What to verify before another crew goes up on your job, and what an uninsured sub does to your audit

Nobody on that roof got to point at somebody else.

The exemption a C-39 doesn’t have

If a sub holding a C-39 says he runs solo so he doesn’t carry comp, that answer isn’t available to him. CSLB lists C-8, C-20, C-22, C-39 and C-61/D-49 as the classifications "required to carry workers' compensation insurance or a valid Certification of Self-Insurance, whether or not they have employees." A C-39 cannot file the exemption form. The statute is Business and Professions Code 7125(b)(2).

This is old law for roofers. SB 1455 moved the mandate for *every* classification to January 1, 2028, and some insurance sites still print the old 2026 date. For a C-39 neither date matters.

Suspension happens by itself

BPC 7125.2 says failure to obtain or maintain required coverage "shall result in the automatic suspension of the license by operation of law," effective on the earlier of the date coverage lapsed or the date it became required. The same section then requires the registrar to give written notice of the reason, the effective date and the procedure to reinstate. CSLB adds that work done while suspended "is considered to be unlicensed." Because it backdates, the status you pulled when you bid in June says nothing about the morning his crew showed up.

What to actually check

• License number, class and status on cslb.ca.gov, the week they start. Not at bid, and not from a screenshot they sent.
• The comp certificate, sent to you by their broker directly. A PDF forwarded by the sub is a PDF.
• If they claim self-insurance, the actual Certification of Self-Insurance. A policy number typed onto a permit form is not it.
• Both again on any job running past a renewal date. Certs go stale quietly.

What a certificate is

Read the top of the ACORD 25 they hand you. In caps: "THIS CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED AS A MATTER OF INFORMATION ONLY AND CONFERS NO RIGHTS UPON THE CERTIFICATE HOLDER." The cancellation box says notice "will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions," so nothing on that page obligates anyone to call you when the policy goes away. A cert is a snapshot and proof you asked. Treat it as both, and re-pull.

What your audit does with it

Every California comp policy insuring a C-39 gets a physical audit of the complete policy period, whatever the premium size (WCIRB USRP Part 3, Section VI, Rule 4a(4)). Insurance Code 11665 goes further and requires an annual payroll audit including an in-person visit to your place of business to verify whether the employee count you reported is accurate.

The mechanic that catches people sits in the standard comp policy form (NCCI WC 00 00 00 C, Part Five, Section C). It puts into the premium basis "all other persons engaged in work that could make us liable under Part One," then continues: "If you do not have payroll records for these persons, the contract price for their services and materials may be used as the premium basis. This paragraph 2 will not apply if you give us proof that the employers of these persons lawfully secured their workers compensation obligations."

Read that last sentence twice. The way out is proof. Without it, what you paid the sub can land in your payroll basis. The form never defines what "proof" looks like, so ask your carrier what they accept before the job.

General liability runs a parallel track. Per the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s summary of the ISO manual rule, an uninsured or inadequately insured sub gets charged on payroll under the class fitting his work instead of on total contract cost. And Insurance Code 676.8 lists failure to permit an audit, or to pay additional premium from one, as grounds to cancel a comp policy on 10 days' written notice. The same section says the policy is not canceled if the condition is remedied to the insurer’s satisfaction inside that notice period, which is the whole reason to open the letter.

The license side runs alongside it

Labor Code 2750.5 says any person doing work requiring a contractor’s license "shall hold a valid contractors' license as a condition of having independent contractor status," and carries a rebuttable presumption that the worker is an employee. BPC 7118 makes contracting with an unlicensed contractor a cause for disciplinary action against the licensee who hired them. BPC 7031(b) lets whoever paid an unlicensed contractor sue to recover all compensation paid.

How that lands on a given job is a lawyer’s question. It all keys off one fact you can check in ninety seconds.

Do this today

Pull the last three subs you used. Check each license number on cslb.ca.gov, read the workers' comp line and not just the word "Active," and email the broker on anything you can’t verify. Then move that check into whatever you use to open a job.

To see what your own license class has to carry, Aster keeps a requirements checker at https://roofercomp.com. Aster is a commercial insurance agency, so that’s who you’d be dealing with if you go past the lookup.

Aster National Insurance Group, Duarte CA. CA Lic #0N10039. General information only, not legal advice and not a coverage determination. Any coverage depends on the terms of the policy issued. Statutes cited are current as of August 2026; check the current text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and cslb.ca.gov.