FAQ: What types of lawn care insurance do I need to protect my landscaping company from risk?
Answer: Lawn care insurance protects your green industry company, its assets, employees, and clients from unexpected accidents, damages, and injuries.
In this blog post, you’ll learn the following about lawn care insurance:
- Why your landscaping company needs lawn care insurance
- Must-have insurance coverage for protecting your lawn and landscaping company
- What is a business owner’s policy (BOP)?
- 8 tips for saving money on lawn care insurance.
The information shared in this blog post doesn’t replace your lawn care insurance agent’s advice.
Why Your Landscaping Company Needs Lawn Care Insurance
The unexpected hurricane, lawn equipment malfunction while at a client’s property, or one of your workers getting hurt while tree pruning. Many things in life are unknown and costly to repair.
If something as small as a stone propelled by your ZTR mower causes bodily harm or structural damage, you need commercial lawn care insurance.
SBA.gov, the U.S. Small Business Administration advises that you protect your commercial green industry business from the unexpected, such as accidents, natural disasters, and lawsuits, with the best business insurance.
You must decide how much insurance to buy for your lawn care company. For example, if your green industry company is an LLC, your personal property is already protected from lawsuits.
But what happens if the building you’re leasing has a fire and all your equipment is lost?
Then you need lawn care insurance to cover these costs.
Additionally, you need to provide insurance for your employees. The SBA states that the federal government mandates that if you employ people at your landscaping company, you must have these three insurances:
- Disability insurance
- Unemployment insurance
- Workers’ compensation.
Learn more: Top Strategies for Hiring a Landscaping Team: A Guide for Business Owners
While you may be thinking that you’re going to have to spend a lot of money, you’ll also receive these benefits:
- Peace of mind that you’re completely covered
- Protection from sudden risks and disasters
- Protection over your assets and liabilities
- Lawsuit protection
- Enhanced professionalism.
Must-Have Insurance Coverage for Protecting Your Lawn and Landscaping Company
Lawn care insurance is not a one-size-fits-all package. You’ll need different insurance coverage based on your services and the added risk each service poses.
For example, if you provide arborist services, you’ll pay more for coverage than a landscape designer.
Here are the must-have lawn care insurances you need to protect your green industry company:
- Business interruption insurance
This insurance protects you when your business is interrupted due to unforeseen disasters, such as floods or fires, which shut down your landscaping services. Business interruption insurance will offset revenue loss and ongoing expenses during the shutdown.
- Commercial automobile insurance
This insurance covers you and your employees who cause a traffic accident while driving the company car or truck. Private car insurers may not cover any accidents with workers’ personal vehicles. You must have this lawn care insurance to protect your company vehicles.
- Commercial property insurance
This insurance compensates you for stolen, damaged, or lost lawn care equipment and the building you use to house your equipment. Commercial property insurance will pay for the loss of lawn equipment and building damage.
- Excess liability insurance
Excess liability insurance (umbrella insurance) provides payment when your general liability has met its limitations. This additional insurance coverage could increase your current coverage by an extra $500,000 to $1 million and includes
- Personal injuries and property loss
- Legal costs and proceedings, including business disputes
- Supplemental vehicle insurance for businesses
- Additional liability coverage beyond your primary policies.
- Commercial general liability insurance
This insurance covers other people outside of your employees and yourself. It covers third parties injured or damaged, such as a tree limb falling on a neighbor’s car.
- Inland marine insurance
The name of this insurance coverage doesn’t mean that you’re providing lawn care to waterfront properties. Instead, this insurance protects the equipment that you move on land.
For example, this insurance protects lawn mowers, trimmers, edgers, and spreaders while transporting them to the work site. So, if your spreaders are stolen, you know they’ll be replaced under inland marine insurance.
- Workers’ compensation coverage
In most states, lawn care companies must carry workers’ compensation—you also may need workers’ compensation coverage when you bid for jobs.
If your workers get hurt while mowing lawns, applying pesticides, or moving boulders, workers’ comp will pay for missed wages, medical expenses due to injuries, and work-related illnesses.
Read more: Navigating Seasonal Business Fluctuations
What Is A Business Owners Policy?
Business Owners Policy (BOP) merges three needed coverage types into one policy, bringing down the total cost compared to paying for each one separately. Small- to medium-size companies benefit from BOP coverage.
For example, you could combine general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, and equipment breakdown insurance that meets your lawn care company’s coverage needs.
However, BOP differs from umbrella insurance because it doesn’t encompass specific policies unique to the lawn care industry. Instead, investigate BOP insurance and excess liability insurance (umbrella insurance).
Ask your insurance agent about BOP and umbrella insurance to see which will better serve your lawn service company.
8 Tips for Saving Money on Lawn Care Insurance
Do your homework on lawn care insurance and insurance companies that provide coverage. In the sources section below, you’ll see Forbes.com articles listing insurance companies that sell lawn care insurance.
Forbes.com’s article, Landscaper Business Insurance: Costs and Types Needed, shares eight tips for saving money on insurance:
- Compare insurance options, where you may find a budget policy that meets all your coverage needs.
- Get BOP coverage when you bundle three insurance types into one policy.
- Get lower premiums when you choose a higher deductible, especially with your commercial auto policy.
- Lower insurance costs when you only hire good drivers. All you need to do is get the candidate’s permission to check their driving record and then send a request to your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
- You can save money on your worker’s compensation insurance when you draw up detailed job descriptions for your employees. Your insurance agent can help you with classification.
- Join the National Association of Landscape Professionals and your state’s green industry organizations. You may nab a group insurance rate by belonging to landscaping and lawn care associations with 300 or more members.
- Save money on your insurance rates and many headaches when you draft a safety program for your landscaping company. You may qualify for reduced insurance rates.
- Pay your premium annually rather than monthly to save money.
Equip Your Landscaping Company with a Spyker Spreader Today
We don’t provide lawn care insurance, but we manufacture the best landscaping spreaders on the market.
At Spyker, we have spreaders, lawn rollers, and sprayers to help you create healthy lawns and landscapes.
You can find our Spyker lawn sprayers and other landscaping products at your local dealer, online, or at the Spyker store.
Spyker Customer Service: For warranty, service parts, or help at any time, reach out to our team by filling out our contact form. Replacement parts can also be ordered online at Spyker’s website.
Sources:
Forbes.com, Business Owners Policy (BOP): Coverage & Costs.
Ibid, Landscaper Business Insurance: Costs And Types You Need.
NIPGroup.com, The Different Types of Landscaping Insurance You Need to Protect Your Business.
SBA.com, Get Business Insurance.
TGInsurance.com, What Is The Difference Between Excess Liability Coverage and Umbrella Insurance?
USChamber.com, Everything You Need to Know about Business Owner’s Umbrella Policies.
