Another Insurance company dropped me.

They say I do too much roofing and Then say, I'm too small to be a roofing company.

3rd time this year.

Even nowadays I feel funny declining work, but once I hang up and think about it, think about the liability, think about the long work, think about all the labor, think about the chance of not making money, one thing can go wrong and I lose the whole profit, think about all the added employees and their baggage, think about if I took the big job, all the little jobs I would have to decline. Its all worth letting that job pass.

Yes it looks great and we're taking the easy way out, but I see it as we are working smarter, our years of roofing, years of trial and error, years of losing money just to find the solution to a specific problem. I tell the guys who see it and want to go down the same path that its not something that can be done over night, it takes years and years of work, building customers, building your rep, learning service work to get this far. and almost everytime they want it anyways, but when the big job comes in they take it and their service work idea is lost.

we'll just keep doing what we're doing. it will be our own little secret !

I didn't like the feeling when I realized the best option for me was to pass on bidding at all. I want to be able to help everyone that asks for help and I could have used the money but I've considered the many ways a person can die and decided falling off a roof that high and steep is a non option. Who's gonna do the rest of the work after that?

This is the most unfair thing about insurance for roofers. There is no consideration for how long you've been in the business or the fact of claims history or lack there of. Etc. Etc.

We all know that there is a much less chance of something happening when an experienced, skilled professional is handling a roof job. Also, the fewer men working, the smaller the chance. Yet they just charge X percent regardless.

One lifelong skilled professional working alone is the absolute lowest possible risk to an insurance company.

Exactly Willie !!!! I always say I pick my customers with a lot more caution than they pick me.

and come to find out, the insurance company decided to "check me out" and started doing some "research" on me and my company, checked out my website......didn't like what they saw.....and guess what.....

the idiots were looking at someone elses website!!!!!!!!

I love stupid people. so next week, they will most likely take me back.

and you make a good point there with the 25 years of payments that they have from us already !! I'll bring that up for sure.

I'm starting to get a lot of calls from home owners who cancelled a policy and when they try to sign up for a new one, the new insurance company does an on site inspection and comes up with a list of stuff to repair before they will insure the property. Much more so than I've ever seen before. Not that I'm complaining because it brings me work paid for by the home owner. About 1/3 of the jobs i've done in the last week were from this.

GSD, THEY are the one's who are not worth the "gamble". How much does 25 yrs worth of unused insurance add up to?

If I'm working alone on a roof, I can't possibly see anything that might get messed up to the point I would need help to pay for it.

Instead of paying them a lot of money and putting up with their BS all the time, I prefer to use the option to pass on any job that has too much risk involved.

Like earlier today I had the opportunity to sell a job involving replacing one 6 sq. side of a roof. 12 on 12 with a 3 story drop to the concrete driveway.

I "Ensured" that nothing bad will happen to me there by Passing the opportunity to bid.

Michigan. I have "roofing " in my name, but I only do roof repairs, but a lot of inspections, consulting, etc. so my actual time working and being on a roof is very little, maybe 10% of the day. they say that I do too much roofing and its in my name, but since its just me, my premium is very small. so I'm not worth the gamble if I mess something up......which I never have in 20+ years... Looks like I may have to pay a lot higher premium to have insurance.

IL right? I've been trying to find a good company as well. We just got w/ a new company who did an inspection, which couldn't have went any better, and hasn't dropped us YET. We wore ropes for the inspection, but you literally NEVER see guys on ropes around here unless it's the Mexi's on a steep one. Not even the half union fella's, the oldest roofing company in this area.