Roofers insurance in Nottingham

A Nottingham roofer’s client list is dominated by people who do not live in the building. The city has an unusually large private rented and shared-house sector spread across its red-brick terraced suburbs, so most jobs arrive through a landlord, a letting agent or a property manager, with tenants in the rooms below and a deadline tied to a tenancy rather than to the weather.

That changes where the risk sits. The severe claim is not the fall — it is water into an occupied, tenanted house while the roof is open, and a claim that comes back at you through an agent with a schedule of dilapidations attached rather than a homeowner with a phone call. Add the converted Victorian warehouses in the Lace Market, where the floor under the roof has been fitted out at real cost, and the value at stake stops matching the value of the job.

Apex is a Bristol-based commercial broker. We arrange roofing cover that reflects working for landlords, agents and building owners rather than only for householders, placed by a named broker who will present the risk properly.

Key covers for roofers

• Public liability — injury or damage from your work, including water into a tenanted house or a fitted-out warehouse conversion while the covering is off — often £5m–£10m.
• Employers’ liability — legally required for employed staff and labour-only sub-contractors.
• Tools and equipment — theft of ladders, roof jacks, gas kit and power tools from site, scaffold or van.
• Contract works — your work in progress before hand-over, which matters where a re-roof has to fit into the gap between one tenancy and the next.
• Hot works — torch-on felt on flat-roofed rear extensions and dormers, subject to permit and fire-watch conditions.
• Professional indemnity — where you are asked to specify or report rather than simply install, including condition reports that a landlord or agent then relies on.
• Personal accident — optional cover if injury stops you working.

Nottingham buildings, Nottingham risks

Nottingham is a red-brick city with a very large rented sector, a belt of Victorian terraced suburbs and a core of converted period commercial buildings. Those three things account for most of the roofing exposure.

• Red-brick terraces and semis on clay tile and slate. Chimney stacks, flashings, shared valleys and abutting party walls, with coverings that have often been patched rather than renewed. The scope you find is regularly bigger than the scope you quoted.
• A large landlord and agent client base. Shared houses and student lets mean instructions come from managing agents, access has to be arranged around tenants, and evidence of cover is demanded before you are approved onto a panel.
• Converted warehouses and period commercial stock. The Lace Market and similar areas put large old roofs over expensively fitted-out floors, with internal and parapet gutters taking water away inside the envelope.
• Post-war estates and edge-of-city new build. Programme re-roofing for social landlords at one end and developer sub-contract work at the other, each bringing its own contract conditions and indemnity requirements.

Tenanted buildings, agents and access

Occupied houses with tenants in them. Working over people who did not hire you and cannot easily move their belongings raises the odds that a small ingress becomes a claim for contents, alternative accommodation and lost rent rather than a bucket and an apology.

Agents and panels. Letting and managing agents typically want to see the public liability limit, the employers’ liability certificate and confirmation that roofing and work at height are named in the policy before they will instruct. Documents that describe the trade properly keep you on the panel.

Tight terraced access. Continuous terraced rows with rear alleys and on-street parking mean scaffold goes up against neighbouring property and over shared paths. A good proportion of third-party damage on these jobs happens to the house next door rather than the one you were booked for.

Compliance considerations for roofers

Work at Height Regulations 2005 duties — edge protection, roof ladders and crawling boards, and a written method for every job that leaves the ground.

Fragile-surface duties — rooflights, cement sheet and corroded profiled decking are where most roofing falls actually happen, and underwriters ask how you deal with them.

Hot-works permit and fire-watch conditions imposed by insurers wherever torch-on felt, bitumen boilers or heat guns are used. The fire watch after you pack up is the condition most often broken.

CDM 2015 duties on larger contracts — you may hold principal contractor duties on a re-roof that involves more than one trade.

Scheme membership evidence — NFRC, CompetentRoofer or equivalent, where you hold it, along with your Building Regulations notification route for re-covering work.

What can go wrong

Rain enters a tenanted terrace while the roof is stripped, damaging tenants’ belongings and forcing them out — public liability, with alternative accommodation and lost rent claimed on top.

Water reaches a fitted-out floor in a converted warehouse through a disturbed internal gutter — public liability, sized by the fit-out rather than the roof.

Scaffold or materials damage the neighbouring property in a terrace — public liability, and a common cause of claims on continuous rows.

Torch-on work on a rear-extension flat roof ignites timber after the crew leaves — a hot-works claim, decided on permit and fire-watch compliance.

A worker falls from a roof or scaffold — employers’ liability, RIDDOR reporting and an HSE interest.

A landlord relies on your written condition report and later says it was wrong — professional indemnity territory rather than public liability.

Frequently asked questions

Most of my work comes through letting agents. What will they ask for?

Usually a copy of the public liability schedule, the employers’ liability certificate, and confirmation that roofing and work at height are described in the policy rather than excluded. Some panels also set a minimum limit. We make sure your documents say what the trade actually is so approval is not held up.

A tenant’s belongings got wet. Who pays?

If the ingress was your fault, public liability responds — and it is not only the damaged contents. Alternative accommodation, lost rent and the landlord’s own losses can all follow, which is why the limit on tenanted work matters more than the size of the roof suggests.

Do I need professional indemnity if I only fit roofs?

If you never advise and only install to someone else’s specification, the exposure is limited. But a great many roofers write condition reports for landlords, agents and buyers, or recommend a build-up. As soon as someone relies on your written opinion, that sits with professional indemnity, not public liability.

Is torch-on work on extensions and dormers covered?

Yes, subject to a hot-works permit and a fire-watch period after you finish. It is a routine condition and insurers do enforce it, so if flat-roof work is a regular part of your income it should be declared clearly rather than mentioned in passing.

I keep finding more wrong than I quoted for. Is that an insurance issue?

Not usually a cover issue, but it is a dispute risk. Photographing the covering before you start, recording what you found and getting written approval for extra scope is what keeps a scope argument from turning into an allegation of damage.

Are self-employed roofers on my books employees?

For compulsory employers’ liability, generally yes if they work under your direction with your equipment. Only genuinely independent firms working to their own methods sit outside it.

Related

• Roofers insurance
• Public liability insurance explained
• Employers’ liability insurance explained
• Underinsurance check
• Areas we cover