other roofing policy. The difference between a well-written roofing GL policy and a standard contractor policy with roofing exclusions is often not visible in the premium — but it is completely visible at claims time.
At Contractors Choice Agency, we write GL policies specifically for roofing contractors with:
- Correct classification under roofing contractor codes
- Explicit products and completed operations coverage with no roofing exclusion
- Occurrence form coverage
- Proper additional insured endorsement capability
Call us at (800) 555-0177 or get a quote online. We will review your current policy and tell you what you actually have before you need to find out the hard way.
Contractors Choice Agency. Roofing insurance specialists. Licensed in all 50 states.
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