New York Roofing Workers' Comp Rates, Class Codes and Placement

Evan Swan
3 hours ago
9 min read

Quick answer: what roofing workers' comp costs in New York

New York's rating bureau, NYCIRB, publishes a loss cost near $36.25 per $100 of payroll for roofing, effective 1 October 2025 — the most expensive classification in the state and higher than roofing in almost any NCCI state. That is a loss cost, not a premium. What a New York roofer actually pays is that figure adjusted by the carrier's loss cost multiplier, the experience modification factor, schedule credits or debits, and — critically in New York — the construction payroll limitation program, which can cut the premium base on a well-paid crew by ten to twenty percent before anything else happens.

Will we write it? Tell us the operation, the state, and roughly where the mod sits — we'll come back within one business day with a straight answer: yes, no, or what we'd need to see. No ACORD, no loss runs, no obligation. Agents and business owners both welcome. Run it past us here.

New York does not use the NCCI manual, and roofing does not sit in one code

Most of the country classifies roofing in a single code, 5551, Roofing — All Kinds and Drivers. New York is an independent-bureau state: NYCIRB publishes its own rate manual with its own phraseology, and roofing work in New York is split across more than one classification, including 5545 and 5551, with related work falling into sheet metal and carpentry codes.

Which code applies turns on the structure and the type of roof — pitch, materials, whether the work is on an existing building or new construction, and whether the sheet metal and flashing scope is separate. Wood sheathing and new dwelling framing generally belong in carpentry codes, not roofing. Metal flashing and gutter work generally belongs in sheet metal.

This is where New York roofing accounts most often go wrong, and it goes wrong in both directions. A roofer coded into the wrong roofing class pays the wrong rate for the whole term. A roofer whose carpentry or sheet metal payroll has been swept into a roofing class is overpaying by a wide margin on a $36 rate. Neither error usually surfaces until audit, and by then it is a bill rather than a conversation.

On every New York roofing submission we check the classification against the actual scope before we market it. If the code is wrong, fixing it is worth more than shopping the account.

Who has to be covered in New York

New York's definition of employee is deliberately broad. Coverage is required for day labor, leased employees, borrowed employees, part-time employees, unpaid volunteers including family members, and most subcontractors. The test is direct control, not what the paperwork says.

The exemptions are narrow:

Sole proprietors with no employees.
Partnerships with no employees beyond the partners themselves.
One- or two-person corporations where the owners hold all the stock and all the offices and there are no other employees.

A roofing operation that uses day labor, brings on seasonal help after a storm, or runs any crew at all falls outside every one of those. And because volunteers and family members count, the informal arrangements that survive in other states do not survive a New York audit.

What going bare costs in New York

New York is among the most aggressive enforcement states in the country:

$2,000 for every 10 days without insurance, accruing continuously until coverage is in force. A six-month lapse is roughly $36,000 in penalties on its own.
Failure to secure coverage is a crime in New York, prosecutable as a misdemeanor or a felony.
The Board Chair can issue a stop-work order closing the business.
A penalized employer cannot bid public work — which removes school, municipal and authority roofing contracts from the pipeline.
Uncapped civil liability. An uninsured New York employer faces lost wages, actual medical costs and penalties with no cap on benefits in permanent total disability and death cases.
Separate, substantial penalties for failing to keep or produce payroll records.

The payroll limitation program: the discount most New York roofers miss

New York's Construction Employment Payroll Limitation Program caps the payroll counted per employee per week for eligible construction classifications, including roofing. Anything a worker earns above the cap does not enter the premium base.

The cap tracks the state average weekly wage published by the New York State Department of Labor and is updated annually — it was $1,718.15 per employee per week under the 1 July 2023 update. On a crew earning $2,000 a week, that is roughly a 14% reduction in the payroll the $36 rate is applied to. On a ten-man crew that is real money every year.

Two things disqualify the discount, and both catch roofers:

One- and two-family residential work is excluded. The program covers commercial construction and the remodeling, repair and maintenance of existing structures. A roofer working exclusively on single-family homes does not get the cap.
You have to be able to prove it. The employer must keep accurate payroll records and produce them for the carrier. Without records that separate eligible from ineligible work, the cap does not get applied at audit — and given New York's separate penalties for record failures, sloppy books cost twice.

If you write New York roofers and you are not asking whether the payroll limitation has been applied, you are leaving a double-digit percentage on the table on every eligible account.

The Scaffold Law is why your employers' liability limit matters in New York

New York Labor Law §240(1) — the Scaffold Law — imposes near-absolute liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries. There is no other state like it, and roofing is the trade it was written around.

Here is why it lands on the comp policy. Workers' Compensation Law §11 normally blocks a general contractor from bringing the roofing employer into a suit brought by the roofer's own injured employee. That block has two exceptions: a written contract in which the roofer agreed to indemnify, and a grave injury — a defined statutory list that includes death, paraplegia or quadriplegia, permanent total loss of a limb, total permanent blindness or deafness, severe facial disfigurement, and permanent total disability from a brain injury.

A fall from a roof produces exactly those injuries. So on a New York roofing account, two things deserve more attention than they usually get:

The employers' liability limit on Part B. The default limits that pass without comment in most states are thin in New York. This is the coverage that responds when the exclusive remedy fails.
What you signed. Every indemnity clause a New York roofer signs with a general contractor is a live route around §11, whatever the injury. Underwriters ask about contractual practice on New York roofing risks for this reason, and a roofer who can say something intelligent about it prices better.

What moves a New York roofing rate

Experience modification factor. Frequency drives the mod harder than severity. Several small recordables damage a mod more than one large claim, because the formula weights claim count. Cutting minor-claim frequency is the fastest route down.
Classification accuracy. See above. In New York this is the single most common source of overcharge and the easiest to fix.
Payroll limitation eligibility. Commercial and existing-structure work qualifies; one- and two-family residential does not. Document the split.
Documented fall protection. A written program, dated toolbox talks, harness inspection logs, and a named competent person on every site. In a Scaffold Law state, underwriters price this hard.
Claims discipline. Report inside 24 hours, run a real light-duty return-to-work program, and challenge reserves that have sat open without movement.
Height, torch work and building age. Work above three stories, hot-torch application, and tear-off on pre-war buildings all narrow the market.

Placing a New York roofing account with a high mod

A mod above roughly 1.25 on New York roofing closes most of the standard market. Above 1.50 it closes nearly all of it, and the account drifts toward New York's state-run competitive fund or the assigned risk mechanism — where the rate is not negotiable and the account sits until the mod comes down.

What gets a hard New York roofing account placed:

The mod worksheet, not just the number. Inflated reserves and claims that should have been closed are fixable, and worth showing.
Three years of loss runs plus a written narrative. What happened, what changed, what has happened since. Underwriters price uncertainty — remove some of it.
Dated proof the corrective action is real. Training records after the loss that caused the problem, not a generic safety manual.
Honest exposure detail. Crew size, average working height, percentage tear-off, residential versus commercial split, subcontractor use, other states worked.
Classification review. On New York roofing we do this before marketing, not after binding.

We place roofing on a guaranteed-cost basis, through PEO and ASO comp-only programs with no payroll bundling, and on pay-as-you-go billing tied to actual wages — including accounts leaving the state fund and accounts other agents have already had declined.

Brooklyn and the boroughs: what's different

The statute and the class codes are statewide, but a New York City roofing submission carries specifics worth putting in writing up front:

Higher wage base. City wages raise the payroll the rate is applied to. This is exactly where the payroll limitation program earns its keep — and exactly where it gets forgotten.
Older building stock. Brooklyn and the outer boroughs are full of pre-war low-slope and tar roofs. Tear-off on old buildings is a different loss profile from re-roofing 1990s suburban stock, and it should be described as such.
Licensing sits with the city, not the state. New York does not license roofers at state level. Residential work in the five boroughs generally requires a Home Improvement Contractor license from the city, and workers' compensation coverage is part of that. A lapse is a licensing problem, not only an insurance one.
Dense sites and third-party exposure. Sidewalk sheds, adjacent properties and shared party walls raise the odds of a Scaffold Law claim reaching back through the general contractor.
Storm surge hiring. Crews brought on after a weather event are the classic New York audit exposure. Tell the underwriter before the auditor finds it.

Roofers working more than one state

If you work New York plus neighboring states, nothing carries across cleanly. New York has its own bureau, its own codes, its own payroll limitation program and the Scaffold Law. Illinois is an NCCI state where roofing is 5551 and the roofing license itself is tied to the comp policy. California splits roofing into a dual-wage pair, 5552 and 5553, decided by an hourly wage threshold.

The national picture is in our roofing workers' comp guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the workers' comp class code for roofing in New York?

New York uses its own NYCIRB rate manual rather than the NCCI manual, and roofing is split across more than one classification — 5545 and 5551 among them — with sheet metal and carpentry work classified separately. Which one applies depends on the structure, the roof type and the scope. Confirm it against the manual phraseology for the actual operation; this is the most commonly miscoded trade in the state.

How much is roofing workers' comp in New York?

NYCIRB's loss cost for roofing is around $36.25 per $100 of payroll effective 1 October 2025 — the state's most expensive class. Actual premium depends on the carrier's loss cost multiplier, the experience mod, schedule credits, and whether the construction payroll limitation program applies.

What is the New York payroll limitation program?

It caps the payroll counted per employee per week for eligible construction classes at the state average weekly wage — $1,718.15 under the 1 July 2023 update, adjusted annually. Commercial work and the repair, remodeling and maintenance of existing structures qualify. One- and two-family residential construction does not. You need payroll records to prove the split.

Do New York roofing contractors need workers' comp with no employees?

A true sole proprietor with no employees is exempt, as is a one- or two-person corporation where the owners hold all stock and all offices. But New York counts day labor, part-time help, borrowed workers and unpaid family members as employees, so the exemption is narrower than it sounds — and general contractors and city licensing will require a policy regardless.

What are the penalties for no workers' comp in New York?

$2,000 for every 10 days uninsured, accruing until coverage is in force; criminal prosecution as a misdemeanor or felony; a stop-work order closing the business; disqualification from bidding public work; uncapped civil liability with no benefit cap in death and permanent total disability cases; and separate penalties for failing to keep payroll records.

Can you place New York roofing with a high experience mod?

Yes. Send the mod worksheet, three years of loss runs and a short narrative of what changed. Mods above 1.50 are placeable in New York — they need documentation, and they need the classification checked first.