Landscaping Insurance: Best Lawn & Tree Insurance Coverage

What is landscaping insurance?

Landscaping is typically a mixture of different types of business insurance with coverage geared toward the specific needs of companies in the landscaping and lawn care industry. 

Depending on the policies you choose, lawn care business insurance can come in the form of liability protections, property damage coverage, reimbursements for legal disputes, theft, accidents, and even loss of income, and more.

Who needs landscaping insurance?

Some states have special requirements for landscaping companies due to the increased risk of bodily injury. For example in California, workers’ comp is a legal requirement for tree service companies to remain in operation.

This aside, if you operate any small business, you should definitely be protecting your assets, employees, and business from potential pitfalls like lawsuits and fines.

The following types of landscaping businesses should consider business insurance:

• Landscapers
• Tree trimmers
• Arborists
• Lawn care companies
• Landscape architects
• Landscape designers
• Hardscape designers
• Lawn irrigation contractors
• Pesticide and herbicide applicators

Which types of insurance do landscapers need?

Most businesses require more than one type of insurance or opt for combined coverages found in plans like BOPs or commercial packs.

Common types of coverage landscapers need include:

• General liability insurance
• Business property insurance
• Workers’ compensation insurance
• Commercial auto insurance
• Inland marine insurance
• Business umbrella insurance
• Product liability

As you research lawn care insurance options, you may find some blanket policies that claim to cover everything. 

More often, however, you’ll need to decide which types of insurance you want to build up personalized protection that ensures you’re covered for every possibility directly related to how and where you do business.

To help you understand what coverage you need, and find the best business insurance we explain these types in more detail below.

You can also speak with an experienced professional to better understand your coverage needs.

General liability insurance

General liability insurance is probably the broadest type of insurance for lawn care providers, as it covers claims made against your business for property damage, third-party bodily injury, or a personal/advertising injury.

For instance, say you had an employee working on a two-day project who dug a hole for a tree and left that hole uncovered and unmarked overnight. Your client went on a stroll, tripped, and fell into the hole, breaking their ankle. General liability insurance would likely cover you if that client decided to pursue damages.

Business personal property insurance 

Your lawn care business can’t operate without the proper tools, which makes it fairly devastating if you get into an accident in your work vehicle and all your rakes and tree-trimming gear are wrecked beyond repair. 

Business personal property insurance and commercial property insurance cover damage to all assets tied to your company, including inventory, equipment, and tools. That typically includes making you whole after a fire that destroys your backstock of mulch or a tornado whips through your warehouse parking lot and wrecks your collection of ride-on mowers.

Workers’ compensation insurance

When one of your employees gets hurt on the job, workers’ compensation insurance jumps in to cover medical expenses and other important financial concerns, such as lost wages. This is an especially important insurance policy to have when you’re working on-site and doing jobs that are highly physical and potentially risky.

If your employee is trimming a tree and falls or spends all afternoon outside under the scorching sun on a job site and gets heatstroke, workers’ comp can help them get the care they need while also safeguarding your bottom line.

Commercial auto insurance

As a landscaper or lawn care specialist, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be using vehicles for business purposes, and those cars and trucks need to be protected. Commercial auto insurance covers accident-related injuries and property damage that occur while you or your employee is driving a work vehicle.

A great example of this is if you had a team member running a work-related errand and they hydroplaned during a rainstorm and hit another car. Your commercial auto insurance would theoretically cover not only the damage to your car but also the damage to the other car and any medical expenses if the other driver or their passengers sustained an injury because of the accident.

Inland marine insurance

Don’t be fooled by the name of this type of insurance policy, as it has very little to do with any kind of marine or water-based issues. Instead, inland marine insurance is designed to protect businesses while their property is in transit on land.

Landscapers spend a ton of time on the road. If you’re driving to a client’s home and your truck bed breaks, causing all your tools, seeds and stacks of sod to scatter all over the highway, inland marine insurance will help cover your losses.

Commercial umbrella insurance

Much as the name suggests, business umbrella insurance is there for a rainy day — or, more accurately, for those instances when the damages from an accident, loss or injury exceed the limits of the original policy. It’s like having extra protection in your back pocket in case a general liability or commercial auto policy comes up short.

Say the worst-case scenario occurs, and you have an on-site accident that sees your work trailer somehow disconnect from your truck, swing into oncoming traffic and cause a three-car accident. Two people are injured, there’s massive property damage, and it looks like a lawsuit is only a matter of time. Your advisors think future bills are going to be $3 million but your existing policies are tapped out at a combined maximum of $2 million. If you have business umbrella insurance, you may be covered for that additional $1 million.

What’s not covered by landscaper insurance?

Like all other types of insurance policies, landscape insurance comes with a list of exclusions explaining all the things your policy won’t help you with, such as:

• Natural disasters, like earthquakes and flooding (depending on your location, you may be able to get a separate flood insurance policy)
• Contagious illnesses (just one reason many companies were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic)
• Actions deemed to be deceptive or deliberate (e.g., you claim under a theft policy, but you really sold your tools)
• Unlawful dismissal

How much does lawn care business insurance cost?

According to sales data from our partner Insureon, the median amount landscape contractors and other lawn care experts pay for insurance is approximately $45 per month or around $530 per year. However, it can often be even cheaper depending on the size and scope of your company.

Landscaper liability coverage starts as low as $21/month*

*Applies to quotes made through Insureon only. Average monthly premium calculations are estimates and may vary by state, insurance provider, and the nature of your business. Where required or allowed by state law, insurance taxes, service fees, and other surcharges may be included and billed separately from the premium.

The exact landscaping insurance cost you’ll pay monthly or yearly depends many factors:

• The size of your lawn care business: 
  The more people, equipment, and other assets you need to protect, the higher your liability and costs will be.
• Offering additional services: 
  Insurance costs rise and fall in tandem with risk and exposure. A low-risk business that offers simple, low-risk services like design or weed pulling might have lower monthly premiums, while a business that works with heavy equipment might pay a lot more. As an example, the median price of an insurance policy for a landscape designer is just $507, but a tree trimmer will pay nearly three times more, at $1,650.
• Coverage type and limits: 
  You can opt for the lowest possible coverage or sign up for larger policies that offer more protection. Think of premiums as working on a sliding scale. If you have more coverage, your premiums will increase, and vice versa.

How to save on the cost of lawn care business insurance

If you’re looking to save money on insurance, there are a few steps you can take to minimize expenses without sacrificing coverage.

How to get lawn care business insurance?

When it’s time to take a break from mowing and sprinkler installation and protect your business with lawn care insurance, here’s what you’ll need to do.

Determine which coverage you need

Start by assessing your lawn care business and all related risks. There will be different needs associated with a self-employed, single-person enterprise that has just a lawn mower, rake, and shovel as the company equipment versus a multi-person operation which may need a business owner policy, with much higher liability. Examine all aspects of your business and see what coverage you need to fully protect your future and your people.

Shop for coverage and choose a provider

Now it’s time to shop around. Using the coverage list you made above, get quotes from several insurance companies to see how they stack up in terms of policies, deductibles, premiums, and extras. Our easy-to-use online tool**{:rel=’nofollow’ target=’_blank’} can help you get same-day coverage from top insurance companies in America.

Purchase a policy

Once you sift through insurance companies and find a policy that aligns with your needs, it’s time to make a purchase. But just because you have protection now doesn’t mean your job is done. Review your policy every year to make sure it’s still compatible with your budget, your business size, your liabilities, and all other needs.

Speak with an insurance agent to get a personalized comparison and free quote.