Roofers insurance in Glasgow

Glasgow roofing is tenement roofing. The defining building of this city is the four-storey sandstone tenement, and its roof is not one person’s property — it is common property, shared between every flat in the close. That single fact shapes the trade here more than the weather does. It determines who instructs you, who has to agree, who pays, who signs the work off and who complains about it six months later.

The work itself is slate on pitched roofs, with box and valley gutters, chimney stacks, cast iron rainwater goods and access from back courts and closes that were not designed for scaffolding. Around the tenements sit the rest of the city: post-war and system-built estates, high-rise blocks with flat felt and single-ply roofs, and commercial and industrial premises. And over all of it sits the rain. Glasgow is one of the wettest large cities in the United Kingdom, which makes temporary weatherproofing a core skill rather than an afterthought.

Two things make the risk here distinctive. First, Scotland is a separate jurisdiction: building warrants and Scottish building standards apply, not the English Building Regulations. Second, common repairs to a tenement run under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 and the Tenement Management Scheme where the title deeds are silent, so scope, cost and standard get argued about between owners who may not all have wanted the work. Apex arranges cover that reflects how the trade actually works on this stock, placed by a named broker who will present your risk properly to insurers who understand it.

Key covers for roofers in Glasgow

• Public liability — injury or damage from your work — falling slate into a close or a street, water into flats below during the works, and damage to common parts. Often £5m to £10m, subject to underwriter assessment.
• Employers’ liability — legally required for employees and labour-only subcontractors, and the policy that answers a fall from a tenement roof or its scaffold.
• Tools and plant — theft of tools, access equipment and hired-in plant from site, van or yard — and scaffold left standing in a back court is a target.
• Contract works — your work in progress against fire, storm, water and vandalism before hand-over. On a roof stripped four storeys above occupied flats, this is not a theoretical section.
• Hot works — torch-on felt and hot-air welding, subject to permit and fire-watch conditions, which matter on old sarking and roof timbers.
• Professional indemnity — where you specify or survey rather than simply install — common repair schemes frequently start with a roofer’s report, and owners rely on it.

Tenements, common roofs and shared money

The tenement is the risk. Everything about who instructs you and who complains flows from the way these buildings are owned.

• Sandstone tenements — blond and red sandstone blocks of four storeys, with slated pitched roofs, box and valley gutters, chimney stacks and cast iron rainwater goods. The roof covers eight or more separately owned flats, and everything you do happens above people who are at home.
• Common roofs and common repairs — the roof of a tenement is generally common property. Where the title deeds do not say otherwise, the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 and the Tenement Management Scheme govern how a repair is decided and how the cost is shared. Disputes about scope, standard and cost between owners are ordinary rather than exceptional, and the roofer is standing in the middle of them.
• Factors and property managers — many blocks are managed by a factor who instructs on behalf of owners. The factor is your client, but the people who live under the roof are not, and they will still contact you directly when something goes wrong.
• Access from closes and back courts — tight urban access, scaffolding over pavements and into shared back courts, and material moved through spaces that residents use daily. Scaffold on the public road needs permission from the roads authority.
• Persistent rainfall — Glasgow is a wet city by any measure. A roof opened up and inadequately sheeted does not wait for exceptional weather to let water into the flats below — ordinary weather will do it, and it will do it the same week.

Where a Glasgow roofing claim starts

Water into the flats below, during the works. This is the most common claim on tenement work and it is almost always about temporary weatherproofing rather than about the finished roof. Four storeys of separately owned homes sit under an opened covering, and in this climate the window between stripping and sheeting is measured in hours. Sheet properly, secure it against wind, and photograph how you left it.

Disputes about scope and standard in a common repair. When eight owners are paying for one roof, at least one of them will disagree about what was necessary and whether it was done well. Where your survey or report started the process, that becomes a professional argument rather than a workmanship one, so keep the report defensible and be careful about how confidently it is worded.

Falling material into a close or a street. Slate, lead and stone falling four storeys into a shared close or onto a pavement is the serious public liability event here, and tenement streets are busy at all hours. Netting, fans and a managed drop zone are the controls, and an insurer will ask about them.

Compliance considerations for roofers

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 — edge protection, access equipment selection, and the duty to plan and supervise rather than improvise.

Hot works permit and fire-watch conditions imposed by insurers where torch-on felt or hot-air welding is used; these are policy conditions, and breaching one is the quickest way to lose a fire claim.

CDM 2015 duties on larger contracts, where you may carry contractor or principal contractor obligations.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 — cement sheeting, bitumen products, rooflights and older insulation board all sit in scope.

Scaffold and access discipline — compliant design, handover documentation and inspection records, plus a highway licence wherever scaffold, a hoist or a skip stands on the public highway.

What can go wrong

Rain gets through an opened or inadequately sheeted roof and damages flats four storeys down — contract works and liability territory, with several separate claimants.

Slate or lead falls into a close or onto a pavement and injures somebody — public liability responds, subject to the wording.

Owners in a common repair dispute the scope or the standard of the work that your report recommended — professional indemnity territory rather than public liability.

Torch-on or hot-air work near old sarking and roof timbers starts a fire — a hot works incident, where the permit and fire-watch conditions decide the outcome.

Frequently asked questions

Who is my client on a tenement common repair, and who can claim against me?

They are frequently not the same people. Your contract is usually with the factor or with the owners who instructed the work; the people who can suffer damage are every household under that roof, whether or not they agreed to the repair.

Does Scottish law change anything about my cover?

The insurance principles are the same, but the framework around the work is not. Scotland has its own building standards system with building warrants rather than the English Building Regulations, and tenement common repairs run under the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 and the Tenement Management Scheme.

What is the biggest claim risk on tenement roofing?

Water into the flats below during the works, by a clear margin. Falls are the most serious event, but water ingress is the most frequent one, and in this climate the exposure starts the moment a covering comes off.

Is torch-on and hot-air welding covered?

Typically yes, subject to conditions — usually a hot works permit and a fire-watch period after you finish. Old sarking boards and roof timbers in a tenement are dry and continuous across the block, so a fire that starts in one section does not stay there.

Do I need professional indemnity if I only survey and quote?

If owners or a factor rely on your report to decide what work to do and how to share the cost, then yes, that is professional advice and public liability will not answer a claim that the advice was wrong. Common repair schemes very often start with a roofer’s report, which puts a lot of roofing firms into professional indemnity territory without them thinking of themselves as consultants.

Related

• Roofers insurance explained
• Public liability insurance
• Employers’ liability insurance
• Builders’ insurance