Personal & Property Damages
The first types of landscaping liabilities are physical damages. This can be personal damage where someone is injured, either a client or an employee. Landscapers can deal with dangerous equipment in hazardous situations each day, and one mistake can be costly. Then there is property damage, ranging from a ruined yard to a damaged house. These are common risks of landscaping operations, but the proper coverage can minimize your exposures.
Equipment & Transportation
The other risks that are common within this industry are related to equipment. Landscaping equipment is very expensive and the business relies on its usage. If a piece is damaged or stolen, that can be devastating to the earning potential of a landscaper. What’s more, transporting all that equipment requires its own special coverage in addition to a traditional auto insurance policy.
Landscaping Insurance Coverages
Landscaping insurance typically covers the following areas. There will be some exclusions and variations between plans, but a good agent can handle all the details.
Bodily Injury
First, there is bodily injury, this is the obvious one. An employee cut by a mower blade, a client hit with a rock thrown out by some equipment, and so on. This all needs to be covered under a landscaping liability plan.
Property Damage
Property damage is next. If someone is topping a tree, and a limb smashes into a house, that needs to be covered. The same goes for an expensive tractor breaking down or something smaller but just as valuable being stolen.
Personal Injury
Personal injury is a little different from bodily injury. This is something that is not as direct as a wound or a break. For example, if an employee talked poorly about the client, who then heard and spread slander about the company, or claimed slander in court – that would be covered.
Injury or Damage from Equipment
Some plans will have a specific section covering damage or injury from equipment directly. This will vary depending on the policy, but it is good to have all the bases covered.
Business Income
A final important coverage is income protection. If there was some reason the business was interrupted, this policy would cover your operating expenses in the interim. This also covers workers’ compensation and the like for the business’s employees.
Landscaper Program Costs
The insurance markets vary, and it will take a good agent and underwriter to navigate the available policies, but costs can be reasonably estimated. A general liability policy, the most important, usually runs to a few hundred dollars a year, and property coverage a little more than that. However, it’s important to consider vehicle coverage, workers’ compensation and additional coverages that are imperative to your business. These are standard, wide-ranging plans that can be tailored to meet your needs.
Landscaping Insurance Program Applications
To get a quote or apply, the agent is going to evaluate things like location and the kind of work done. For example, what is the payroll, what are fixed expenses, what is the regular revenue? What assets do you have, how many vehicles do you own? Every detail helps secure a better plan.
Best Landscapers Insurance Programs
The best insurance underwriters will understand all these details and more. Landscape ProPac deals directly with this industry, while something like Tangram would provide a more broad and general scope of coverage. Whatever your insurance needs are, we can find the right provider for you.