Overhead & Profit: Triggering the Three-Trade Requirement

Written by Nathaniel Davis, owner of Roof Gutter Now — a licensed exterior restoration contractor in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Updated August 2026

What counts as a trade

A trade is a distinct skill set requiring its own crew, materials and sequencing. On a storm loss that commonly includes:

• Roofing — tear-off, deck, underlayment, shingles
• Gutters — seamless runs, downspouts, hangers
• Siding — panels, house wrap, trim
• Carpentry — fascia, soffit, decking replacement
• Painting — interior repairs after water damage
• Drywall — ceilings and walls following an ice dam or leak
• Electrical — detach and reset for solar, satellite or heat cable
• HVAC — A/C fin combing or condenser detach and reset

How to document the count

List each trade on its own line in the estimate, with the scope beneath it. Do not bury gutter work inside the roofing section. An adjuster reviewing a single-column estimate sees one trade; the same scope broken into named sections shows the coordination the O&P line pays for.

Then state the count explicitly in the cover letter: this loss involves five trades requiring sequencing and coordination, which meets the carrier’s stated threshold for general contractor overhead and profit at 10 and 10.

When carriers apply 0% and 0%

Some estimates arrive with O&P set to zero across the board. That is a starting position, not a coverage determination. If the trade count is documented and the policy does not exclude O&P, ask for the specific basis for withholding it in writing. Most of the time the answer is that the estimator did not itemise the trades.

Common questions