Roofers Public Liability Insurance
The roof above us is something the vast majority of us are lucky enough to benefit from, but give little consideration to. Considering shelter is one of the very basic needs we all have, it’s important that the roof of our home is weatherproof and durable. Of course, although a roof has a long working life, that life is not indefinite and at some point work is going to have to be done on it. At this point a roofing company needs to be chosen, but how can you avoid the cowboys?
Well there’s several ways you can do this. First of all, you can attempt to look them up on a trade association website. In the UK there are three well known one’s:
* Confederation of Roofing Contractors * The National Federation of Roofing Contractors * The Institute of Roofing
If a company is a trade association member then they will meet the standards of membership, which are usually that the firms labourers are properly qualified, and that the firm has adequate insurance to provide peace of mind and some sort of guarantee to customers.
In the case of the NFRC, a roofer should be able to furnish a potential client with the following:
* Qualifications such as NVQ’s and City of Guilds. Also the Institute of Roofing provide some of their own technical qualifications which are recognised by the NFRC. * A minimum level of roofers insurance, or public liability insurance as it’s also known, to a level of 1,000,000. This is to cover any damage caused to a person or their property and any professional roofer will be more than willing to provide a customer with a copy of this upon request. In fact, on larger jobs where a company is sub contracted this is mandatory, and a contract will not be awarded until evidence of cover has been produced. * An insurance backed guarantee. A written guarantee from the roofer themselves is all well and good, but if that firm should ever go bust, the cover will immediately cease. If the guarantee is backed up with insurance, then it will still stand even if that roofing company does go into dissolution.
If a contractor can provide a client with evidence of all these, then chances are they are a reputable firm, and the work will be done well with no problems. Of course, on occasion there can be problems, as nobody is ever perfect, but then should that happen, at least there is the safety net of adequate contractors insurance to make good any damage.
Matt Withers is marketing manager for Coversure Commercial who specialise in liability insurance quotes for various contractors including insurance for roofing contractors.