Roofers insurance in Newcastle

Roofing in Newcastle means working above somebody else’s home more often than in most cities, because of a building type the city and Gateshead produced in enormous numbers: the Tyneside flat. A two-storey terrace with two front doors, one upstairs flat and one downstairs, separately owned or separately let. The roof belongs to the upper flat. The ceiling that gets ruined when it leaks belongs to somebody else entirely, and quite often to a landlord who has never met you.

Beyond that sit the steep natural-slate pitches of the Victorian and Edwardian terraces, the sandstone and classical stone frontages of the older city centre with their parapets, valleys and lead, the post-war estates and blocks with flat and low-pitch coverings, and the industrial and commercial sheds along the river. All of it stands on a north-facing coastal city on steep banks above the Tyne, taking easterly wind and driving rain straight off the North Sea.

So the exposure a Newcastle roofer carries is rarely the dramatic one. It is third-party water damage into a flat you have no contract with, a chimney stack or a slate coming down a steep bank on to a street, and wind getting under something you left fixed for a calm night. Apex is a Bristol-based commercial broker and arranges roofing cover around exactly that, presented properly by a named broker.

Key covers for roofers

• Public liability — the cover that carries the trade here — damage to the flat or property below and beside the one you were engaged on, and injury to people in the street from anything that comes off a steep pitch or a stack. £5m or £10m is the common requirement from housing providers and main contractors, subject to underwriter assessment.
• Employers’ liability — compulsory once you employ anyone, including labour-only sub-contractors. Steep-pitch slate work is crewed rather than done alone.
• Tools and equipment — theft of ladders, rippers, nail guns, gas kit and access equipment from the van or from a street-side job.
• Contract works — a stripped or part-covered roof against storm, fire and vandalism before hand-over — and on a Tyneside flat that unfinished roof sits over a household that is not your client.
• Hot works — torch-on, bitumen and heat-based work on flat roofs, dormers, box gutters and lead welting, subject to permit and fire-watch conditions.
• Professional indemnity — where you take on the specification yourself — typical on flat-roof replacement and on remedial work to parapets and valleys rather than on a like-for-like re-slate.
• Personal accident — optional cover if an injury stops you working.

Newcastle buildings, Newcastle claims

What an underwriter is really pricing is the building you go up on and who else it belongs to. These are the local patterns that drive the claims here.

• Tyneside flats — the upper-and-lower flatted terrace is the defining housing type of the city and Gateshead. One roof, two households, two ownerships, and frequently two landlords. Water that gets past you damages a party you have no contract with, and access and repair responsibilities are a common source of dispute before anyone even mentions insurance.
• Steep slate pitches — Victorian and Edwardian terraces carry natural slate at steep pitches, often with little or no underlay, and frequently with dormers, sky lights and stacks broken into them. Steep and slippery in the wet is the everyday working condition, not the exception.
• Chimney stacks and lead — the older terraced and stone stock is dense with stacks, parapets, valleys, secret gutters and leadwork. That is where leaks start, where most repair work is, and where the argument about whose fault a later leak was tends to land.
• Steep banks down to the river — the topography of the Tyne gorge means streets on real gradients, awkward scaffold bases and vehicles parked on slopes below the work. Anything that leaves a roof gathers speed.

Wind, rain off the North Sea, and access

Easterly weather. Newcastle takes wind and driving rain off the North Sea, and easterly conditions drive rain hard against north- and east-facing pitches, parapets and stacks. Wind-driven rain finds its way past flashings and under slates that behave perfectly well in ordinary rain, which is why so much diagnostic work here ends in an argument about whether the roof was ever really fixed.

Wind uplift. exposed pitches, tall terraces and riverside sites take real wind loading. Temporary coverings, stacked slates and loose sheeting are the things that move overnight, and when they move they usually damage something belonging to somebody else. Fixing rather than weighting temporary work is the single control that prevents most storm-related liability claims.

Occupied buildings, split ownership. the practical consequence of the Tyneside flat is that a large share of your work happens over a household that has not engaged you and cannot be asked to move out. Insurers will want to know how much of your turnover is flatted terraced work, and it is worth telling them plainly rather than letting them assume.

Compliance considerations for roofers

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to every job. On steep, wet slate with limited underlay the access plan and the edge protection are the first things an investigation would examine.

CDM 2015 duties apply on larger contracts, including housing-association and framework re-roofing programmes where you may hold contractor or principal-contractor status.

Hot-works permits and a post-completion fire watch are standard insurer conditions for torch-on, bitumen and heat-gun work, and are often conditions precedent rather than advisory.

Party-wall and neighbouring-owner issues are routine where a roof, a stack or a parapet is shared between separately owned flats or houses.

Listed building and conservation-area consent constrain materials and detailing on the older stone stock in and around the city centre.

What can go wrong

Rain gets into a part-stripped roof and ruins the ceilings of the lower Tyneside flat, whose owner is not your client — public liability responds to their damage, subject to policy terms.

A slate or a section of stack comes off a steep terraced pitch on to a street or a parked car below — public liability responds.

Wind lifts a temporary covering overnight and it damages neighbouring property and glazing — a liability claim rather than simply a loss of your own materials.

A torch or heat gun used on a flat roof or a lead detail ignites dry timber hours after you leave — a hot-works claim, decided on permit and fire-watch compliance.

A parapet gutter repair on a listed stone frontage fails and water enters the building below — a third-party damage claim priced at heritage reinstatement rates, and a professional indemnity question if the detail was yours.

Frequently asked questions

Why are roofers refused cover?

Working at height and hot works place the trade in the hazard band a lot of insurers will not touch, so roofers meet more refusals than most trades regardless of their record. We take the risk to the underwriters who write roofing deliberately and know how to read it.

Is torch-on and hot work covered?

Yes, subject to conditions — typically a written permit and a fire watch for a set period after you finish. The sharp version in Newcastle is heat work on flat roofs and lead details above occupied flats, and we make sure the wording matches how much of that you do.

What about CDM 2015 duties?

You may carry contractor or principal-contractor duties on larger schemes, including housing-association re-roofing programmes. Tell us when you take that status on, because it changes what is being underwritten.

Are my tools covered?

Ladders, rippers, nail guns and access equipment can be covered against theft from site, van or premises, subject to security and overnight-storage conditions that should match how you actually park and store.

Do I need employers liability?

Yes — legally required if you employ anyone, including labour-only sub-contractors, which is how nearly all steep-pitch slating work is staffed.

I am re-roofing an upper Tyneside flat. Whose insurance pays if the flat below is damaged?

If the damage is caused by your work then your public liability is what responds to the downstairs occupier, and it does so whether or not they are your customer. This is the most common serious claim shape in the city, and it is the reason we normally recommend a higher limit than the contract minimum on flatted terraced work, plus contract works cover that recognises your unfinished roof is sitting over somebody else’s home.

Related

• Public liability insurance explained
• Employers’ liability insurance explained
• Contractors’ all risks
• Construction and trades
• Underinsurance check
• Speak to a broker