Excess Liability Insurance for Commercial Roofing Contractors
Excess liability insurance provides additional limits that sit above your primary liability policies, responding once primary limits are exhausted. For commercial roofing contractors bidding on large-scale projects — hospitals, data centers, high-rises — owners and general contractors frequently require $10M, $25M, or even $50M in total liability limits. Excess policies stack on top of umbrella coverage to reach those thresholds.
What It Covers
Excess liability follows the terms of the underlying policies and provides additional limits above your umbrella. If you carry a $5M umbrella and need $15M total limits for a hospital project, a $10M excess layer fills the gap. It responds to the same covered claims as the underlying umbrella — GL, auto liability, and employer's liability occurrences that exhaust all lower limits. Each layer must be exhausted before the next responds.
What It Does Not Cover
Excess liability does not broaden coverage beyond what the underlying policies provide — it only adds limits. If the underlying umbrella excludes pollution or professional liability, the excess layer excludes them too. It does not cover claims within the retention or deductible of the primary policies, and it does not apply to first-party coverages like property or inland marine.
Real Claim Examples
A catastrophic crane collapse on a hospital reroof kills two workers and injures several bystanders, generating $18M in claims that exhaust the $1M GL, $5M umbrella, and require the $10M excess layer to fully resolve. A multi-story building fire caused by hot-work roofing operations results in $12M in property damage and business interruption claims to tenants, requiring response from multiple excess layers. A major wind event during construction tears the partially installed roof system off a distribution center, causing $8M in interior damage claims.
How Much It Costs
Excess liability pricing for commercial roofers depends on the attachment point and underlying program. Expect to pay $3,000 to $8,000 per million for the first excess layer above a $5M umbrella. Higher layers (above $10M) cost less per million because the probability of reaching those limits decreases. A $10M excess layer above a $5M umbrella might cost $30,000 to $60,000 annually.
Why Work With Us for This Coverage
Building excess towers for roofing contractors requires access to specialty excess markets that most retail agents cannot reach. We structure multi-layer programs that meet project requirements while keeping per-million costs as low as possible through strategic layering and carrier selection.
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