Insurance for roofers

Public liability insurance  can protect you if a member of the public gets injured because of your work. For example, if someone trips over your equipment, or a tile comes loose and hits a client or damages their property, you’ll be covered for the cost of legal fees, as well as any compensation that might be due. Hopefully you’ll never have to claim on your insurance, but having it in place can give you peace of mind.

Employers’ liability insurance  could cover you if one of your employees becomes ill or is injured as a result of working for you.

If you employ one or more people or are a limited company with multiple directors, it’s a legal requirement to have cover. If you’re not a limited company, it’s not a legal requirement to have employers’ liability insurance if the employees are immediate family members, though if a policy is in place it would still cover immediate family members working for you.

If you employ someone and don’t have employers’ liability insurance in place, the Government could fine you £2,500 for every day that you’re not properly insured. And if you don’t show your employers’ liability insurance certificate to an inspector when they ask, you could be fined an additional £1,000.

Your employers’ liability insurance ought to cover you for at least £5 million and needs to come from an authorised insurance provider.

If you're a self-employed roofer, there are a range of options worth considering that are designed to protect your income or business:

• income protection insurance
• critical illness insurance
• business life insurance

As a roofer, tools insurance could be particularly useful as you’re likely to work offsite. Tools insurance can cover you if your equipment is lost, damaged or stolen. It’s easy to forget just how much your tools are worth. But if you had to replace them all at once, you could end up seriously out of pocket. Without your tools you can’t work. Having insurance in place so you can replace them quickly could be vital.

Contract works insurance covers works in progress against fire, flood, storms, malicious damage and theft. It’s useful if you take on big projects.  

For example, you might be working on a major extension and a storm damages the roof. You could be expected to do all the work again, for no extra pay. Contract works insurance can cover your time, as well as any materials and fittings.  

As a business owner, you've got better ways to spend your time than sorting out insurance. But organising cover needn’t be complicated and time consuming. We’re here to take the hard work out of comparing roofer insurance. 

We’ll ask you some simple questions about your business, such as what tools you own and how many people you employ, so we can get you tailor-made quotes. 

Whether you’re a one-man band or a big firm, we have insurance providers that can provide your cover.

Exactly what your roofers insurance pays out for depends on your level of cover. However, you can expect to see a few exclusions, such as:

• deliberate acts leading to damage or injury
• injuries occurring while you’re out and about
• employees working off-shore

But always read your policy documents carefully to see what is and isn’t included.