Roofing contractor insurance in South Carolina.
Liability, workers' comp, trucks, and the tools on them, placed with carriers that still write roofing. Shingle, metal, and low-slope crews across South Carolina, plus roofing work in North Carolina and Georgia, where we are licensed too. Zero agency fees, ever.
Built around work done two stories up.
Residential reroofs, new construction, metal, and low-slope commercial all price differently. We write the package around the roofs you actually put on.
General liability
Pays for damage your crew does to someone else: a bundle dropped through a skylight, a ladder that takes out a gutter. Roofing is one of the trades carriers most often turn down, so read any policy for a roof height cap or an excluded roof type before you buy.
Workers' compensation
Roofing payroll has its own comp class, and carriers price it as one of the riskiest in construction. SC generally requires it at four or more employees. If you still work the roof yourself, we talk through whether to include your own payroll.
Commercial auto
The truck hauling shingles, the dump trailer for tear-off, the ladder rack. Loaded trailers and debris runs need to be on the policy by name, not assumed.
Tools & equipment
Nail guns, compressors, hoists, and torches. Theft from a trailer left at the job overnight is the classic roofing tools claim, and tools coverage is what pays for it.
Installation floater
Covers materials delivered to the job before they are installed. A pallet of shingles that walks off a driveway is your loss without it.
Commercial umbrella
Commercial reroofs and apartment complexes are where the big limit requests come from. An umbrella is how a small roofing company meets them without rebuilding every policy.
What carriers ask a roofer
A roofing application runs longer than most, and every answer either moves the price or decides whether a carrier quotes at all. Here is what comes up and what to have ready.
| The question | Why they ask | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Residential, commercial, or both? | Steep-slope houses and low-slope commercial roofs are different risks, and many carriers only want one of them. | A rough split of last year's revenue between the two. |
| How high do you work? | Some roofing policies cap height or number of stories. A cap you never noticed can leave the one tall job uncovered. | The tallest building you roofed in the past year. |
| Any torch-down, hot tar, or open flame? | Hot work starts fires. Many roofing policies exclude it outright or require a written fire-watch routine. | Which roof systems you install, and how your crew handles fire watch if you use torches. |
| Do you follow storms? | Storm work means new states, new crews, and more claims. A storm crew is priced very differently than a local reroofer. | Every state you worked in last year. |
| Who is on the roof? | Employees, 1099 crews, or a mix. Uninsured sub crews are a comp problem in South Carolina, which our contractor insurance page explains. | A current certificate for every sub crew you use. |
| Any leak claims after the job? | Roofing underwriters watch leak claims closely, because they surface months after the crew is gone. | Loss runs from your current and prior carriers, usually three to five years. |
Every carrier asks its own version of these. Answer them accurately: a wrong answer on a roofing application can surface later as a coverage dispute on the claim you most needed paid.
What South Carolina roofers should know.
Residential roofing in South Carolina runs through the SC Residential Builders Commission. A residential roofing job over $500 calls for a residential specialty registration with a roofer classification. No exam, but you document a year of roofing experience. Once a single job for a homeowner tops $5,000, the Commission also wants a $5,000 surety bond on file, and we place that roofing license bond in the same office as your insurance. Roofing outside residential work, over $10,000, is licensed by a different board: the SC Contractor's Licensing Board, which lists roofing as its own subclassification.
Every hail storm and hurricane season brings roofers in from out of state, and South Carolina wrote rules aimed squarely at storm work. A roofer cannot advertise or promise to pay or rebate a customer's insurance deductible. That is a misdemeanor, and it can cost you your registration. You cannot negotiate the homeowner's claim with their insurer for them. And on an insurance-paid roof, you must hand over a written notice that lets the customer cancel within five business days of a claim denial.
Carriers ask about storms for their own reasons. A crew that chases storms across three states looks nothing like one that reroofs the same county year after year, and the application will ask which one you are. Griffin is also licensed in North Carolina and Georgia, served by phone, text, and email from our Sumter office. If your crews follow a storm over the state line, tell us before the first tear-off so the policy lists that state.
- Carriers that write roofing, residential and low-slope
- Height caps and hot work exclusions read before you sign
- Roofing license bond placed in the same office
- Out-of-state storm work added to the policy before you go
Roofing is a hard placement
Plenty of carriers will not quote a roofer at all. We know which ones still write the class in South Carolina, and we start there.
Quote my roofing companyLeaks after the job, and who pays
Most roofing claims do not happen while you are up there. They show up after a hard rain, weeks or months later, when water comes through the ceiling of a house you finished in the spring.
That claim falls under the products and completed operations part of your general liability policy. It responds to damage your finished work causes: the ruined drywall, flooring, and furniture under the leak. Confirm your policy carries a completed operations limit at all. Some bargain roofing policies exclude it or cut it way down, and the low price looks good right up until the first wet ceiling.
What it generally will not pay for is tearing off and redoing the roof itself. Fixing your own faulty work is treated as a cost of doing business, not an insured loss. The damage inside the house is the insured part. Knowing where that line sits before a customer calls keeps the conversation calm.
Builders who sub roofing to you will want that completed operations protection extended to them as well. How that works, and why certificates get bounced over it, is on our contractor insurance page.
One more South Carolina rule that changes the picture: the Residential Builders Commission limits roof mounting of solar panels to licensed residential builders, registered specialty contractors with a roofer classification, and general contractors with a roofing classification. If your crews mount panels, tell us. A penetration that leaks under an array is a different exposure than shingles, and some carriers rate it separately.
- Completed operations limit confirmed, not assumed
- Interior water damage is the insured part of a leak claim
- Solar mounting disclosed and placed with a carrier that covers it
Three steps. About 60 seconds to start.
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Send the form above or call or text 803-848-0089. No SSN required to get started.
We shop the market
We run your details across every relevant carrier we represent and bring you the strongest fits, side by side.
You pick. We bind it.
Simpler policies often bind quickly. Larger accounts go through carrier underwriting first, and we give you the real timeline up front. Then we re-shop your rate every year and help with claims when you need us.
Proudly serving Sumter, Columbia, Manning, Camden, Florence, Bishopville, Lugoff, Hartsville, Lexington, Greenville, Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston, plus all 46 South Carolina counties. See our full service area →
Roofing insurance questions, answered
Why is roofing insurance so hard to get?
Fall exposure. Roofers work at height every day, so injuries are more frequent and more serious, and that drives both workers' comp and liability pricing. Many carriers that write other trades will not quote roofing at all. We start with the ones that do.
Do I need a license to roof houses in South Carolina?
For nearly every job, yes. Residential roofing over $500 requires a residential specialty registration with a roofer classification from the SC Residential Builders Commission. If one job for a homeowner is over $5,000, the Commission also requires a $5,000 surety bond. Roofing outside residential work over $10,000 is licensed by the SC Contractor's Licensing Board.
Can I offer to cover a customer's insurance deductible?
No. South Carolina law bars a roofer from advertising or promising to pay or rebate any part of an insurance deductible. A violation is a misdemeanor and grounds to suspend or revoke your registration. You also cannot negotiate the homeowner's insurance claim on their behalf.
Does my liability policy cover a leak after I finish a roof?
Usually the water damage inside the home, yes, through the completed operations part of general liability, as long as your policy includes it. The cost of redoing your own work is generally not covered. Check for a completed operations exclusion before you buy a cheap roofing policy.
Are torch-down and hot tar jobs covered?
Not on every policy. Many roofing policies exclude open-flame work or require a written fire-watch procedure. If you torch-apply modified bitumen or use hot asphalt, tell us up front so we place you with a carrier that covers it.
I use 1099 crews. What do I need from them?
A current certificate showing their own general liability and workers' comp, collected before they go up and checked again when it expires. In South Carolina an uninsured crew can end up counted as yours, after an injury and at audit. Our contractor insurance page walks through how that works.
How much does roofing insurance cost?
It depends mostly on payroll, your mix of residential and commercial work, roof heights, hot work, and claims history. For a roofer with employees, workers' comp is usually the largest piece. We shop the carriers that write roofing and show you real numbers.
Can you insure roofing work in North Carolina and Georgia?
Yes. Griffin Insurance is licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. Our office is in Sumter, and we handle NC and GA roofers by phone, text, and email. If you send crews across a state line after a storm, have that state added before the job starts.
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Based in Sumter and licensed across South Carolina. We serve Sumter, Manning, Camden, Bishopville, Lugoff, Columbia, Florence, and every county in between.