Not legal or insurance advice. Statutory minimums, bond amounts, and workers’ comp rules change, and what your policy actually covers lives in its forms and endorsements. Confirm with your state licensing board, a licensed insurance agent who writes roofing, and an attorney before you bid, sign a subcontract, or advertise “fully insured.”
The short version
There is no national roofing insurance rule. A handful of states set real statutory floors, several set bond-only rules, and big roofing markets like Texas, Colorado, and New York set no statewide roofing floor at all. Your true minimum is whatever your GCs, property managers, and cities demand — and that is almost always higher than the state number.
- Florida’s roofer floor is $100K public liability / $25K property damage. The $300K/$50K figure all over the internet belongs to general and building contractors.
- California C-39 roofers must carry workers’ comp with zero employees — and have since 2007. The all-trades version got pushed to 2028; roofing never got that break.
- Texas has no roofing license and comp is optional — but a nonsubscriber gives up the defenses that usually win employee injury lawsuits.
- The audit is the silent killer. Uninsured sub crews get added to your payroll and billed at the roofing rate.
- Read your GL for open-roof, height, and hot-work limits before storm season, not after the first leak claim.
Forward this to whoever signs your subcontract agreements.
On this page
- If you only do three things
- Why roofing insurance is different
- Six myths that cost roofers money
- The roofing coverage stack
- GL exclusions roofers miss
- Workers’ comp: the biggest line item
- Sub crews and the audit trap
- State-by-state breakdown
- Quick-reference table
- Storm-claim laws that touch coverage
- What actually moves your premium
- Dispatch, photos & proof
- Quarterly owner checklist
- FAQ
Every roofing company eventually gets the same email from a GC’s project coordinator: send your COI, name us additional insured, primary and non-contributory, waiver of subrogation, $1M/$2M, umbrella, proof of comp — by Friday or the job goes to the next bid.
That email is when owners find out whether they bought a roofing insurance program or a cheap GL policy with a height limit stapled to the back of it.
This is the 2026 guide for roofing business owners who want the honest answer to “what do I actually have to carry, and what does it actually cover?” We cover what each major state requires (including the Florida number most sites get wrong), what commercial clients require on top, the exclusions that turn a paid premium into a denied claim, and the workers’ comp audit math that quietly bankrupts roofers who “just use subs.”
Whether you need a roofing license at all is a separate question — keep our roofing contractor license requirements by state (2026) guide open in another tab. This post is about the money that stands behind the license.
If you only do three things this week
- Pull your actual GL policy — forms and endorsements, not the quote summary. Search it for the words “roof,” “height,” “stories,” “hot,” “torch,” “water,” “residential,” and “subcontractor.” Every hit is a condition or a limit you need to understand before the next claim.
- Verify workers’ comp for every sub crew at the source. A PDF certificate is a claim, not proof. Call the carrier or use your state’s coverage lookup, and diary every expiration date.
- Compare your state floor to your top three clients’ requirements. If your GL, umbrella, or endorsements fall short of what they demand, fix it before you bid — not when a coordinator rejects your COI on a Friday.
Why roofing insurance is different from every other trade
Insurers are not guessing about roofing. They are reading the same federal data you can.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 104 roofer deaths in 2024, a fatal injury rate of 48.7 per 100,000 full-time workers — third-highest of any U.S. occupation, behind only logging and fishing, and roughly 15 times the all-worker rate of 3.3. Source: bls.gov/iif (Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2024).
OSHA tells the same story from the enforcement side. Fall Protection – General Requirements (29 CFR 1926.501) has been OSHA’s most-cited standard for 16 years running; the preliminary FY2026 list announced in September counted 4,041 citations. In FY2025, roofing contractors led the industries cited under that standard.
Every line of a roofing insurance program — comp, GL, umbrella, even auto — is priced off one fact: your people work at the edge. That is why the rules below are stricter, the exclusions are sharper, and the audits are harder than for almost any other trade we cover.
Six myths that cost roofers money
Myth 1: “Florida requires roofers to carry $300,000 in general liability”
Copied from the GC rule. Wrong for roofing.
Florida Statute 489.115(5)(a) requires CILB licensees to attest to liability and property damage coverage, and the Board sets the amounts in Rule 61G4-15.003. The $300,000 public liability / $50,000 property damage tier applies to general and building contractors. Roofing sits with the other license categories at $100,000 public liability / $25,000 property damage. It is a licensing condition, not a business plan — most Florida GCs and property managers still want $1M per occurrence.
Myth 2: “No employees means no workers’ comp”
Not in California, and not for long anywhere you hire.
California has required C-39 roofing contractors to carry comp even with zero employees since January 1, 2007. Everywhere else, “no employees” tends to evaporate the first time you pay a helper cash for a tear-off Saturday — and GCs, cities, and public owners often require comp regardless of headcount.
Myth 3: “My crews are 1099, so their injuries aren’t my problem”
Your comp auditor disagrees.
In most states, a sub who can’t show valid comp coverage gets treated as your employee at audit. What you paid them gets added to your payroll and billed at your roofing rate — and if one of their guys falls, the claim can land on your policy. More on the math below.
Myth 4: “Bonded means insured”
A bond protects your customer. It does not protect you.
A license bond pays customers, the state, or suppliers when you break licensing law or fail to perform — and then the surety comes after you for every dollar. Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona all require bonds from roofers. None of those bonds satisfies a GC asking for general liability.
Myth 5: “If my roof job goes wrong, my GL pays for it”
GL covers damage you cause to other things, not fixing your own work.
Standard GL is built for third-party bodily injury and property damage. Redoing a roof you installed badly is generally a workmanship cost, not a covered “occurrence.” The ceiling and drywall that got wrecked because your install leaked may be covered — unless your policy carries an open-roof or water-intrusion limitation. Read the exclusions section.
Myth 6: “Texas roofers don’t need insurance”
Texas doesn’t require it. Texas juries and GCs still price it in.
No state roofing license, no state insurance floor, and comp is optional. But a Texas nonsubscriber loses the common-law defenses that usually win injury suits, public projects require comp, and most cities and commercial GCs require proof of GL before you touch a roof. Full breakdown in the Texas section.
The roofing coverage stack
This is the program a roofing company that wants commercial work, insurance-claim work, and a lender who returns calls actually carries. Not every shop needs every line on day one. Every shop should know which lines it’s choosing to skip.
| Coverage | What it pays for | Who demands it | Roofing-specific trap |
|---|---|---|---|
| General liability (GL) | Third-party injury and property damage from your work — the dropped bundle through a skylight, the ladder into a neighbor’s car, the interior damage after a leak | States with floors, cities, GCs, property managers, HOAs | Open-roof/water limits, height limits, hot-work exclusions, residential exclusions, sub conditions |
| Workers’ compensation | Medical bills and lost wages for injured employees; employer’s liability for related suits | Most states once you have employees; CA C-39 always; public projects; nearly every commercial GC | Rated in one of the most expensive classes on the books; uninsured subs billed back at audit |
| Commercial auto | Trucks, crew cabs, dump trailers, material hauls | Lenders, GCs, anyone you tow for | Personal auto policies generally exclude this kind of business use; add hired & non-owned if crews drive their own trucks |
| Inland marine: tools & equipment | Ladders, hoists, compressors, nail guns, safety gear — stolen or damaged | Nobody. That’s why most roofers don’t have it until a trailer walks off overnight | Theft from unattended trucks and job sites often has conditions; read them |
| Installation floater | Materials you own before they’re installed — bundles staged on the roof, underlayment in the driveway | Commercial GCs, bigger reroofs | On a reroof, nobody else’s builder’s risk covers your staged materials |
| Umbrella / excess | Stacks limits above GL, auto, and employer’s liability | Commercial GCs and owners; New York work especially | Must follow form over your GL — an umbrella doesn’t fix a GL exclusion |
| Contractors pollution liability | Pollution events GL excludes — including disturbing asbestos-containing materials on older roofs | Commercial tear-offs, public work, older buildings | Standard GL pollution exclusions mean a tear-off that releases asbestos can be uninsured without it |
| License bond | Customers/state/suppliers when you violate licensing law or don’t perform | IL, OR, WA, AZ, CA and others | It’s credit, not insurance — the surety collects from you |
Completed operations matters more for roofers than almost anyone. Roofs fail months or years after the crew leaves. Make sure your GL includes products-completed operations coverage, and that your contracts don’t promise warranties your policy was never built to back.
GL exclusions roofers miss (until the claim)
Roofing GL is often written in the excess and surplus market, where carriers use their own forms and endorsements. Two policies with identical $1M/$2M limits on a COI can cover completely different things. These are the provisions to find before you need them:
- Open-roof / water-intrusion limitations. Rain gets in while the deck is exposed and trashes the interior. Some roofing forms exclude that entirely, some cap it, some cover it only if the roof was properly dried in. This is the single most expensive surprise in roofing GL. For a real-world signal of how common it is: the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program requires participating roofers to prove $1M GL that specifically covers open-roof and water-intrusion damage.
- Height or story limitations. Some policies exclude work above a set number of stories or feet. Fine for a ranch-house shingle crew; a disaster the day you take a four-story commercial reroof.
- Hot work / torch-down exclusions. Torch-applied modified bitumen and hot-asphalt work are frequently excluded or separately rated. If your crew owns a torch, your policy needs to know.
- Residential or tract-housing exclusions. Some commercial roofing policies exclude residential work; some residential policies exclude new tract construction.
- Subcontractor conditions. Many roofing policies only cover sub-performed work if the sub carried specified limits, named you as additional insured, and signed a written hold-harmless. Miss one condition and the carrier can deny the sub’s claim back onto you.
- Labor Law / action-over exclusions (New York). If you work in New York, a policy that excludes Labor Law 240 claims or “action over” claims is close to useless. See the New York section.
Ask your agent for the complete policy with every endorsement listed on the declarations page. If the agent can’t explain an endorsement in one sentence, that’s your answer about whether you should be relying on it.
Workers’ comp: the biggest line item for any roofer with a W-2 crew
Most states rate roofing under NCCI class code 5551 (Roofing — All Kinds), one of the highest-rated classifications in workers’ compensation. California runs its own system through the WCIRB and rates roofing with its own classifications, including a wage-based split. States with their own rating bureaus or state funds use their own codes.
The premium math is simple, which is why it’s so brutal:
Example: $300,000 roofing payroll × a hypothetical $20 per $100 rate × 1.00 mod = $60,000.
Same payroll, same rate, 1.25 mod after a bad year = $75,000. Illustrative only. Actual rates vary enormously by state, carrier, and your claims history.
Three things that move that number more than shopping carriers:
- Your experience mod (EMR). One serious fall can follow you for three policy years. Many commercial GCs prequalify subs on EMR, so a high mod can cost you bids before it costs you premium.
- Payroll split records. Estimators, office staff, and salespeople rate far lower than roofers — but auditors routinely reclassify anyone who set foot on a roof into the roofing class unless your time records prove otherwise. Keep the records.
- Sub certificates. Covered in the next section, because it’s where the real damage happens.
State comp rules that trip roofers
- California: C-39 must carry comp regardless of employees (B&P Code §7125; in effect since 2007). The universal all-contractor requirement was delayed to January 1, 2028 — that delay doesn’t help roofers.
- Florida: Construction employers need comp with one employee, not four like many non-construction businesses. Officer exemptions are limited and must be filed with the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
- Texas: Comp is optional for most private employers — with real strings attached. See Texas.
- Washington: A monopolistic state. Comp comes from the state fund through L&I, not a private carrier, and roofing is billed by hours worked.
- New York: Employers carry workers’ comp plus disability benefits (DBL) plus paid family leave (PFL). Three programs, not one.
Our guide on what happens when a tech gets hurt on the job walks through the first 24 hours after an injury, W-2 vs 1099 exposure, and the paperwork you’ll wish you had.
Sub crews and the audit trap
Roofing runs on sub crews. Storm season runs on sub crews you met last Tuesday. That’s exactly why comp audits hit roofers harder than any other trade.
Here’s how it plays out. Your policy was priced on your W-2 payroll. At year-end, the auditor asks for your 1099s and a certificate of insurance for every sub you paid. Any sub without valid coverage for the period they worked gets treated as your employee:
How to stop it:
- No certificate, no dispatch. Collect the COI before the crew is assigned a job — not at audit.
- Verify at the source. A PDF can be edited, expired, or cancelled after it was issued. Call the agent listed on the certificate, or use your state’s lookup — Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation publishes proof-of-coverage and exemption searches.
- Get the right endorsements from subs. Additional insured (ongoing and completed operations), primary and non-contributory, and waiver of subrogation — in writing, not just checked boxes on a certificate.
- Match your GL’s sub conditions. If your policy requires subs to carry $1M/$2M, a sub carrying $300K is a coverage problem for you, not just them.
- Diary expirations. Certificates expire mid-season. A crew that was covered in May may not be covered in August.
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State-by-state breakdown
These are the states where roofing insurance rules have the most teeth, the most money, or the most myths. Tap a state to jump.
Statutory insurance floorBond, no GL floorNo statewide roofing floor
Texas
Texas has no state roofing license and no statewide insurance minimum for roofers. The Roofing Contractors Association of Texas runs a voluntary credential; it’s a trust signal, not a legal requirement. Many Texas cities — including much of DFW — register contractors and collect GL proof before issuing permits; our Texas city registration breakdown covers the major ones.
Workers’ comp is optional for most private employers. That’s the part everyone repeats. The part they skip:
- A nonsubscriber employer sued by an injured worker loses the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and fellow-employee negligence (Texas Labor Code §406.033). For a trade where most injuries involve someone doing something at height they shouldn’t have, those are the defenses that usually matter.
- Nonsubscribers have annual filing and employee-notice obligations with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation.
- Governmental building and construction contracts require comp for everyone working on the project (Labor Code §406.096). No comp, no public work.
- Most commercial GCs won’t accept a nonsubscriber sub, even one carrying an occupational accident policy.
Texas also regulates the insurance-claim side of roofing hard — deductible waivers are illegal and roofers can’t act as public adjusters. See storm-claim laws.
Florida
Florida licenses roofers through the Construction Industry Licensing Board (DBPR) as certified (statewide) or registered (local) roofing contractors. Licensees must attest to liability and property damage coverage under F.S. 489.115(5)(a), in the amounts set by Rule 61G4-15.003:
- Roofing: $100,000 public liability / $25,000 property damage
- General and building contractors (for comparison): $300,000 / $50,000
Coverage is a continuing condition of licensure — a lapse is a licensing problem, not just an insurance problem.
Comp: required for construction employers with one or more employees under Chapter 440. Officer exemptions are limited and filed with the Division of Workers’ Compensation, which also publishes coverage and exemption lookups you should use on every sub.
Claims-era rules that change your cash flow: F.S. 489.147 bans contractor solicitations and inducements tied to property insurance claims, with fines up to $10,000 per violation. And assignment of benefits is prohibited on residential and commercial property policies issued on or after January 1, 2023 — so on newer policies you bill the homeowner, not the carrier.
Reality check: Florida GCs, condo associations, and property managers routinely require $1M per occurrence, additional insured status, and an umbrella on multi-story work.
California
Roofing contracting runs through the CSLB C-39 Roofing classification.
- Workers’ comp: C-39 licensees must carry comp (or self-insurance) even with no employees — required since January 1, 2007 under Business & Professions Code §7125. SB 216 extended no-employee comp to concrete, HVAC, asbestos, and tree service in 2023, and SB 1455 pushed the all-contractor version to January 1, 2028. Roofers were never part of that wait.
- Bond: the CSLB contractor license bond is $25,000.
- LLCs: CSLB licensees organized as LLCs must also carry liability insurance, starting at $1M aggregate and rising with headcount.
- Rating: California rates roofing through the WCIRB with its own classifications and a wage-based split. Misreporting payroll across that split is a classic audit fight.
Source: cslb.ca.gov
Illinois
Illinois requires a state roofing license from IDFPR under the Roofing Industry Licensing Act — limited (residential, up to eight units) or unlimited. It’s one of the most complete roofing insurance rules in the country:
- Liability: $500,000 per occurrence for personal injury or bodily harm, and $250,000 per occurrence for property damage
- Bond: $10,000 (limited) or $25,000 (unlimited)
- Comp: proof of workers’ comp or approved self-insurance at licensing
Chicago and many suburbs layer their own contractor registration and insurance minimums on top.
Minnesota
Contractors who work directly for owners on residential roofing need a Residential Roofer license from the Department of Labor and Industry. Licensees carry commercial general liability of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate for bodily injury, plus $25,000 property damage (or a $300,000 single limit), with the certificate kept on file with DLI. Comp is required once you have employees. The state’s Contractor Recovery Fund is the homeowner backstop — which is exactly why DLI cares when your coverage lapses.
Louisiana
Louisiana closed its storm-chaser gap this year. Under Act 422 (2025), residential roofing work of $7,500 or more requires a state residential roofing (or residential construction) credential from the LSLBC, effective January 1, 2026.
- Insurance: residential and home improvement licensees must show at least $100,000 general liability plus proof of workers’ comp at application and renewal — and the certificates have to come from your agent, not from you.
- Fortify work: roofers in the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program need $1M GL that expressly covers open-roof and water-intrusion damage, plus FORTIFIED certification.
Source: lslbc.gov
Oregon
Every roofer needs a Construction Contractors Board license, and insurance scales with the endorsement:
- Residential Specialty Contractor (most roofers): $300,000 per occurrence GL and a $20,000 bond
- Residential General Contractor: $500,000 per occurrence
- Commercial Specialty Level 2: $500,000 per occurrence; Level 1: $1M aggregate — with separate commercial bonds
Hold both residential and commercial endorsements and you’ll need a bond for each. Source: oregon.gov/ccb
Washington
Washington doesn’t test roofers, but it registers every contractor through L&I — and the numbers changed recently:
- Bond: $15,000 for specialty contractors and $30,000 for general contractors, raised on July 1, 2024 from $6,000 and $12,000. If an older guide quotes $6,000, it’s stale.
- GL: $200,000 public liability + $50,000 property damage, or a $250,000 combined single limit, with L&I as certificate holder.
- Comp: state fund only. No private workers’ comp market for most employers.
If you run sub crews, confirm whether you need general rather than specialty registration. Source: lni.wa.gov
New Jersey
Residential roofers register as Home Improvement Contractors with the Division of Consumer Affairs. Registration requires $500,000 per occurrence commercial general liability, workers’ comp unless exempt, and — since the 2025 renewals — an additional security requirement tied to your contract values. Municipalities can’t issue permits to unregistered home improvement contractors. Commercial-only work sits outside HIC registration, but local rules still apply.
Arizona
The Registrar of Contractors licenses roofing (residential R-42, commercial C-42, dual CR-42) for jobs of $1,000 or more in labor and materials. The ROC requires a license bond scaled to your annual volume — residential specialty bonds run $4,250 or $7,500 — and residential licensees pay into the Recovery Fund. What the ROC doesn’t set is a general liability minimum. Your GCs and HOAs will.
New York
No state roofing license and no statewide GL floor. New York City and several downstate counties license home improvement contractors locally. None of that is the real issue. Labor Law §240, the Scaffold Law, is.
New York is the only state that holds owners and contractors absolutely liable for gravity-related injuries — a worker falls, and the worker’s own negligence generally doesn’t reduce recovery. That single statute is why roofing GL in New York costs what it does, why owners and GCs demand high limits and big umbrellas, and why a policy with a Labor Law exclusion, a height limit, or an action-over exclusion can leave you effectively uninsured for the claims you’re most likely to face.
Employers also carry comp, disability benefits, and paid family leave.
Colorado
No state roofing license. Denver and other cities license roofing contractors locally, often with their own insurance minimums. The state regulates residential roofing contracts instead, and one of the rules is about insurance: under C.R.S. 6-22-103, a residential roofing contract must identify your surety and liability insurer. The same article lets homeowners rescind within 72 hours of a written claim denial (6-22-104) and bans deductible waivers and roofer-as-adjuster conduct (6-22-105).
Quick-reference table
| State | Roofing credential | Statutory insurance / bond | Workers’ comp reality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | None statewide; many cities register | None statewide | Optional; nonsubscribers lose key defenses; required on public projects |
| Florida | CILB certified or registered roofing | $100K public liability / $25K property damage | Required with 1+ construction employee |
| California | CSLB C-39 | $25K license bond; LLCs carry liability from $1M | Required for C-39 even with zero employees |
| Illinois | IDFPR limited / unlimited roofing | $500K bodily injury + $250K property damage; $10K / $25K bond | Proof required at licensing |
| Minnesota | DLI Residential Roofer | $100K / $300K bodily injury + $25K property damage (or $300K single limit) | Required with employees |
| Louisiana | LSLBC residential roofing ($7,500+) from 1/1/2026 | $100K GL, certificate from your agent | Proof required |
| Oregon | CCB Residential Specialty (typical) | $300K per occurrence + $20K bond | Required with employees |
| Washington | L&I registration | $200K/$50K or $250K CSL; $15K specialty / $30K general bond | State fund only |
| New Jersey | HIC registration (residential) | $500K per occurrence + additional security | Required unless exempt |
| Arizona | ROC roofing ($1,000+ jobs) | Volume-based bond; no ROC GL floor | Required with employees |
| New York | None statewide; local HIC licenses | None statewide — Scaffold Law drives limits | Comp + DBL + PFL |
| Colorado | None statewide; cities license | Contract must name your surety and liability insurer | Required with employees |
| Every other state | Usually a GC, home improvement, or local license | Check your board — then check your clients | Rules vary on thresholds and exemptions |
For which states license roofers at all, and at what dollar threshold, see the full roofing license map. If you also take general construction scope, the GC license guide covers when roofing work pulls you into a GC license.
Storm-claim laws that touch your coverage
Half of residential roofing revenue in hail and hurricane country is insurance-funded, and states have spent a decade tightening the rules. These aren’t insurance requirements, but they decide whether you keep your license — and your GL won’t pay fines, penalties, or fraud allegations.
- Texas: Business & Commerce Code §27.02 makes it illegal to waive, rebate, or absorb a deductible and requires a deductible notice on insurance-funded contracts of $1,000 or more. Insurance Code §4102.163 bars roofers from acting as, or advertising as, public adjusters on properties they work on. Source: tdi.texas.gov
- Colorado: C.R.S. 6-22 requires a written contract naming your insurers, gives homeowners 72 hours to rescind after a written denial, and bans deductible waivers and adjusting.
- Florida: F.S. 489.147 bans claim-tied solicitations and inducements; assignment of benefits is gone on policies issued since January 1, 2023.
- Louisiana: Act 422’s license requirement exists specifically to push unlicensed post-storm crews out of residential roofing.
The storm-chaser tax is on your COI. Carriers price roofing partly on how much fraud flows through the trade. Clean contracts, no deductible games, and real documentation are how you prove you’re not that roofer — to homeowners, to regulators, and eventually to your underwriter.
What actually moves your premium
Skip the internet price ranges; roofing quotes swing too hard by state, carrier, and class to be useful. These are the levers underwriters actually pull:
- Payroll and classification — the base of your comp bill and often your GL rating too
- Experience mod — your last three years of claims, weighed against your class
- Residential vs commercial mix and maximum working height
- Hot work — torch-down and hot asphalt are rated separately or excluded
- Sub ratio and sub documentation — well-documented insured subs lower your exposure; undocumented ones blow up audits
- Written safety program — fall protection plans and training records carry weight, and they’re your first defense in an OSHA inspection
- Years in business and loss history — new ventures pay more in roofing than almost anywhere
Premiums you pay to run the business are generally deductible business expenses — see our trades tax deduction guide and confirm with your CPA.
Dispatch, photos & proof: where insurance meets operations
Most roofing coverage fights come down to two questions: who was on the roof, and what did the roof look like when they left? Your dispatch system answers both — or doesn’t.
- Route by coverage, not by who answers first. If your policy excludes torch-down or caps height, the crew that runs torch-down or four-story work needs to be tagged — and untagged crews shouldn’t get the ping.
- Photograph the dry-in. A timestamped photo of a properly tarped or dried-in deck before a storm rolls through is the best evidence you’ll ever have in a water-intrusion dispute. Before, dry-in, and completion photos on every ticket.
- No COI, no job. Keep sub certificates with the crew record so nobody dispatches an expired crew in the middle of storm week.
- Take payment on the roof, not in collections. With assignment of benefits gone on newer Florida policies, the homeowner is your payer. Collecting in the field beats chasing invoices — see payment processors for field service.
- Kill the group chat. “Who’s free tomorrow?” in a WhatsApp thread creates zero records. Here’s why group-chat dispatch fails field crews.
If water intrusion is already part of your jobs, our water damage restoration licensing guide covers where tarping and dry-out work cross into restoration and mold rules.
Quarterly owner checklist
- Re-download a current COI from every sub crew and verify comp at the carrier or state lookup.
- Diary every sub’s GL and comp expiration dates.
- Re-read your GL endorsements for open-roof, height, hot-work, residential, and sub conditions — every renewal, not just the first year.
- Confirm your license or registration shows current coverage with your board (CILB, IDFPR, DLI, LSLBC, CCB, L&I, DCA).
- Keep time records that separate roofing hours from office, estimating, and sales.
- Pull your EMR worksheet and check every claim on it is accurate and closed where it should be.
- Update contract templates: Texas deductible notice, Colorado 6-22 terms, Florida claim-solicitation rules.
- Before storm season, confirm additional insured wording and umbrella limits for the GCs you expect to work for.
The bottom line
The state minimums for roofing are all over the map — $100K/$25K in Florida, $500K/$250K in Illinois, $300K in Oregon, a bond and nothing else in Arizona, nothing at all in Texas, Colorado, or New York. None of them is the number that decides whether you work. Your clients’ requirements are.
What actually protects a roofing company is less about the limits on the certificate and more about three boring disciplines: knowing what your GL excludes, documenting every sub’s coverage before they climb, and keeping comp payroll clean enough to survive an audit. Roofers who do those three things keep their license, their bid lists, and their margins. Roofers who don’t usually find out on a Friday.
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FAQ
How much general liability insurance does a roofing contractor need?
It depends on the state and the client. Statutory floors include Florida ($100,000 public liability / $25,000 property damage for roofing), Illinois ($500,000 bodily injury / $250,000 property damage per occurrence), New Jersey ($500,000 per occurrence), Oregon ($300,000 per occurrence for residential specialty), Washington ($200,000/$50,000 or $250,000 combined), Minnesota ($100,000 per occurrence / $300,000 aggregate plus $25,000 property damage), and Louisiana ($100,000). Texas and Colorado set no statewide floor. Most GCs and property managers require $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate.
Is the Florida roofing contractor general liability minimum $300,000?
No. Under Rule 61G4-15.003, $300,000 public liability / $50,000 property damage applies to general and building contractors. Roofing is in the other-categories tier at $100,000 / $25,000. Many sites copy the GC number. Most Florida clients still require $1M per occurrence.
Do roofers need workers’ comp if they have no employees?
In California, yes — C-39 roofers have needed comp regardless of employees since January 1, 2007, and the broader all-contractor mandate was delayed to 2028. In most other states a true solo owner isn’t required by statute, but GCs, cities, and public projects often require it, and paying even one helper usually triggers the requirement.
Does Texas require roofing contractors to carry insurance?
No statewide roofing license or insurance floor, and comp is optional for most private employers. But nonsubscribers lose key defenses like contributory negligence and assumption of risk in employee injury suits, comp is required on governmental construction contracts, and many cities and most commercial GCs require proof of GL.
What happens at a workers’ comp audit if my roofing sub crew had no insurance?
In most states, a sub who can’t show valid comp is treated as your employee. The auditor adds what you paid them to your payroll at your roofing rate, and an injury to that crew can become your claim. Collect and verify certificates before the crew starts.
Is a roofing contractor bond the same as insurance?
No. A license bond protects customers, the state, or suppliers, and the surety collects from you after paying a claim. GL protects your business from third-party claims. A required bond in Illinois, Oregon, Washington, or Arizona doesn’t satisfy a client’s insurance requirement.
Does general liability cover rain damage while a roof is open?
Not always. Many roofing GL forms limit or exclude water intrusion while a roof is open. Read the actual policy and endorsements. Some programs require it explicitly — the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program requires participating roofers to carry GL covering open-roof and water-intrusion damage.
Can a roofer pay or waive a homeowner’s insurance deductible?
Not in Texas or Colorado. Texas Business & Commerce Code §27.02 bans waiving, rebating, or absorbing a deductible and requires a deductible notice on insurance-funded contracts of $1,000 or more. Colorado C.R.S. 6-22-105 bans promising to pay or waive one. Florida’s F.S. 489.147 bans claim-tied inducements. GL won’t protect you from fines or fraud allegations over it.
Why is roofing workers’ comp so expensive?
Because roofers fall. BLS recorded 104 roofer deaths in 2024 — 48.7 per 100,000 full-time workers, third-highest of any occupation and about 15 times the all-worker rate. Most states rate roofing under NCCI class 5551, one of the highest-rated classes in comp; California uses its own WCIRB roofing classes.
Is this legal or insurance advice?
No. Educational commentary for roofing owners based on public statutes, board rules, and agency data researched for 2026. Coverage depends on your actual forms and endorsements. Confirm with your licensing board, a licensed agent, and an attorney.
