Roofing contractor insurance in Oklahoma normally means four policies: $1,000,000 per occurrence general liability, workers’ compensation, commercial auto on your trucks, and inland marine on tools and equipment. Most OKC-metro roofing operations pay between $6,000 and $18,000 a year for general liability alone, depending on payroll, height work, and whether you do repairs or full tear-offs. Roofing sits in a small handful of specialty markets, not standard carriers, so who submits your application matters as much as what is on it. Call (405) 509-9433 or start a quote online.
Why is roofing insurance so expensive in Oklahoma?
Two reasons. First, height. Carriers price roofing by the percentage of work done above a set height, and a crew working two-story and steep-pitch residential is a different rate than one doing single-story commercial flat roofs. Second, Oklahoma hail. The same storms that keep roofers busy also mean a large share of the state’s roofing companies are newer, storm-chasing operations, and carriers price the whole class against that history. An established Oklahoma roofer with clean loss runs and real payroll records gets treated very differently from a two-year-old company, but only if the submission actually shows it.
What coverage does a roofing contractor actually need?
General liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate is what general contractors, property managers and supply houses require before they will let you on a job. Read the exclusions: many roofing GL policies carry a height limitation, a subcontractor warranty, or a torch/hot-work exclusion that quietly voids the part of your business you actually do. Workers’ compensation is required in Oklahoma once you have employees, and roofing class codes are among the highest-rated in the state, so payroll classification accuracy is where the money is. Commercial auto covers the trucks and any trailer hauling material. Inland marine covers tools, compressors and equipment, on the job and in transit, which a GL policy does not touch. See our Oklahoma contractors insurance page for how these stack together across trades.
Do I need a bond to roof in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma requires roofing contractors to register with the Construction Industries Board and carry a $5,000 surety bond along with proof of liability coverage. That bond is a compliance instrument, not insurance for you: it protects the consumer, and if it pays out, you repay the surety. Individual cities may add their own permit or license bond on top. We write those bonds alongside the liability, so you are not chasing two agencies for one job. Details on our surety bond page.
Subcontractors are where roofers get hurt
If you use 1099 crews, your carrier will audit for it. Uninsured subs get charged back to your policy at your own rate at audit time, which is how a roofer who quoted at $9,000 ends up with a $14,000 bill in month thirteen. Collect a certificate of insurance from every sub before they set foot on the roof, name yourself as additional insured, and keep the certificates on file until after the audit closes. We track sub certificates for our roofing clients so this stops being your problem.
What we need to quote you
Annual gross receipts split between residential and commercial, payroll by class code, the percentage of work above two stories, whether you do any torch-applied or hot work, your years in business, loss runs for the last three to five years, and a list of vehicles. That is the whole submission. Send it once and we market it to multiple roofing carriers rather than one. Start here or call (405) 509-9433.
Certificates the same day
Roofing work does not wait for an agent to get back from lunch. Once you are with us, certificate requests come back the same business day, and standing additional-insured requirements for your regular GCs and supply houses get set up once so repeat certificates are instant.