Every roofing contractor has general liability coverage. Most have commercial auto. But a surprising number of roofers — particularly residential operations — are running without inland marine coverage, assuming their GL policy handles everything. It doesn't. The gap between what GL covers and what actually happens to your equipment, tools, and materials between your yard and the finished roof is exactly where inland marine fits. Understanding this gap is the difference between absorbing a $40,000 theft loss and having it covered.
What Inland Marine Actually Is
The name "inland marine" confuses everyone. It has nothing to do with boats. The term dates to the 1930s when ocean marine insurers began extending coverage to goods in transit over land — "inland" from the ports. Over decades, the category evolved to cover any movable property, property in transit, or property at temporary locations.
For roofing contractors, inland marine is the coverage category that protects:
- Equipment and tools while in use, in transit, or stored at jobsites
- Materials being transported to or staged at project locations
- Specialized items that move between locations and don't fit neatly into standard property policies
Your general liability policy covers damage you cause to other people's property and injuries to third parties. Your commercial property policy covers items at your fixed location. Neither covers your property while it's moving between locations or sitting on someone else's roof. That's the inland marine gap.
Equipment and Tools Coverage (Contractors Equipment Floater)
The contractors equipment floater is the most common inland marine coverage for roofers. It covers your owned or leased equipment and tools against physical loss or damage, regardless of location. This includes:
- Power tools: Nail guns, compressors, saws, generators — typically $500 to $5,000 per item, but $20,000-$50,000+ in aggregate for a working crew
- Heavy equipment: Boom lifts, material hoists, conveyor systems, cranes — $25,000 to $200,000+ per unit
- Ladders and scaffolding: A full scaffolding setup for a commercial job can represent $15,000-$30,000
- Safety equipment: Fall protection systems, anchors, harnesses in bulk
- Diagnostic equipment: Infrared cameras, moisture meters, drone systems ($2,000-$15,000+)
Coverage applies whether the equipment is on your truck, at a jobsite, in your shop, or locked in a trailer at your yard. Most policies cover theft, fire, vandalism, collision (while being transported), and weather damage. Typical exclusions include mechanical breakdown, wear and tear, and mysterious disappearance (items that vanish without evidence of theft).
Scheduling vs. blanket coverage: You can either schedule (list) each item with its value or carry a blanket limit covering all equipment up to a maximum per-item and aggregate value. Scheduling gets better rates on high-value items but requires updating the policy when you buy or sell equipment. Blanket coverage is administratively simpler — most roofing operations with $100K-$500K in total equipment value prefer blanket coverage with a $5,000-$10,000 per-item cap and specific scheduling for items above that threshold.
Materials in Transit and On-Site (Installation Floater)
The second critical inland marine component for roofers is the installation floater, which covers materials and supplies from the point of purchase or delivery through installation. This is distinct from equipment coverage because it covers consumable materials that become part of the finished project.
Consider a typical commercial TPO reroof: you've ordered $80,000 in membrane, $15,000 in insulation board, $8,000 in fasteners and adhesives, and $12,000 in sheet metal. That's $115,000 in materials that might be:
- Sitting on a distributor's lot waiting for your truck
- In transit on your vehicle or a delivery truck
- Staged on the ground at the jobsite
- Hoisted to the roof but not yet installed
- Partially installed (membrane rolled out but not welded)
At every stage, these materials are exposed to theft, weather damage, fire, or vandalism. Your GL policy won't pay for your own materials. Your property policy only covers items at your premises. The installation floater fills this gap.
Coverage typically begins when you take ownership of or responsibility for the materials and ends when the installation is complete and accepted by the owner. This bridges the gap that exists between your property policy and the building owner's property policy.
What GL Won't Cover That Inland Marine Will
Let's look at specific scenarios that regularly hit roofing contractors where GL provides zero coverage:
Scenario 1: Trailer theft. Your enclosed trailer with $35,000 in tools and equipment is stolen from a hotel parking lot during an out-of-town project. GL covers nothing — no third-party claim exists. Without a contractors equipment floater, you're buying $35,000 in replacement tools out of pocket.
Scenario 2: Storm damage to staged materials. You've staged $60,000 in standing seam metal panels at a commercial jobsite. An unexpected microburst damages the panels beyond use. GL doesn't cover your own property. Without an installation floater, that's your loss.
Scenario 3: Jobsite fire. A fire in the adjacent building spreads and destroys your generator, compressor, and 40 squares of shingles staged at the site. Your GL policy covers damage you cause — not damage that happens to your property. The inland marine policy pays this claim.
Scenario 4: Equipment on a totaled truck. Your truck is rear-ended and totaled. Commercial auto covers the vehicle, but the $18,000 in tools and equipment in the bed? That requires a contractors equipment floater.
Scenario 5: Theft of installed-but-not-accepted materials. You've installed copper flashing on a high-end residential project over the weekend. Thieves strip the copper before the homeowner accepts the work. The installation floater covers materials until acceptance — GL does not.
How to Structure Inland Marine for a Roofing Operation
The right inland marine structure depends on your operation's size and type:
Residential operations ($500K-$3M revenue):
- Contractors equipment floater: $50,000-$150,000 blanket limit, $500-$1,000 deductible
- Installation floater: $25,000-$75,000 per-project limit
- Annual premium: $1,500-$4,000 total
Mid-size commercial ($3M-$10M revenue):
- Contractors equipment floater: $150,000-$500,000 blanket with scheduled items over $10,000
- Installation floater: $100,000-$500,000 per-project limit
- Annual premium: $4,000-$12,000 total
Large commercial ($10M+ revenue):
- Contractors equipment floater: $500,000-$2M+ with scheduled heavy equipment
- Installation floater: $500,000-$2M+ per-project limit, possibly project-specific policies for large jobs
- Consider a builders risk component for projects where you carry that responsibility
- Annual premium: $12,000-$40,000+
Key structuring decisions:
- Replacement cost vs. actual cash value: Always insist on replacement cost for equipment. ACV depreciation on a 3-year-old $8,000 nail gun system might only pay $3,000.
- Rented/leased equipment: Ensure your policy covers equipment you rent or lease. Rental companies charge insurance fees of $30-$100/day — your inland marine policy covers this at a fraction of the cost.
- Employee tools: Some policies can extend to cover employee-owned tools used on the job. This is a valuable employee benefit that costs very little.
- Deductible strategy: Higher deductibles ($2,500-$5,000) dramatically reduce premiums on equipment floaters. If you won't file a claim for a stolen $800 drill anyway, set the deductible accordingly.
Why Skipping Inland Marine Is a False Economy
Inland marine premiums for most roofing contractors run $2,000-$10,000 annually. A single stolen trailer, one weather event damaging staged materials, or an equipment fire eliminates a decade of premium savings. The coverage is cheap relative to the exposure because losses, while significant, are relatively infrequent. Carriers price it accordingly — this isn't workers' comp where claims are expected annually. It's a low-frequency, moderate-severity exposure that costs surprisingly little to transfer. Every roofing contractor running more than $30,000 in equipment and materials should carry inland marine coverage. The math doesn't support going without it.