Roofer insurance UK 2026: complete guide to public liability, employers' liability and tools cover

Roofer insurance is one of the most expensive line items in a UK roofing business and one of the easiest to get wrong. The policy that looks cheap when you compare quotes is often the policy that pays out nothing when you actually need to claim. This guide covers what every UK roofer needs in 2026, what each policy actually does, the policy traps that void claims, what realistic premiums look like, and where most roofers underinsure themselves into trouble.

Why roofer insurance is more expensive than most trades

Insurers price roofing higher than almost any other UK trade for one simple reason: roofers fall, drop things, and start fires more often than other tradespeople. The HSE's own statistics — roof work accounts for approximately 25% of UK construction fatalities — drive how insurers underwrite the trade. The combination of working at height, hot works (oxy/acetylene, torch-on, propane), lead exposure, and customer property values that can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds means that the consequences of a single bad day can be enormous.

The headline implication is that roofers should not buy insurance the way joiners or decorators do. A "tradesman policy" sold by a generic broker may exclude work above 10 metres, exclude hot works, or exclude lead works — exclusions that quietly void the policy on the day a roofer most needs it. The right route is a specialist construction broker who underwrites roofing specifically, with policies underwritten by insurers who understand the trade.

Public liability insurance: the core policy

Public liability (PL) insurance covers claims from third parties — homeowners, members of the public, other contractors — for injury or property damage caused by your work. It is the single most important policy a UK roofer holds. Almost every customer, principal contractor, and accreditation scheme will ask to see your PL certificate before they will work with you.

The market standard is £2 million minimum cover. Most principal contractors require £5 million as a tendering condition. For commercial work or anything in central London or near sensitive infrastructure (rail, power, water), £10 million is increasingly standard. The difference in premium between £2m and £5m is small (often £100 to £200 a year); the difference between £5m and £10m is similarly modest. Buy the highest level you can afford — claims that exceed your cover come out of your business assets, then your personal assets if you are a sole trader.

What public liability covers in practice for roofers: a tile dropped from a scaffold that smashes a parked car; a burst gutter you fitted that floods a homeowner's hardwood floor; a member of the public injured by falling debris; another contractor injured by your equipment; a fire started by your hot works that damages the building. What it does not cover: damage to your own work (that is contract works insurance), injury to your own employees (that is employers' liability), faulty workmanship that has to be redone (that is rarely covered by any standard policy).

For a UK roofing business in 2026, expect to pay £600 to £1,500 a year for £5 million of public liability. The variables that move the premium are: the height you work at (over 10 metres adds significantly), the value of properties you work on (heritage and high-value domestic increase the premium), whether you do hot works, whether you have a claims history, your turnover, and whether you employ subcontractors.

Employers' liability insurance: legally compulsory

Employers' liability (EL) insurance is compulsory under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 the moment you employ anyone, including a labourer one day a week. The minimum legal cover is £5 million; every reputable insurer offers £10 million as standard at no real extra cost.

EL covers claims from your own employees for injury or illness caused by their work. For roofers, the most common EL claims are falls, manual handling injuries, hand-arm vibration injuries from prolonged tool use, and respiratory disease from silica or lead exposure. Some EL claims have decade-long latencies — a worker exposed to lead or silica today may not develop symptoms for 15 to 20 years, and your insurer must still respond to the claim when it arrives.

The penalty for trading without EL when you employ someone is up to £2,500 per day. The penalty for not displaying your EL certificate at your business address is up to £1,000. Both are routinely enforced.

Premiums depend on your wage bill and the trades involved. For a small roofing team (one director plus a labourer or two), expect £500 to £1,200 a year. For a five-person team, expect £1,500 to £3,000. The factor that most increases EL premium is whether you employ subcontractors who are nominally self-employed but in practice work like employees — the HMRC and HSE position is that these workers are usually employees for liability purposes, and the policy must cover them.

Tools and plant insurance

Roofers' tools are stolen from vans frequently. The HSE and the Federation of Master Builders both report tool theft as one of the most common losses in the trade. Tools and plant insurance covers theft and damage to your roofing tools, plant and materials on site or in transit.

Insuring £10,000 of tools costs £150 to £300 a year. Insuring £25,000 (more typical for a small team with multiple vans) costs £300 to £600. Cover usually applies on a "new for old" basis up to a stated limit, with depreciation applying above that limit.

The most common policy traps are:

Overnight storage requirement. Most policies exclude theft from the van overnight unless the van is stored in a locked compound, garage, or driveway with security. Read the small print before you assume your driveway counts.
Specified vs unspecified items. Items above a single-item limit (often £1,000) must be individually specified on the policy or they are not covered. A £2,500 oxy/acetylene set or a £1,500 nail gun is exactly the kind of high-value item that must be listed by serial number.
Hire equipment. Equipment hired in (a MEWP, a powered access platform) is often excluded from your tools policy and must be covered by a separate hire-in plant policy or by the hire company's insurance — confirm before you sign the hire agreement.

For a working roofer, list the high-value items, photograph them with serial numbers, and keep the photos somewhere outside the van so they survive a theft. Without this, claims for high-value items are routinely refused on the basis that you cannot prove what was stolen.

Contract works insurance

Contract works insurance (sometimes called "all risks" cover) protects the work in progress — the half-stripped roof that is damaged by a storm before you can felt it back in, the new tiles damaged by a falling crane, the materials stolen from the working scaffold. It is the only policy that covers the actual work you are doing while you are doing it.

For domestic roofers, contract works is sometimes optional and is often bundled into a combined construction policy with public liability. For commercial work, it is essential and is normally a contractual requirement. Cover levels are typically £100,000 to £500,000 per project; very large projects need bespoke covers.

The most common claim scenario is weather damage. A roofer strips a roof on a Friday, the temporary covering blows off over the weekend, and the building suffers internal water damage. Contract works pays for the cost of remedying the damaged work plus consequential losses. Without it, the roofer is personally liable for the entire cost.

Premium is typically 0.4% to 1.0% of the contract value, included in the overall policy if bundled. For a roofer doing £200,000 of work a year, the contract works portion of the premium might be £800 to £2,000.

Professional indemnity insurance

Professional indemnity (PI) is the policy that most roofers have never heard of and a small but growing number genuinely need. It covers claims for negligent design or specification — i.e. when the roofer recommends a specific product or method, the customer relies on the recommendation, and the recommendation turns out to be wrong.

For a working roofer who installs to drawings provided by an architect or surveyor, PI is rarely needed. For a roofer who quotes for "design and build" work — surveys the roof, recommends a system, and installs it — PI starts to matter because the customer is relying on your professional judgement. For a roofer who does conservation or heritage work, PI is increasingly a contract requirement because the consequences of a wrong specification can include irreversible damage to listed fabric.

Levels are typically £100,000 to £500,000. Premium is £200 to £800 a year for a small roofing business. If you are doing pure installation to other people's specifications, you probably do not need it. If you are advising customers on system choice, you increasingly do.

Vehicle and breakdown insurance

Roofing vans need commercial vehicle insurance with carriage of own goods cover (the tools and materials you carry). Standard private van insurance does not cover commercial use. The premium for a commercial roofing van is £800 to £2,000 a year depending on driver age, claims history, vehicle value, and overnight storage.

Most policies require at-night van storage in a locked compound, garage or driveway; street parking is often excluded or attracts a higher premium. If you are quoted a low premium, check the storage clause carefully — claims have been refused where the van was parked on the street despite a quoted low premium.

Breakdown cover with onward travel and home start is worth having. A roofer with a broken-down van costs the business a day's revenue plus rescheduled customers. Annual breakdown is £80 to £200 with major providers.

Specific roofing exclusions to watch for

The most expensive insurance mistakes UK roofers make are not the policies they buy — they are the exclusions on the policies they buy. The most common roofer-specific exclusions to check are:

Working at height limits. Many "tradesman policies" exclude work above 10 metres or above a stated number of storeys. A roofer working on a three-storey terraced house may be at or beyond the limit. Confirm the height limit on every quote and increase it where needed.
Hot works exclusion. Some policies exclude oxy/acetylene work, torch-on bitumen membrane work, or any open-flame activity. For a roofer who does lead works or flat-roof torching, a hot works exclusion is a deal-breaker.
Asbestos exclusion. Most general construction policies exclude liability arising from asbestos-related disease. Check the wording — some exclude asbestos liability completely, while others cover it provided you can demonstrate you followed the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and held current asbestos awareness training.
Lead works exclusion. Less common but exists. A policy that excludes lead-related liability is unsuitable for a roofer doing flashings or heritage work.
Subcontractor cover. If you use subcontractors, the policy must explicitly extend to cover claims arising from their work. Many cheap policies exclude subcontractor work entirely, leaving the principal roofer personally liable for what their subcontractor does.
Heritage and listed buildings. Work on listed or scheduled monument buildings is sometimes excluded or requires a specific endorsement because the consequences of damage are higher.

Ask the broker explicitly about each of these exclusions before you accept a quote. A reputable specialist broker will take you through them; a generic comparison-site quote often will not mention them and the exclusions will only emerge in the policy schedule, by which point you have committed.

Realistic total annual cost for a small UK roofer

Pulling the above together, the realistic insurance budget for a typical UK roofing business in 2026 looks roughly like this. These are 2026 market rates and will vary by claims history, location, and specific risk factors.

One-person sole trader, domestic pitched roofing, £75,000 turnover:

Public liability £5m: £700 to £1,000
Tools and plant £10,000: £180
Contract works (combined policy): often included in PL bundle
Commercial van insurance: £900 to £1,200
Annual total: £1,800 to £2,400

Three-person team, domestic + light commercial, £200,000 turnover:

Public liability £5m: £1,000 to £1,500
Employers' liability £10m: £900 to £1,400
Tools and plant £25,000: £400
Contract works £200,000: £800 to £1,600
Two commercial vans: £1,800 to £2,400
Annual total: £4,900 to £7,300

Six-person commercial roofing contractor, £600,000 turnover, work to 25m:

Public liability £10m: £2,500 to £4,000
Employers' liability £10m: £2,500 to £4,000
Professional indemnity £250k: £600 to £1,200
Tools and plant £50,000: £600
Contract works £500,000: £2,000 to £4,000
Three commercial vans: £2,700 to £3,600
Annual total: £10,900 to £17,400

These are baselines. A roofer with a recent claim or a heritage specialism may pay 20% to 50% more. A roofer with a clean record and a long claims-free history may pay 10% to 20% less.

How to actually buy roofing insurance

The four practical routes to buying UK roofer insurance in 2026, ranked from least good to best.

Comparison sites. Useful for the absolute cheapest tradesman policies, but most exclude meaningful roofing exposures. Avoid for roofing.

Direct insurers. Some major insurers (Hiscox, AXA, Aviva) sell direct to small businesses online. Better than comparison sites because the underwriting is at least roofing-aware, but no human review of your specific risk profile. Acceptable for very small one-person sole traders.

Generic insurance brokers. Local high street brokers can place roofing risks but rarely have specialist construction underwriters on tap. Quote spread is wide and you may end up over- or under-insured. Acceptable but not optimal.

Specialist construction brokers. Brokers who specialise in trade and construction insurance (Trade Direct Insurance, Tradesman Saver, Constructaquote, Hiscox Construction, Towergate). These understand roofing-specific exposures, have access to the construction underwriting markets that other brokers do not, and will explain the exclusions clearly. The right route for any roofing business above one-person sole trader. Premium is usually similar or slightly cheaper than generic brokers because the underwriter is comfortable with the risk.

Ask the broker for written quotes from three insurers and compare the schedules side by side, paying particular attention to height limits, hot works, asbestos, subcontractor and excess clauses. Choose the policy that covers your actual exposure, not the cheapest policy.

Keeping your insurance current

The single most common reason a roofer's insurance fails is that the certificate has expired and the renewal was missed. Principal contractors will turn you away at the gate for an expired certificate. Customers will lose confidence. The HSE will treat trading without compulsory employers' liability as a criminal offence.

The discipline that separates well-run roofing businesses is tracking insurance expiry dates systematically. A spreadsheet with renewal dates 60 days out gets you most of the way. A compliance tool that alerts you on a schedule, stores the certificate PDFs, and generates a complete document pack for any Principal Contractor in seconds is what most growing roofers move to. (This is one of the things Complys is built for.)

Insurance is one of the lowest-leverage costs you can shop on. The right policy at the right level, kept current, paid for promptly, costs roughly the same as the wrong policy that voids on the day you claim. Buy properly, track properly, and renew on time, and the only time you will think about insurance is when a customer asks for the certificate — which a good roofer can produce in under 30 seconds.