Roofing Insurance. That's All We Do.

At minimum: general liability with completed operations, workers compensation (mandatory for all C-39 contractors including sole proprietors — no employees required for the mandate to apply), a $25,000 CSLB contractor license bond, and commercial auto if you drive to job sites. Most roofers also need inland marine for tools and materials in transit, and larger commercial contractors require an umbrella of $2M–$5M or more to satisfy GC contract requirements. We build the full program from day one so nothing falls through the cracks.

Class code 5551 (Roofing — All Kinds) is the WCIRB classification applied to virtually all work performed by C-39 licensed roofing contractors. Because of height exposure, fall risk, and historically high injury frequency, 5551 carries one of the highest base rates in California — often four to six times what a clerical office employee costs per $100 of payroll. The right broker audits your payroll to ensure supervisory and clerical duties are split into lower-rated codes like 5606 (contractor supervisor) and 8810 (clerical), avoiding the most common overpayment we see when roofers arrive from a generalist broker.

Completed operations is the part of your general liability policy that covers claims arising after you've finished a job. Roofing defects — leaks, improper flashing, material failures — frequently surface months or years later. Under California's Right to Repair Act (Civil Code §895), roofers are liable for visible defects for four years and latent (hidden) defects for ten years from substantial completion. Your GL policy must include completed operations that stays in force through that full exposure window, and each annual renewal must preserve the prior-acts coverage. We build this into every roofing GL policy by default.

SB 216 (signed 2022) requires all licensed California contractors to carry workers compensation regardless of whether they have employees. The mandate is being phased in by license classification. Roofing contractors (C-39) are already subject to mandatory WC under prior law. Starting January 1, 2028, SB 216 extends this requirement to virtually all other license classifications. If you are a C-39, the WC mandate applies to you now — and has applied to your classification for years. We help new C-39 licensees understand this from day one.

Your Experience Modification Rate (X-Mod) is a multiplier calculated by the WCIRB based on your actual claims history versus expected losses for your payroll and class code. An X-Mod of 1.00 is neutral; 0.85 means you pay 15% less than the base rate; 1.30 means you pay 30% more. For a roofing contractor with $500K in annual WC premium, a difference of 0.30 on the X-Mod is $150,000 per year. We track your X-Mod trajectory, flag any data errors in the unit statistical report that might be inflating it, and give you a multi-year projection of where it's headed.

Carriers view flat commercial roofing (TPO, EPDM, built-up) differently from steep-slope residential work. Flat-roof commercial work involves larger single-project dollar exposure, more subcontracting, and often hot-work (torch-down) applications that require explicit coverage endorsement — most standard GL forms exclude or limit hot-work claims without it. Steep-slope residential work has different frequency patterns and often more completed-operations claim exposure from homeowner-driven litigation. We disclose your work mix accurately on submissions to get the right policy for your actual exposure, rather than a generic "roofer" quote that may have hidden exclusions.