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Roofing cover that actually matches the work you do — heights, heat work and all. Tell us about your business and we'll do the rest.
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Reviewed by Apex Insurance Brokers · Last reviewed 2026-08-06
Roofing sits near the top of every insurer's rating table for the construction trades, and it isn't hard to see why. You work at height, often over occupied buildings, frequently with heat, and the consequences when something goes wrong — a slipped tile, an exposed roof before a storm, a smouldering ember in a timber eave — tend to be expensive. That reality shapes everything about how roofers insurance is priced, worded and underwritten. This page walks through what a UK roofing contractor genuinely needs, where the traps in the wordings sit, and how to buy well without pretending the trade is something it isn't.
Let's separate the legal requirements from the practical ones, because they get blurred constantly and the distinction matters.
Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement for almost every business that employs people, under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. If you have anyone working for you — on the books, cash-in-hand labourers, apprentices, or labour-only subcontractors you direct and supply materials to — you are almost certainly an employer in the eyes of the law and of your insurer, and you need employers' liability cover in place. This is the one part of a roofer's insurance programme where the law leaves no room for judgement.
Public liability insurance is not required by law. No statute compels a roofing contractor to carry it. In practice, though, it is close to impossible to trade without: main contractors won't let you on site, local authorities and housing associations won't put you on approved lists, and most commercial clients will ask for evidence of cover before you quote. The requirement is contractual and commercial rather than legal — but for a working roofer the effect is much the same.
Motor insurance is required by law under the Road Traffic Act 1988 for any vehicle used on the road — so your van, pickup or flatbed needs its own commercial motor policy. Don't assume a personal policy stretches to carrying ladders, felt and a labourer to site; it needs to be insured for business use covering your trade.
A painter and a roofer might both buy “£2m public liability”, but the policies underneath are not the same product. Roofing changes three things: the questions insurers ask, the conditions they attach, and the price they charge.
Height is the first distinctive. Most tradesman policies are written on the assumption of low-level work, and many contain a height condition or limit — restricting cover to work below a stated height, often expressed in metres or storeys. A roofer who buys a generic online tradesman policy without checking this can find that the exact work they do every day sits outside the cover. When we place roofing risks, the working-height question is one of the first we ask: a contractor doing two-storey domestic re-roofs is a very different proposition from one working on multi-storey blocks or industrial units, and the policy needs to reflect the highest work you actually take on, not the average.
The second distinctive is the claims pattern. Roofing public liability claims cluster in recognisable ways: materials dropped from height striking a person, car or conservatory below; damage to the building being worked on — classically, a roof stripped and not adequately weatherproofed overnight before rain, leading to a soaked interior; damage to neighbouring property from debris or scaffold; and fire. Insurers know these patterns intimately, which is why proposal forms for roofers dig into how you protect exposed roofs, how waste is removed, and what heat work you carry out.
The third is conditions. Roofing policies routinely carry warranties and conditions that a general trades policy wouldn't — and breaching them can leave a claim unpaid. Read them. Better still, have a broker read them with you before you buy, not after something has gone wrong.
Larger or more complex risk? Speak directly to a director — call 0117 325 0027 or email info@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk.
If your work includes torch-applied felt, hot bitumen, hot air welding on single-ply, or lead work with a flame, you are in hot works territory, and this is where roofing insurance gets its most demanding conditions. Fire is the claim insurers fear most on a roofing risk — a flame roofing job that ignites timber battens, fascia boards or insulation can smoulder unseen and take hold hours after the crew has packed up, and the resulting damage to a client's building can dwarf the value of the contract many times over.
Policies covering heat work almost always attach a heat or hot works condition. The details vary between insurers, but the themes are consistent: keeping flames away from combustible materials, having appropriate fire-fighting equipment to hand at the point of work, stopping heat work a set period before leaving site, and carrying out a final inspection of the work area after heat application has finished. These aren't box-ticking clauses — they are conditions of cover, and insurers do decline fire claims where they weren't followed. Two practical points follow. First, be completely straight on your proposal about whether you use heat and what kind; a policy bought on a “no heat work” basis is worthless the day you pick up a torch. Second, build the policy's fire precautions into how your crews actually work, so compliance is routine rather than luck. If you've moved to cold-applied systems to avoid the issue entirely, tell your broker — it genuinely changes how the risk is viewed.
This is the question that catches more roofing contractors out than any other. The answer turns on the difference between two kinds of subcontractor.
Labour-only subcontractors work under your direction, use your materials and usually your equipment, and don't carry their own insurance for the work. For insurance purposes they are treated as your employees — which means you need employers' liability cover for them, and it's the law that says so, not just the insurer. Given how roofing gangs are typically put together, most roofing contractors who “don't employ anyone” do, in fact, employ people in this sense.
Bona fide subcontractors work under their own direction, supply their own materials and plant, and hold their own public liability insurance. They aren't your employees, but your policy still needs to know about them — most insurers rate for the wages or payments you make to each type, and many require you to check that bona fide subcontractors carry their own cover at an adequate limit. Keep copies of their certificates; you may be asked for them at claim time.
Employers' liability matters intensely in roofing because falls from height remain one of the most serious causes of injury in UK construction — the Work at Height Regulations 2005 exist for a reason. An employee badly injured in a fall may have a claim against you measured in the hundreds of thousands of pounds or more; employers' liability is what stands between that claim and your business. Standard EL cover in the UK is written at a £10m limit as a matter of market practice.
Liability policies deal with harm you cause to others. A separate set of covers protects your own kit and the job itself:
We'll be straight with you, because it saves everyone time: roofing costs more to insure than most trades, and no honest broker will tell you otherwise. Height, heat and weather exposure put it in a higher rating band, and a smaller panel of insurers writes it willingly — some won't quote roofing at all, and others carve out particular work such as high-rise or heat application. We won't quote figures here because your price depends on your work mix, your record and your turnover, but you should expect roofing to be rated as the serious trade it is.
What you can influence is how your particular business is presented and which insurer sees it. The percentage of your work that is flat roofing versus pitched, whether you use heat, your maximum working height, new-build versus repair, your claims history, your use of subcontractors, how long you've traded — all of these move the outcome. A roofer with five clean years, mostly pitched domestic work and no torch-on reads very differently from the trade's stereotype, but only if the proposal actually says so. This is where a broker earns their keep: putting your risk in front of insurers who want roofing business, framed accurately and completely. And accuracy cuts both ways — under-describing your work to soften the premium is the most expensive mistake in this trade, because it surfaces at claim time, when it's too late to fix. If your work changes mid-year — you take on a taller contract, or add heat work — tell your broker before you start, not at renewal.
Public liability for roofers is commonly arranged at £1m, £2m or £5m — these are illustrative limit options, not prices. The right figure is usually decided for you by the work you want to win: many main contractors, local authorities and housing providers specify a minimum limit, with £5m a frequent ask on commercial and public-sector contracts, and higher limits sometimes required on larger projects. Think about the realistic worst case too. Roofing claims can escalate — a fire spreading from the roof into an occupied commercial building, or serious injury to a member of the public, can exhaust a low limit quickly. Check the limits your target clients demand before you buy, and buy once rather than paying twice mid-term to upgrade.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent, FCA-authorised broker based in Bristol, arranging cover for trades across the UK. With roofers, our job is mostly about fit: making sure the height you work at is within the policy, the heat work you do is properly declared and conditioned, your subcontractor arrangements are rated correctly, and the whole programme — liability, tools, contract works, van — hangs together without gaps or double-paying. Because we work with a range of insurers rather than one, we can match a roofing risk to a market that actually wants it. Start a quote online and tell us about the work you do — the real work, heights and heat included — and we'll come back with cover that stands up on the day you need it.
Quote-and-buy sites decline roofers constantly — for torch-on work, working at height, too much flat roofing, a past claim or simply being a new business. An automated decline is the system’s limit, not a verdict on your business, and a broker can usually find a market for the same risk presented properly. If you’ve been knocked back or quoted silly money, start with our guide to hard-to-place roofing risks, or go straight to the page that fits: hot works & torch-on cover, roofers insurance with claims, flat roofing insurance or new-venture roofers insurance.
From two-storey re-roofs to torch-on flat work — get roofers insurance placed by a broker who knows the trade.
Get a quote →Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This article is general information, not advice on a specific policy.
