Insurance for roofers — what to carry, and what it costs

Typically covers

• ✓Medical bills for a work injury, at rates the state sets
• ✓Part of the injured employee's lost wages
• ✓The employer too: covered employees generally can't sue over the injury

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Injuries outside work
• ✕Independent contractors, in most states
• ✕Lawsuits that get around the can't-sue trade-off — that's the employer's liability part of the same policy

Typically covers

• ✓Liability when a business vehicle injures someone or damages property
• ✓Accidents in vehicles titled to the business, driven by employees for work
• ✓The liability minimums states set for business vehicles

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Your liability when employees drive their own cars for work — that's hired and non-owned auto; the employee's own car stays on their personal policy
• ✕The freight or goods being hauled — that's cargo or inland marine coverage
• ✕Damage to your own vehicle, unless physical damage coverage is added

Typically covers

• ✓Customers or the state, if you break the licensing board's rules
• ✓The licensing requirement itself — where a board demands a bond, no bond often means no license

Typically doesn’t

• ✕You — the surety collects any payout back from you
• ✕Injuries or property damage from your work — that's general liability
• ✕Big-job performance disputes — a performance bond is its own instrument

Typically covers

• ✓Injuries to customers, visitors, and other third parties
• ✓Damage your operations cause to someone else's property
• ✓Legal defense for covered claims

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Your employees' injuries — that's workers' compensation
• ✕Mistakes in professional advice or design — that's professional liability
• ✕Redoing your own faulty workmanship itself

Typically covers

• ✓Tools and equipment that travel — in trucks, on job sites, between locations
• ✓Theft from a vehicle or job site, a common loss
• ✓Rented or borrowed gear, when it's listed on the policy

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Gradual wear and breakdown
• ✕Tools that stay at your shop — that's commercial property
• ✕The vehicles themselves

Typically covers

• ✓Financial harm from advice, designs, or specs that turn out wrong
• ✓Client claims that work failed inspection or missed a professional standard
• ✓Legal defense for those claims — often the largest cost

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Bodily injury or property damage — that's general liability
• ✕Intentional wrongdoing
• ✕Work redone purely as warranty or goodwill