Can a Roofer Sue Me if He Falls Off My Roof?
Yes, and your policy's liability coverage typically pays his medical bills or a judgment if he's hurt on your property.
Free to compare
A roofer working on your house is usually covered by his own workers' comp or his employer's business insurance, so his medical bills go there first. Problems come up when he's an independent contractor with no coverage of his own. Then he can come after you, and that's what your policy's liability coverage is for. It pays his medical bills or covers a judgment if he sues, up to the limit on your declarations page. Check that limit before closing, since lenders rarely set it high enough on their own.
Liability limits vary more than people expect
One policy's liability coverage might cap out far lower than another's for the same price. Comparing before closing shows what different insurers offer, so a roofer's lawsuit doesn't outrun what your policy pays.
What happens if the roofer doesn't have his own insurance at all
Before closing, it's worth asking the roofer or roofing company for proof of their own insurance, usually a certificate of liability and workers' comp coverage. A legitimate contractor should hand this over without hesitation. If they can't, that's not a small detail. It means an injury on your property becomes your problem first, not a backup problem.
Some states also hold homeowners responsible in a different way. If you hire someone without workers' comp and they're hurt badly enough, a few states let the injured worker file a claim against your homeowners policy as if you were the employer. This isn't universal. It depends on how your state defines an independent contractor versus an employee for insurance purposes, and your state's labor department or your insurer can tell you how it applies where you live.
An umbrella policy comes up in these conversations too, though it's not something to add before closing just for this. An umbrella policy sits on top of your homeowners liability coverage and kicks in once that limit runs out. It matters more for people with significant savings or assets to protect, since a lawsuit that exceeds a standard liability limit can come after what you own. Most new homeowners don't need to think about this on day one, but it's worth knowing the option exists once the house is settled and equity starts building.
Most roofing jobs happen without incident, and most contractors carry their own coverage because they don't want this exposure either. The practical steps before closing are simple. Know your liability limit. Ask contractors for proof of insurance before any work starts, and keep a copy of whatever they give you. That paperwork is worth more after an accident than any policy language read beforehand.
Does it matter who hired the roofer, you or the seller
If the roof was repaired before you closed and the roofer got hurt during that work, that claim belongs to whoever owned the house at the time. Homeowners insurance follows ownership, not the property itself. Your policy starts providing coverage from your closing date forward. An injury that happened under the previous owner's roof, literally, is their insurer's problem.
Work that spans the closing date gets murkier, and it happens more often than people expect. A seller might have a roofer scheduled who doesn't show up until after the deal closes. A flipper might finish a job the week you take possession. If you're buying a house with recent roof work, ask when it happened and who was living there at the time. The settlement date on your closing documents is the line that matters, not when you signed the contract or when you moved in.
Once you own the house, anyone you hire falls under your policy, even if you inherited their contact info from the seller or a property manager recommended them. Who referred the roofer doesn't change who's liable. If you hire them, you're the one asking for proof of insurance, not the person who happened to mention their name.
New construction adds another wrinkle. If you're buying a house still being finished, injuries to the builder's crew are typically covered by the builder's own commercial policy, not yours. You likely don't own the structure yet, and the builder usually stays responsible for the site until closing. Once you take possession and start hiring your own contractors for anything, including a roofer, the coverage question becomes yours to manage. Reading your closing paperwork for the exact possession date settles most of this confusion before it becomes a problem.
Before closing
Find the liability limit on your declarations page and ask any roofer or contractor for proof of their own insurance before work starts. Keep a copy of both. That paperwork matters more than anything read after an accident.
