Roofer insurance
You work at height, on other people's buildings, in Irish weather. This cover handles injury and damage to property that is not yours.
Cover for roof structures, tiles, felt, skylights and dormers, on pitched and flat roofs.
Public Liability from €21.84 per month, with €2.5 million of cover per claim.
Online quote in minutes, no long-term commitment, cancel any day.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Why take out business insurance as a roofer?
Roofing puts weather, height and someone else's building in the same job. Here is why insurance matters:
What comes off a roof lands on someone: A slipped slate, a dropped tool or a sheet caught by wind can injure a passer-by or wreck a car below. Public Liability takes care of your defence costs and the compensation due.
The building is in your hands while you are on it: Strip a roof and the weather gets in. Damage to property in your care, custody or control is covered as standard, up to €25,000 per claim on your own, or €50,000 if you employ anyone.
Putting work right costs money: If a roof has to be redone, the optional cost of additional work cover pays up to €25,000 per claim on your own, or €50,000 with staff, after a €500 excess.
What is Public Liability insurance?
If a third party, like a client or a member of the public, holds you responsible for an injury or for damage to their property, Public Liability takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due.
What does it cover?
Injury or property damage caused to others in the course of your roofing work. Your cover limit is €2.5 million per claim and €5 million per insurance year. Damage to property in your care, custody or control is included, up to €25,000 per claim on your own or €50,000 if you employ anyone.
What can you add?
Employers' Liability, €13 million per claim, if you employ anyone.
Cost of additional work, up to €25,000 per claim on your own or €50,000 with staff, subject to a €500 excess, for putting faulty work right.
Cover that fits your trade
You describe your work fully at sign-up, and your cover matches what you actually do: installing roof structures, laying roof tiles, laying tar paper, installing skylights and installing a dormer.
Work you have to declare
Some of what you tell us changes your premium, and some of it means we need to look at your business before we can quote. As a roofer you are asked about:
Fire-hazardous work: any work involving heat, such as bitumen burning, flame soldering, welding, cutting, grinding, paint stripping, and work with hot air such as blow-drying. Torch work on flat roofs sits squarely in this, so answer it accurately. Your answer affects your premium.
Subcontractors: whether more than 50% of your revenue comes from subcontractors, meaning people you hire to carry out work on your behalf. If it does and your annual revenue is above €500,000, we need to look at your business before we can quote.
Experience: whether you have at least 3 years of experience with the activities your company carries out. You are only asked this if your business has been trading for less than 36 months, and your answer affects your premium.
Revenue from outside the European Union: whether more than 50% of your revenue comes from outside the European Union. If it does, we need to look at your business before we can quote.
How much can your business turn over?
This cover is written for roofing businesses turning over up to €2,500,000 a year, with up to 30 people. That revenue ceiling is lower than for most trades we cover. Above it, we cannot quote you online.
Is it mandatory?
Public Liability is not required by law in Ireland. In practice, main contractors, housing bodies, letting agents and local authorities ask for proof of cover before they let you on site. Cover starts from €21.84 per month.
What does our insurance cover for roofers?
Cover for roofers is built around Public Liability on the construction rating, with optional covers you can add to match your situation.
Public Liability: Protects you if a client or another third party suffers an injury, or their property is damaged, in the course of your roofing work. It takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due. Your cover limit is €2.5 million per claim and €5 million per insurance year.
Third-party objects and sites: Included as standard on this trade. Covers damage to property belonging to others that is in your care, custody or control, which on a roofing job means the building you are working on, up to €25,000 per claim on your own or €50,000 if you employ anyone.
Employers' Liability (optional): If you employ staff, this covers your liability as an employer, with a limit of €13 million per claim.
Cost of additional work (optional): Covers the necessary and reasonable cost of putting faulty work right, up to €25,000 per claim on your own or €50,000 with staff, after a €500 excess.
What's covered
Trade in related construction goods and materials
Application of plaster on walls and/or ceilings
Construction, installation, modification, maintenance and repair of wooden floors, walls, ceilings, stairs, doors and windows
Execution of business trips and company events
Participation in seminars or training courses
Optional: Employers' Liability if you employ anyone (€13 million per claim)
Optional: cost of additional work, for putting faulty work right (€25,000 or €50,000 per claim, €500 excess)
Activities outside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom
Motor liability apart from tools of trade used on a contract site
Advice, design or specification provided separately for a fee or under a separate contract
Cyber liability and failure of systems
Claims or circumstances you already knew about when the cover started
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Claim examples for roofers
You strip a pitched roof in Limerick and rain gets in overnight before the felt is back on. Ceilings and plasterwork on the floor below are ruined. Damage to the building in your care is covered.
A slate works loose weeks after a repair, comes off in a gale and lands on a parked car. The owner holds you responsible. Public Liability takes care of your defence costs and the compensation due.
While torching felt on a flat roof you scorch the fascia and part of the roof void. Because you declared fire-hazardous work when you took out cover, the claim is handled.
You strip a pitched roof in Limerick and rain gets in overnight before the felt is back on. Ceilings and plasterwork on the floor below are ruined. Damage to the building in your care is covered.
A slate works loose weeks after a repair, comes off in a gale and lands on a parked car. The owner holds you responsible. Public Liability takes care of your defence costs and the compensation due.
While torching felt on a flat roof you scorch the fascia and part of the roof void. Because you declared fire-hazardous work when you took out cover, the claim is handled.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
How to choose the right insurance as a roofer?
Criteria to compare:
The cover offered: Check the policy matches how you actually work; height, weather, the building you are standing on, and torch or hot-air work if you do it. Make sure each one is covered.
The price: Compare premiums, but an attractive price can hide exclusions that matter on a roof.
The excess: Know what stays at your own expense when a claim happens.
The exclusions: Watch for the ones specific to the trade; work you have not declared, specialist installations, and marketing that promises guaranteed results.
The service: Check how you get answers before you buy, not after a claim. An insurer that understands roofing will ask about the work you take on at height and in heat.
Mistakes to avoid: Do not settle for a generic policy that ignores what happens when a roof is open to the weather. To secure your business today, discover our Public Liability insurance.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Answers to your questions about our insurance for roofers
The price depends on your turnover, the work you do, your headcount and the excess you choose. At Insify, Public Liability for a roofer starts from €21.84 per month. Roofing is rated on our construction basis, which is why it starts higher than trades that carry less risk of injury and property damage. A personalised quote takes a few minutes online, and you can adjust the excess to see how it moves your premium.
Public Liability is not required by law in Ireland. In practice you will be asked for it constantly. Main contractors will not let you on site without a certificate, housing bodies and letting agents ask before handing over keys, and local authorities and public tenders set their own minimum limits. Having cover in place also means you are not personally exposed if someone claims against you after an injury.
Not as standard. Public Liability covers injury and damage to other people and their property, not the cost of redoing your own work. The optional cost of additional work cover pays the necessary and reasonable cost of putting faulty work right, up to €25,000 per claim if you work on your own or €50,000 if you employ anyone, after a €500 excess. If a fault you left behind injures someone or lets water into the building, that part is Public Liability.
Damage to the building you are working on is covered as standard on this trade, up to €25,000 per claim if you work on your own, or €50,000 if you employ anyone, and up to twice that per insurance year. That is the cover that responds when a roof is stripped and rain reaches the ceilings below. Damage to your own tools, materials and van is not covered.
Yes. Fire-hazardous work is one of the questions we ask, and it covers bitumen burning, flame soldering, welding, cutting, grinding, paint stripping and work with hot air. Torching felt on a flat roof is exactly that. Your answer affects your premium rather than removing cover, so answer it accurately: a claim arising from work you did not declare is a problem you do not want to find out about after a fire.
Roofing is rated on our construction basis, and that comes with a single cover limit of €2.5 million per claim and €5 million per insurance year. Trades on our general rating can choose between €1.25 million, €2.5 million and €6.5 million, but that choice is not available here. If a contract or a tender asks you for more than €2.5 million, tell us before you buy so we can check whether we can cover the work.
Yes, and it is lower for roofing than for most trades. This cover is written for roofing businesses turning over up to €2,500,000 a year, with up to 30 people. Most of the trades we cover online can turn over four times that. If you are above the ceiling, we cannot quote you online, and it is worth telling us early rather than at the end of a quote.
The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself. If a claim settles at €4,000 and your excess is €500, you pay €500 and Insify pays €3,500. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500. A higher excess usually lowers your premium but means more out of pocket when a claim happens. The optional cost of additional work cover carries its own €500 excess.
Yes. Employers' Liability is a separate optional cover with a limit of €13 million per claim, and it is not part of your policy unless you add it. Employers' Liability is not compulsory in Ireland, unlike the United Kingdom, but you are still liable as an employer. Your headcount also changes your third-party property limits, which move from €25,000 to €50,000 per claim once you employ anyone.