By Doug Dombroski, RIBO Sr. Commercial Lines Specialist, Construction & Surety
Completed operations coverage is the part of your roofing insurance that most contractors don’t think about until they need it. By then, it’s too late.
This is the coverage that responds when a roof you installed six months ago starts leaking. When a membrane you applied last year fails and causes $80,000 in water damage to a commercial building. When a homeowner calls a lawyer because the shingles your crew installed are lifting in their first winter.
If your policy excludes completed operations, or sublimits it to a fraction of your general aggregate, you’re exposed to the single largest category of roofing liability claims in Canada. And right now, with new portal-based programs entering the market and competing almost entirely on price, more contractors are carrying this gap than at any point in the last decade.
What Completed Operations Coverage Actually Does
Your commercial general liability (CGL) policy has two main coverage buckets:
- Premises/operations covers bodily injury or property damage that happens while you’re on the job. A ladder falls on a client’s car. A worker drops materials through a skylight. These are “during the work” claims.
- Products/completed operations covers bodily injury or property damage that happens after you leave the job. The roof leaks. A flashing failure causes water intrusion. A torch-applied section fails and causes a fire six months later.
For roofers, the second bucket is where the expensive claims live.
Here’s why: roofing defects often don’t show up right away. A poorly sealed membrane might hold through a dry fall but fail during spring thaw. A flashing issue might not produce visible leaks until heavy rain hits from the right direction. The gap between job completion and claim filing can be months or years.
Your CGL policy responds to claims based on when the damage occurs, not when the work was done. If a roof you installed two years ago causes property damage today, your current policy’s completed operations coverage is what pays for it, as long as you have it.
What Completed Operations Coverage Does NOT Cover
This is where contractors get confused. Completed operations coverage is not a warranty. It does not pay to redo your own work.
The standard CGL policy contains an exclusion called “Damage to Your Work.” It means:
- The policy will not pay to replace or repair your defective roofing work. If you installed a membrane improperly and it needs to be torn off and redone, that cost is on you.
- The policy will pay for damage your defective work caused to other property. If your faulty membrane caused $60,000 in water damage to the building’s interior, that’s covered.
The distinction matters. The insurance covers the consequences of bad work, not the cost of correcting the bad work itself.
There is one important exception: if the defective work was performed by a subcontractor working on your behalf, the “Damage to Your Work” exclusion typically does not apply. That means if your sub botched a section of roof and it caused damage to other parts of the building, your CGL may cover both the resulting damage and the replacement of the sub’s work.
This is a strong reason to require subcontractors to carry their own insurance and to document the scope of their work carefully.
How Cheap Programs Cut This Coverage
In a soft market, new entrants compete on price. The easiest way to lower a premium is to reduce coverage. Completed operations is one of the first things to go.
Here’s how it happens:
| Method | What It Looks Like | Why It’s Dangerous |
| Full exclusion | Policy endorsement removes completed operations entirely | Zero coverage for any claim after you leave the jobsite |
| Sublimit | Completed operations aggregate capped at $250K-$500K instead of matching the general aggregate | One moderate water damage claim can exhaust the limit |
| Sunset clause | Coverage only applies to work completed within the last 12 months | Claims that surface 18 months or 2 years later have no coverage |
| Claims-made form | Coverage only applies if the claim is filed during the policy period, not when the damage occurs | If you switch carriers or let the policy lapse, you lose coverage for past work |
Most contractors don’t catch these restrictions because they never read the endorsements. They compare the premium on two quotes, pick the cheaper one, and assume the coverage is equivalent.
It usually isn’t.
Real-World Scenarios
Here are three situations I’ve seen play out with roofing contractors. Names and details are changed, but the coverage issues are real.
Scenario 1: The residential re-roof
A contractor installs new shingles on a home. Eight months later, a sustained wind event lifts several sections. Water enters the attic and damages the ceiling, insulation, and personal property on the floor below. The homeowner files a claim. Total damage: $45,000.
- With proper completed operations coverage: The policy pays for the water damage and property damage inside the home. The contractor pays to redo the shingle work (that’s the “Damage to Your Work” exclusion).
- Without completed operations coverage: The contractor is personally liable for all of it. $45,000 out of pocket, plus legal costs if the homeowner sues.
Scenario 2: The commercial flat roof
A roofing company installs a new membrane on a 15,000 sq ft commercial building. Fourteen months later, a seam failure causes slow water intrusion that goes undetected for weeks. By the time it’s found, there’s $120,000 in damage to the building interior and tenant property.
- With proper completed operations coverage (full aggregate): The policy responds. Legal defense is covered. Damages are covered up to the policy limits.
- With a $250,000 sublimit on completed operations: The policy responds, but the contractor is one bad claim away from exhausting the entire completed operations aggregate for the year. A second claim, even a small one, has no coverage left.
- With a 12-month sunset clause: 14 months have passed since job completion. No coverage at all.
Scenario 3: The subcontractor failure
A GC hires a roofing sub to install flashing around skylights on a new build. The sub does the work improperly. Two years later, leaks appear around every skylight. The building owner sues the GC.
- GC’s CGL with completed operations and the subcontractor exception: The GC’s policy may cover both the resulting water damage and the cost to redo the sub’s flashing work, because the “Damage to Your Work” exclusion has an exception for work performed by subcontractors.
- Sub had no insurance or excluded completed operations: The sub is personally liable, and the GC may have difficulty recovering costs.
How to Check Your Current Policy
You don’t need to be an insurance expert to verify your completed operations coverage. Here’s what to look for:
- Check your declarations page. Look for the “Products/Completed Operations Aggregate” limit. It should match your general aggregate (typically $2M). If it shows a lower number, or if it’s missing entirely, you have a gap.
- Search for endorsement CG 21 04 (or equivalent wording). This is the standard exclusion endorsement that removes completed operations coverage. If it’s attached to your policy, you have no completed operations coverage. Period.
- Read the policy form. Is it “occurrence” or “claims-made”? Occurrence-based policies are the standard for contractors. Claims-made policies require you to maintain continuous coverage (or buy an extended reporting period) to protect against claims from past work.
- Ask your broker directly. “Does my policy provide full completed operations coverage with an aggregate that matches my general aggregate, on an occurrence basis, with no sunset clause?” If your broker can’t answer that clearly, consider that a problem.
Why This Matters More in a Soft Market
The 2026 Canadian commercial insurance market is soft. Premiums have dropped significantly. New programs are entering the roofing space and competing on price.
That competition is good for contractors, but only if you’re comparing coverage, not just cost.
A policy that saves you $5,000 in annual premium but excludes completed operations is a terrible trade. One leak, one water damage claim, one lawsuit, and you’re paying out of your own pocket for damages that a proper policy would have covered.
The best roofing insurance programs, the ones backed by Lloyd’s syndicates with deep experience in Canadian construction, include full completed operations coverage as a standard feature. They also include faulty workmanship coverage, which some programs don’t offer at all. The premium difference between a full-coverage program and a stripped-down portal product is often $3,000-$5,000 per year.
That’s the cost of a single day’s materials on a mid-size job. It’s not worth the risk.
The Bottom Line
Completed operations coverage is the most important part of your roofing insurance that you’ll never think about until it matters. And when it matters, it matters more than everything else in the policy combined.
If you’re shopping your program, or if you haven’t reviewed your policy language in a while, this is the first thing to check.
Get a roofing insurance review or book a call with me directly to go through your current policy.
Doug Dombroski is a RIBO-licensed Sr. Commercial Lines Specialist and VP of Roofing at Ai Insurance Organization. He spent years running a roofing company before moving to the insurance side, and brings firsthand knowledge of what it costs to run crews, bid jobs, and handle callbacks. He specializes in general liability, construction insurance, and surety bonding for roofing contractors across Canada.
