Three parts of the policy carry a roofing fleet.
Crew Trucks and Material Vehicles
Pickups with ladder racks, crew cabs and flatbeds hauling bundles need liability at the limit your general contractors require, which in Tampa Bay is almost always a $1,000,000 combined single limit. Physical damage covers the trucks themselves, including racks and bodies that have to be declared to be paid.
Florida's registered-vehicle baseline of $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability sits underneath (ss. 627.736, 324.022, Fla. Stat.), which explains why contract limits exist. Our commercial pickup truck insurance page covers the truck side in detail.
Dump Trailers and Tear-Off
Dump trailers are the roofing-specific exposure. Liability generally extends to a trailer in tow, but physical damage on the trailer does not follow the truck, so each trailer needs to be scheduled. Loaded tear-off trailers are also heavy, and a loaded combination can pass 10,001 pounds, the federal commercial motor vehicle threshold for interstate use (49 C.F.R. § 390.5T).
Florida adds its own trigger: any vehicle with three or more axles is a commercial motor vehicle regardless of weight (s. 320.01(25), Fla. Stat.), which reaches tandem-axle dump trailers behind one-ton trucks. See trailer and equipment insurance.
Storm Season and Out-of-Area Crews
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and roofing work spikes after it. Two insurance consequences follow. Rented trucks and trailers brought in for surge work need hired auto coverage before they are picked up, and crews driving personal vehicles between jobs create a non-owned exposure covered by hired and non-owned auto insurance.
Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024, as a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds (National Hurricane Center). Roofers worked Tampa Bay for months afterward, much of it with expanded crews and added vehicles, which is exactly when coverage gaps appear.
Storm work also draws unlicensed operators, and Florida treats that seriously: unlicensed contracting is normally a first-degree misdemeanor on a first offense, but it becomes a third-degree felony when committed during a declared state of emergency (s. 489.127, Fla. Stat.). Licensed roofers competing against storm-chasers should keep their licensing current, along with certificates and vehicle identification, because those documents are what separate you from the trucks that appear after a landfall.
