What the two tens actually are
On most residential property estimates, overhead and profit appears as two separate lines — typically 10% overhead and 10% profit, applied to the job subtotal. It is usually abbreviated to O&P, and sometimes labelled “General contractor overhead and profit”.
The name causes most of the confusion. It is not the roofer’s profit margin, and it is not an extra fee added to what the job costs. Every trade already prices its own overhead and margin into its unit rates — the shingle line item already contains the roofer’s cost of doing business. O&P is a separate allowance for the cost of a general contractor coordinating several trades on one job: scheduling them in the right order, standing behind the work as a whole, pulling permits, managing the site, and carrying the liability while it happens.
That is why the argument over it is never really about percentages. It is about whether your job is the kind of job that needs coordinating.
The trade-count test
The rule of thumb most carriers work to is trade count. Where a repair genuinely requires three or more trades to be brought together, a general contractor is considered reasonably necessary, and O&P is normally allowed. Where the job is one trade turning up and doing one thing, the position is that no coordination is needed and no coordination should be paid for.
This is a guideline that insurers apply, not a statute. Practice varies between carriers, and the case law on it varies by state — some jurisdictions have addressed it directly, others have not. Treat the trade count as the conversation you are going to have, rather than as a rule that decides the outcome.
Where roof claims sit
A pure tear-off-and-replace on a simple roof is a weak case. One trade, one crew, one day.
Storm claims very often are not. Once you count what a hail or wind event actually damages, the trades add up quickly:
- Roofing — the shingles, underlayment, ridge and flashing.
- Gutters and downspouts — frequently dented in the same hailstorm, and a different trade from the roofer.
- Siding — hail rarely respects the roof line.
- Painting — fascia, soffit and trim disturbed by the roof work.
- HVAC — condenser fins flattened by hail, and a separate contractor entirely.
- Interior drywall and ceiling repair — where water got in.
- Framing or carpentry — decking beyond simple sheathing replacement.
Count the trades on your estimate before you assume the answer. Many homeowners see “roof claim” and never notice that their own scope of work already contains four separate trades.
The “but you didn’t hire a general contractor” argument
The most common reason given for withholding O&P is that you have not actually engaged a general contractor — your roofer is handling it, so no GC fee is owed.
The counter-argument, which has been accepted in a number of jurisdictions, is that the test is whether a general contractor would be reasonably likely to be needed for a job of that scope, not whether you happened to hire one. A homeowner who coordinates five trades themselves has done the general contractor’s work; the coordination cost was real either way.
Whether that argument wins where you live is a legal question, and the answer genuinely differs by state and by policy wording. What you can do without a lawyer is make the factual case clearly: list the trades, and let the estimate speak.
Where to find it on your worksheet
Look at the summary page rather than the line items. O&P usually appears immediately after the subtotal and before sales tax, as two lines or one combined line. If it is not there at all on a multi-trade job, that is the thing to raise.
A second pattern is worth knowing: some carriers include O&P in the replacement cost but treat it as withheld until incurred, so it sits inside the depreciation holdback and is released after the work is invoiced. That is not a refusal — check whether the money is missing or merely deferred before you write anything.
The roof claim calculator works from the totals on that summary page, so if O&P is later added, re-running it shows exactly what the change is worth to you after depreciation and the deductible.
A worked example
A hail claim with a scope covering roofing, gutters, siding repair and exterior paint. The subtotal before O&P is $24,000.
Overhead at 10% is $2,400. Profit at 10% is applied to the running total, so $26,400 × 10% = $2,640. Together, $5,040 added to the replacement cost.
That is not $5,040 in your pocket. It increases replacement cost, so depreciation is applied to it as well, and the recoverable portion comes back only once the work is done. But it raises both halves of the settlement, and on a claim this size the omission is not a rounding error.
Note the sequencing: profit is normally calculated on the subtotal plus overhead, not on the bare subtotal. Different estimating platforms handle this differently — check yours rather than assuming.
How to ask for it
- Confirm it is genuinely absent. Check the summary page for a withheld-until-incurred line before you claim it was excluded.
- Count the trades in the insurer’s own scope. Use their estimate, not your contractor’s. It is much harder to argue with a trade list taken from their own document.
- Put it in writing. One email to the adjuster, with the claim number, listing the trades and asking specifically whether general contractor overhead and profit was included and, if not, on what basis it was excluded.
- Ask for the answer in writing too. A file note that O&P was declined by phone is worth very little to you later.
- Escalate through the file, not around it. If the answer is unsatisfactory, the next steps are the adjuster’s supervisor, then your state’s department of insurance consumer complaint process. Both are free.
Keep the tone factual. This is a routine estimating question, and it is resolved far more often by a clear trade list than by an argument.
What O&P is not
It is not automatic. A single-trade roof replacement with nothing else damaged is a weak case, and pushing hard on a weak case costs you credibility on the parts of your claim that are strong.
It is not a fee your roofer charges you separately. If a contractor tells you that you owe them 20% on top of their quoted price because the insurer paid O&P, read your contract again. The quote is the quote.
It is not a substitute for a supplement. If the scope itself is short, adding a percentage to a number that is too small does not fix it. Get the scope right first.
General guidance on how overhead and profit is treated on standard residential property estimates. Whether O&P is owed on a particular claim depends on your policy wording, your scope of work and the law of your state, all of which vary. Not legal, claims or public adjusting advice.