Ohio Roofing Contractor Insurance

You're a roofing contractor. You bought general liability insurance. You assumed roofing work was covered.

Then a claim comes in. Your agent pulls the policy and there it is. A roofing exclusion endorsement. Your policy excludes the exact work you do every single day.

This happens more than you'd think. Cheap policies written through online platforms and budget carriers often come with a roofing exclusion baked in to keep the premium low. The contractor never reads the endorsement page. The agent never explains it. Everyone finds out at claim time, which is the worst possible time to find out.

At Equilibrium Insurance Partners, we're Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC). We read every endorsement on your policy before you buy it. If there's a roofing exclusion, a steep slope exclusion, or any limitation on the work you actually do, we catch it before it costs you.

There's a difference. You'll know exactly what that difference is when you have a claim.

Roofing contractor insurance isn't one policy. It's a program built around the specific risks of roofing work across residential, commercial, and industrial properties.

You're working at heights, on steep slopes, with torches and open flame on some jobs, removing and replacing materials that protect a structure from water intrusion. The risk profile for roofing is different than almost any other trade. Fall exposure is higher. Fire risk from hot work is real. And the consequences of a failed roof, leaks, water damage, mold, can show up months after the job is done.



Ohio requires roofing contractors to carry liability coverage to maintain licensure. Most roofing contractors we talk to have never had anyone confirm that their policy actually covers roofing without exclusions or limitations. They find out what they have when they have a claim.

General Liability Insurance

Your foundation. General liability covers bodily injury and property damage resulting from your operations. A shingle falls and damages a vehicle. A leak develops after installation and causes interior damage. Someone is injured on a job site you're working on. General liability responds, assuming your policy doesn't exclude roofing.

Read your policy. Look for a roofing exclusion endorsement, a steep slope exclusion, or a hot work exclusion. These are common on budget policies and they mean exactly what they say. The work you do every day may not be covered.

Minimum recommended limits for Ohio roofing contractors are $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. Commercial GCs and property managers often require higher limits for roofing subs specifically because of the elevated risk profile.

Completed Operations Coverage

A new roof installed in the spring can develop a leak in the fall. Water damage spreads through the interior before anyone notices. By the time the claim comes in, the job has been done for months.

Completed operations coverage extends your general liability protection after the job is finished. Without it, your coverage stops the moment you leave the job site. For roofing, where failures often don't show up immediately, this is one of the most important coverages you can have.

Verify your completed operations coverage is in place and confirm it isn't limited or excluded for roofing work specifically.

Workers' Compensation

If you have employees in Ohio, workers' comp is required by law. Ohio is a monopolistic state, meaning you purchase through the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC), not a private carrier.

Roofing has one of the highest workers' comp rates of any trade because of fall risk. Your classification codes need to accurately reflect roofing work.

Misclassifying roofers under a lower-risk code to save money is a common shortcut that creates significant exposure at audit, and in a worst case scenario, can leave an injured worker without proper coverage.

Commercial Auto

Your trucks, trailers, and material haulers need commercial auto coverage. Not personal auto. If one of your crew members is in an accident hauling materials to a job and you're relying on personal auto policies, you're likely uninsured for that loss.

Hired and non-owned auto coverage matters too if your crew uses personal vehicles for work. Most roofing contractors don't think about this until there's a claim.

Inland Marine / Tools and Equipment

Your tools, lifts, generators, and specialty roofing equipment are not covered under general liability. They're not covered under commercial property when they're off site. Inland marine coverage protects your gear on job sites, in transit, and in storage.

Roofing equipment, ladders, lifts, nail guns, compressors, represents real value. Theft and job site loss are common exposures.

Commercial Umbrella

GCs and commercial property owners often require higher liability limits for roofing subs specifically because of the elevated risk. $3 million to $5 million in total liability limits is increasingly common for commercial roofing work.

An umbrella policy sits above your general liability and commercial auto and extends your limits at a fraction of the cost of increasing underlying limits.

If you're bidding commercial or industrial roofing work, you need an umbrella. It's often a requirement before you're even allowed to bid.

Using 1099 crews without verifying their coverage. Roofing relies heavily on subcontracted crews. If those crews don't carry their own workers' comp and general liability, Ohio BWC may classify them as your employees at audit. That exposure gets added to your payroll.Not reading the policy for a roofing exclusion.

Not reading the policy for a roofing exclusion. Budget policies sometimes exclude roofing entirely or limit it to specific conditions. If nobody has confirmed your policy covers roofing without exclusions, you don't actually know what you have.

Not having completed operations coverage. A roof leak can develop months after installation. If completed operations isn't on your policy or is limited for roofing specifically, you're exposed.

Buying on price alone. The cheapest policy is the most expensive one when you have a claim. A low premium that excludes the work you do isn't a deal. It's a liability.

Misclassifying roofers on workers' comp. Roofing has one of the highest BWC rates of any trade because of fall risk. Classifying roofers under a different code to lower the rate creates major exposure at audit and on a claim.

Not understanding GC and property management certificate requirements. Commercial roofing work often comes with elevated insurance requirements specific to the trade. Sending the wrong certificate or carrying limits that don't meet a contract requirement can get you pulled off a job or removed from a bid list.

Skipping inland marine. Your lifts, generators, and equipment aren't covered under GL. One theft or loss event can set your operation back significantly.

Assuming the certificate means the policy is active. A certificate is a snapshot in time. It doesn't guarantee ongoing coverage. Verify, track, and re-verify.

Roofing contractors get hit hard at audit, often harder than other trades, because of how workers' comp rates work for roofing specifically.

Your workers' comp and general liability premiums are based on estimated payroll and revenue at the start of the policy year. At the end of the year, the carrier audits your actual numbers. If your actuals are higher than your estimates, you owe the difference. For roofing, where the rate per payroll dollar is already high, even a modest underestimate can result in a large audit bill.

The most common causes of bad audits we see in roofing:

1099 crews without their own coverage. This is the big one in roofing. If your subcontracted crews don't carry their own workers' comp, BWC may classify their payroll as yours at audit. For a roofing operation that runs multiple crews, this can be a massive exposure.

Underreported payroll. Either intentional to get a lower quote, or because the business grew mid-year and nobody updated the policy. Both result in a large audit bill, magnified by roofing's high comp rate.

Wrong classification codes. Roofers classified under a general construction code instead of the roofing-specific code. The rate difference is significant. Get classifications reviewed before you bind coverage.

No mid-year updates. You added crews for storm season. You took on a large commercial reroof. None of it was reported to your carrier. Audit time is when it all catches up.

The fix is simple. Build your policy on accurate numbers. Verify every subcontracted crew carries their own active coverage. Update your carrier mid-year when your business changes.

This is where roofing contractors run into real complexity, especially on commercial work.

You're not working for one customer with one set of insurance requirements. You're working for GCs, property management companies, and commercial property owners, each with their own certificate requirements, additional insured language, and minimum limits, often higher than what's typical for other trades because of roofing's risk profile.

One GC requires $2M/$4M with primary and non-contributory and a waiver of subrogation. A property manager requires specific endorsements before you're added to their approved vendor list. A commercial owner requires proof of completed operations coverage specifically because of roofing's leak exposure.

Sending the wrong certificate, missing an endorsement, or carrying limits that don't meet a specific contract can get you pulled from a job or removed from a bid list entirely.



We help roofing contractors navigate this. We know what the major GCs and property management companies in Ohio require for roofing specifically. We build your policy so it satisfies the broadest set of requirements across your client base.

Most agents send you a renewal application 30 days out. You fill it out, they shop it, you get a new policy. Done.

That's not how we work. Our renewal process starts 90 days before your expiration date.  Here's an expected timeline:

90 days out. We review your current program. What changed this year? New crews, new equipment, new project types, revenue growth, new states? Every change has coverage implications.

60 days out. We go to market with a complete, accurate submission. Carriers price risk based on the quality of information they receive. A well-prepared submission gets better pricing and better terms than a rushed one.

30 days out. You have options. Multiple quotes. We review them together, compare coverage terms not just price, and make a decision based on what's actually right for your operation.

This isn't how most agencies work. But it's the only way we know how to do it.

We're not tied to one carrier. We work with multiple carriers who specialize in contractor insurance, including carriers who actually want roofing risk and price it accurately rather than excluding it or charging a penalty rate.

If you're working with a captive agency, meaning they only represent one insurance company, you've already lost. They're not shopping your account. They're not comparing terms. They have one option and their job is to fit you into it whether it's right for you or not, exclusions and all.

We have leverage. When your renewal comes up we go to market. Multiple carriers competing for your account. That competition drives better pricing and better terms. A captive agent can't do that. They can only hope their one carrier is having a good year.

When your business grows, when you take on a new project type, when your exposure changes, we can move with you. That flexibility matters more than most contractors realize until they need it.



Who We Work With

We work with roofing contractors across Ohio. From owner-operators running residential reroofs to commercial roofing contractors managing multiple crews and large project portfolios.

Our clients typically fall into one of these situations. They've outgrown their current agent and need someone who actually understands their operation. They found a roofing exclusion or coverage gap they didn't know about. Or they're scaling up into commercial work and need a coverage program that meets those requirements.



If any of that sounds familiar, we should talk.