Who Actually Installs Your Roof? Subcontractors, Crews, and Supervision

The company that signs your roofing contract may send its own employees or a subcontracted crew, and the paperwork behind whoever shows up matters more than the label. California’s Contractors State License Board warns that an unpaid subcontractor can file a lien on your home even after you have paid the company you hired.

A sub crew is not a red flag on its own. Gaps in that crew’s insurance, payment and supervision are. Each question below comes with the document that answers it, so you can settle all of this before you sign.

Employee Crew or Sub Crew: How to Find Out

Ask the salesperson directly, and ask for the answer in writing: “Will your own employees install my roof, or a subcontractor? If a subcontractor, what is the company’s name?” A vague answer such as “our guys” is a reason to ask again, not a reason to walk.

Using a sub does not change who you can hold to the contract. The company you signed with still owes you the scope and the schedule, whoever does the work; whether its workmanship warranty covers a sub’s work depends on the warranty’s wording, which is why the terms below ask for it in writing. What changes is the number of businesses in the chain, and each extra business is one more place where insurance can lapse or a payment can stall.

On the first morning, look at who actually arrives. A truck, shirts or a business card with a different company name tells you a sub is on the job, and that name should match what you were told in writing.

Licensing rules for subcontractors vary. In California, the license threshold makes the point: the CSLB’s notice on the 2025 handyperson exemption says unlicensed work under $1,000 is allowed only “if they do not hire workers and no building permits are needed.” In California, then, anyone who hires workers for a job needs a license regardless of price. Other states treat subcontractors differently, so run the sub’s name through the same lookup you used for the company; the state license lookup guide shows where.

Whose Insurance Covers the People on Your Roof

Roofing is dangerous work, and the duty to protect the crew sits with the employer. The federal fall protection standard, OSHA 1926.501, says each employee in residential construction “6 feet (1.8 m) or more above lower levels” must be protected by guardrails, safety nets or personal fall arrest systems, unless the employer shows those are infeasible and uses a written fall protection plan. If a subcontractor employs the crew, the subcontractor is that employer. What safe roof work looks like from the ground helps you recognize it.

Insurance follows the same chain, and that is where it gets easy to lose track. The Federal Trade Commission’s disaster scam alert tells homeowners to hire contractors who are both licensed and insured, and on a sub job that has to be true of both companies.

Hypothetical example: A roofing company sends you a workers’ compensation certificate that covers its office staff and estimators. The crew on your roof works for a subcontractor that carries no policy. The certificate you hold is genuine, and it says nothing about the people actually on your roof. The first two questions below would have caught it.

Ask these questions, each with its document:

• Who employs the people on my roof? Get the employer’s name in writing.
• Does that employer carry workers’ compensation? Get proof and confirm it with the insurer by phone.
• Does the subcontractor carry its own liability insurance? Get proof naming the subcontractor.
• Does the main contractor’s liability policy respond to work its subcontractors do? Ask the main contractor’s insurance agent.
• How does my own homeowners policy treat an injury to a contractor’s worker on my property? Ask your insurer, and note the answer.

Who is liable if an uninsured worker is hurt depends on state law and the policies involved, so get these answers before the ladders go up.

Why an Unpaid Sub Becomes Your Problem

You pay the company. The company pays the sub. If the second payment never happens, the sub has no contract with you, so its claim can go against your property.

California’s Homeowner’s Guide to Preventing Mechanics Liens explains that for unpaid subcontractors and suppliers, filing a mechanics lien is “often their only recourse,” and that an unpaid lien allows a foreclosure action. The CSLB page How to Prevent a Mechanics Lien adds that a Preliminary Notice is required from subcontractors and suppliers if there is a chance they may need to file a lien, which tells you who is on your job even if no one mentioned them.

Outside California, notice and lien rules differ by state, so do not assume a sub must announce itself before it can file. Ask the company for a written list of every subcontractor and supplier on the job, and keep it with the contract.

The defense is a release from each of those parties with each payment. Collecting conditional and unconditional releases walks through the routine.

Who Is in Charge on Site

A crew can be skilled and still install your roof wrong if no one is checking the details that matter on your house. Supervision questions deserve answers in writing:

• Who is the lead on site each day, and does that person work for the company you signed with or for the sub?
• Who from the company you signed with will inspect the work, and at which stages: after tear-off, before the deck is covered, and at completion?
• Who decides whether a damaged deck sheet gets replaced, and who photographs it for you before it is covered?
• Who meets the building inspector, if your job has a permit?
• Who do you call during the job if something looks wrong, and can that person stop the work?
• Can the lead on site talk with you about the job details in a language you share, or will someone else translate?

The moment that tests supervision most is right after tear-off, when the deck is exposed and decisions about replacement sheets get made fast. Ask to be told when the deck is open, and ask for photos of every sheet marked for replacement before it is covered, so the supervisor’s call is on the record.

A company that answers these clearly, with names and phone numbers, has a supervision plan you can hold it to. A company that answers “the crew knows what they’re doing” is leaving supervision to the crew.

Crew Terms to Put in Writing

The answers above belong in the contract, not in a text thread. Ask for these terms:

• The name of each subcontractor who will work on the job, and written notice before a different one is used.
• Proof of each crew company’s liability and workers’ compensation insurance before work starts.
• The name and phone number of the on-site lead and the company supervisor.
• Lien releases from the company, each subcontractor and each supplier with each payment.
• A statement that the company’s workmanship warranty covers work done by its subcontractors.

The clauses a roofing contract should carry shows where these fit alongside scope, deck pricing and payment terms.

When a Sub Crew Is Fine and When to Walk

A subcontracted crew is fine when four things are true: you know the crew company’s name, you have confirmed its insurance with the insurer, a named person from the company you hired supervises the job, and lien releases from the sub are part of each payment.

Walk away when the company will not name the crew, cannot produce the crew’s insurance proof before the start date, or tells you who installs your roof is not your concern. Then run the next contractor through the shortlist checks for choosing a roofer, with these crew questions added.

This guide is general information for U.S. homeowners, not legal, insurance, tax, or engineering advice. Codes, laws, and policy terms vary by location and change over time; confirm details with your local building department, your insurer, or a licensed professional.

Sources

• Handyperson Exemption to Increase to $1,000 in 2025 (CSLB press release #24-21), California Contractors State License Board
• 1926.501, Duty to have fall protection, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Four ways to avoid scams after a weather-related disaster, Federal Trade Commission
• A Homeowner’s Guide to Preventing Mechanics Liens, California Contractors State License Board
• How to Prevent a Mechanics Lien, California Contractors State License Board