Roofing is the trade insurers rate hardest, and both reasons are obvious from the ground. The work happens at height, so an injury claim is likely to be serious, and the work is the building's weather envelope, so a job left open before a storm damages everything underneath it. A roofer's liability policy is priced on those two facts and its conditions are written around them.
Height work is the rating question
The Work at Height Regulations 2005 put duties on anybody organising work at height: avoid it where reasonably practicable, use equipment that prevents a fall where it cannot be avoided, and mitigate the distance and consequences where the risk remains. Insurers ask how you access roofs, whether scaffolding or towers are used, what edge protection is in place and to what height you work. A roofer who answers honestly and works to those rules is buying a cheaper policy as well as a safer one.
Water ingress: the claim that is not an accident
The characteristic roofing claim is rain entering a building through work in progress. Policies respond to it as property damage where the roofer is legally liable, and many carry conditions requiring the roof to be sheeted and made watertight at the end of each working day and before forecast bad weather. A claim following an unsheeted roof and a storm is where roofing insurers push back hardest, and the defence is the site record rather than the argument.
Hot works, if you use a torch
Felt roofing with a gas torch puts a naked flame on a timber structure, and every trade policy treats it as a distinct hazard. Expect a hot works condition: combustibles cleared, an extinguisher to hand and a fire watch maintained for a stated period after the last flame, commonly an hour. Some insurers exclude torch-on work altogether unless it is declared, so it has to be on the schedule by name.
The limit, and the buildings you work on
Domestic roofing is normally written at one or two million pounds. Five million is the standard on managed sites and for housing association and local authority work, and it is the sensible figure for anybody working on multi occupancy buildings where one open roof affects many homes. The premium step between the limits is small next to a single water ingress claim across four flats.
Questions people ask about roofers public liability insurance
Why is roofers insurance more expensive than other trades?
Because the work is at height and on the weather envelope. Injury claims from falls are serious, and water entering a building through work in progress damages everything below it. Both are frequent enough for insurers to rate the trade separately.
What limit of public liability do roofers need?
One or two million pounds covers most domestic roofing. Five million is the usual requirement for managed sites, housing associations and local authorities, and is sensible for work on blocks of flats whatever the contract says.
Does the policy cover rain damage while the roof is open?
Where you are legally liable for it, yes, subject to the policy conditions. Most wordings require the roof to be sheeted and made watertight at the end of the day and ahead of forecast bad weather, and the claim is judged against what was actually done.
Is torch-on felt work covered?
Only where it is declared, and then subject to a hot works condition covering clearance, extinguishers and a fire watch after the last flame. Some insurers exclude it entirely unless specifically added, so check the schedule rather than assume.