Here at InsuranceHub, we supply affordable:

  • General lawn care, landscaping, and grounds maintenance insurance
  • Lawn irrigation insurance/Sprinkler system installation insurance
  • Lawn care insurance

Your business centers around taking care of people’s lawns and making their property look beautiful and green. You’re committed to giving your clients the lawn of their dreams, but you know that you face plenty of risk in your line of work. Landscaping and lawn care involves lots of hands-on work with chemicals and tools, and as careful as you and your employees are, accidents happen. Sometimes there’s nothing we can do to prevent a disaster or injury, and that’s where insurance comes in.

It doesn’t matter what kind of landscaping business you have – lawn care, grounds maintenance, irrigation, or landscape installation. You need to make sure that you have the proper insurance to protect you from anything that life can throw at you. You don’t want to be caught facing a huge loss that you have to cover on your own. Basically, insurance shoulders the risk, not your business.

Check out these recent articles for landscaping professionals like you:

Some of the biggest types of landscaping insurance you need to consider are:

General Liability Insurance for Landscapers

General liability (GL) is the bread and butter of your insurance policy because it covers you against many of the day-to-day risks or perils that you face as you work. It covers you against accidents that might result in bodily injury or property damage to someone not related to your business by covering the costs you’re legally obligated to pay.

GL might also help you with legal defense if someone takes you to court. The claim might not have any substance and you might have done nothing wrong, but legal defense costs add up very quickly. Lawsuits are very time-consuming and expensive, but GL can help you out.

Workers’ Compensation for Landscapers

Workers’ compensation protects your workers if they get hurt on the job. It covers their medical costs and could even reimburse them for some of the wages that they lose if they’re unable to work.

The risks of your workers getting hurt are pretty high in landscaping because the work involved is labor-intensive, not to mention that they work with tools and small machinery. Your workers could face back injuries, sprains, strains, and hernias. Plus, they work with chemicals a lot, which can have negative health effects.

The point is, you need to make sure that you’re taking care of your employees by covering them with workers comp. Your employees are the heart of your business, and you need to be able to take care of them if they get hurt on the job.

Commercial Auto Insurance for Landscapers

You have to be able to get where you’re going, right? And that requires having some wheels. You might have a truck or van that you use for your business, or you might have several. Either way, you need to make sure that you’re protected against any accidents that could happen.

A commercial auto policy has several parts to it, liability being a major chunk of it. What if one of your employees is on the way to a job and accidentally hits another car? Your commercial auto can help you cover the costs of the accident, including the medical bills of the other driver and the damage to their car. A commercial auto policy can also help you out with legal fees if the injured party brings charges against your company.

Normally, a commercial auto policy has several different sections of coverage. It depends on your specific policy, but it could include:

  • Bodily injury liability – helps cover medical bills and lost wages of a driver who one of your employees injured in a car accident.
  • Property damage liability – helps cover costs of property damage that your vehicles cause.
  • Collision coverage – helps cover the cost of repairing your vehicle after an accident.
  • Comprehensive coverage – helps cover the cost of damages not caused by an accident, such as vandalism, fire, or a tree falling.
  • Medical payments – helps cover the cost of medical bills for the driver and passengers, no matter who was at fault.
  • Uninsured motorist – helps cover you if your vehicle is hit by a driver without insurance.

Property Insurance for Landscapers

This protects your business’s property against losses. You might have a storage spot for your equipment, and property insurance can protect your business against covered losses (such as fire) that could hit your storage facility.

Now, your equipment is also a big part of your business, since it’s not cheap and it’s essential to your work. But what if your equipment is stolen or damaged? You need to make sure that your equipment is protected, so you should talk to your agent about the best way to cover it. 

Commercial Umbrella Insurance for Landscapers

To get extra protection for your business, you might want to consider commercial umbrella. This adds a layer of coverage over your existing policies. What if you have a big claim that goes beyond the limits of coverage that you have? Commercial umbrella picks up where your other policy left off. For instance, let’s say you have a huge claim, like $2 million. Your general liability limit is $1 million. So, the (literal) million-dollar question is…where is the other million going to come from?

The answer is your umbrella policy. Umbrella can step in to cover the gap between your limit and the total cost of the claim. Now, keep in mind that your umbrella will have a limit of its own, but still – it’s a big help. Basically, it’s extra insurance. And who doesn’t like some extra peace of mind?

Here are a few of the top reasons lawn services are sued here in the US:

  • Shoddy work
  • Inadequate landscape lighting
  • Worker injury
  • Trip hazards
  • Injury-related lawsuits
  • Equipment loss and damage
  • Injured clients
  • Flooding and drainage issues
  • Overgrown trees and shrubs
  • Untreated lawns

What would you do if you were hit with a liability suit for more than your current insurance covered?

Thankfully, here at InsuranceHub we have experience helping:

  • Landscape contractors: We understand what is involved in designing,  installing, and maintaining lawn sod, plants, bushes, trees, and flower beds. We understand that you also design and build sprinkler systems, retaining walls, fountains, walkways, and ponds.
  • Lawn maintenance services: We understand what is involved with mowing, fertilizing, and treating lawns. We also understand what is involved in tree trimming and pruning. 

Take the time to communicate effectively and respond quickly to all customer phone calls, texts, and emails. And do preventative maintenance on your lawn equipment so that they don't break down, hurt you, and cause you to miss deadlines.

FEW-0630AO (11/2018)