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About

Landscaping Insurance

Landscaping puts a crew, mowers and trailers on other people’s property, and a truck the business owns is not covered by a personal auto policy. Your crew, your equipment and your own coverage as the owner each need a policy that fits. You see what each one covers and what it leaves out.

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Your Business, Part by Part

An illustrated work truck, trailer and equipment. No people.

  1. 1 of 4

    Before the Crew Heads Out

  2. 2 of 4

    Your Crew

    In Connecticut

    With few exceptions, every employer is required to carry workers’ compensation.

    Ask AboutWorkers’ compensation

  3. 3 of 4

    Your Own Coverage as the Owner

    In Connecticut

    A sole proprietor must accept the Workers’ Compensation Act to be covered as an employer, while LLC members and partners may elect out.

  4. 4 of 4

    Your Work Truck

    A personal auto policy generally excludes coverage for business use.

    Ask AboutCommercial auto

    Coverage depends on the policy terms.

Insurance for Landscapers, Lawn Care Crews and Tree Services

What This Means for YouYour policy covers your snow and ice work and nothing else. The mowing, planting and hardscape you do the rest of the year has no liability cover here.

You might run a mowing route with two trucks, a design and build company that lays patios and walls, or a tree crew with a chipper and a bucket truck. Tree work is one of the trades whose tools and equipment move from job to job all day.

Every service you sell should be named on your policy, in every season. Send your declarations page, the page that lists what the policy covers, and we read the covered work back to you, season by season.

A landscaping crew owner at his truck door scrolling his phone, a trailer with mowers behind him.

Landscaping Operations We Insure

Tell us every service you sell, the way it reads on your invoices. These are a starting set.

Lawn care and mowing.
Weekly routes for homes and commercial properties.
Design and installation.
Planting, sod, mulch and irrigation.
Hardscape.
Patios, retaining walls, walkways and steps.
Tree work.
Trimming, removal and stump grinding.
Snow plowing and salting.
Winter work on lots, drives and walks. See Snow and Ice Contractor Insurance.
Property maintenance contracts.
Year round care for associations, offices and rental buildings.
Don’t see yours here? Tell us what you need covered.

Landscaping Insurance Coverage

General Liability Insurance for Landscapers

A mower throws a stone through a customer’s window, or a visitor trips over a hose you left out. General liability pays damages your business is found liable for, up to the policy limits, plus your legal defense and medical bills for people hurt by your work.

Completed Operations Coverage for Landscapers

A retaining wall you built leans and cracks a neighbor’s fence the next spring. Completed operations coverage is for damage caused by your work after the work is done. It sits inside your general liability policy, so ask what yours says about it.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance for Landscapers

A crew member is cut by a trimmer line, or falls from a ladder in a tree. Workers’ compensation pays for their medical care and replaces part of their lost wages, regardless of who was at fault. Most employers are required to carry it.

Commercial Auto Insurance for Landscapers

Your trailer swings wide and clips a parked car on a tight street. A personal auto policy will not cover a vehicle the business owns, and is unlikely to cover one used mainly for work. A business auto policy pays others for injury or damage you are liable for.

Tools and Equipment Coverage for Landscapers

Your mowers, blowers and trimmers ride on an open trailer and sit at job sites all day. Standard property insurance does not cover equipment that travels like that. A tools and equipment floater covers it wherever it is used. List each piece and what it is worth.

Commercial Property Insurance for Landscapers

Your shop, your barn and the stone, mulch and parts you store there can burn or be broken into. Commercial property insurance protects company property against losses such as fire, smoke, wind, hail and vandalism. It covers what stays put.

Umbrella Insurance for Landscapers

A crash with your loaded truck, or a serious injury on a client’s property, can cost more than your limits. An umbrella policy sits over and above your general liability and auto policies and responds once their limits are used up.

Hired and Non Owned Auto Coverage for Landscapers

A crew lead drives a personal pickup to the nursery for plants, or you rent a dump truck for one big job. Hired and non owned auto coverage is the piece to ask about when vehicles the business does not own are used for its work.

Coverage Landscapers Can Be Missing

Gaps often show up when the work changes with the season or a new service is added in the middle of the year. A landscaper can carry several policies and still have a hole between them, because each policy names what it covers and leaves the rest out. These are the places to look, and each one is a fair question to bring to your quote.

The season your policy does not name.
A policy names the work it covers. Check the business description and the covered work.
Chemicals.
A standard general liability policy excludes pollution liability. If you spray or treat lawns, ask how that work is covered.
Equipment on the trailer.
Standard property insurance does not cover equipment that moves from job to job.
You, as the owner.
Depending on how your business is set up, you may be outside your own workers’ compensation policy. The state facts below describe the rule.
Your crew’s own cars.
Personal cars used for work may need hired and non owned auto coverage.
Equipment kept at home.
A homeowners policy is not likely to cover business supplies kept at home.

If an Insurer Has Said No

That is one insurer’s answer, not the last one. Insurers have different underwriting standards, and a decision by one company does not mean another will not offer coverage.

Hard to Place InsuranceNonrenewed or Cancelled Policies

State Facts

In Connecticut

  • With few exceptions, every Connecticut employer must carry workers’ compensation insurance.
  • A sole proprietor must accept the Workers’ Compensation Act to be treated as an employer for insurance purposes.
  • Corporate officers, LLC members and partners may elect to be excluded from the Act.
  • Out of state employers must cover their employees who work in Connecticut.
  • Contractors who work on homes of six units or fewer and charge more than $1,000 in any 12 months must register as home improvement contractors, and registration requires general liability insurance of at least $20,000. Ask whether your hardscape or installation work falls under it.

Read more: Workers’ Compensation in Connecticut.

Source: Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission and Department of Consumer Protection.

Insurance in Connecticut

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need workers’ compensation for my landscaping crew?

Most employers are required to carry workers’ compensation. It protects the business from claims by employees with a work related injury or illness. The state facts above describe how a sole proprietor, LLC member or partner is treated.

Do I need workers’ compensation for myself as the owner?

That depends on how your business is organized and on state rules. The state facts above describe how a sole proprietor, an LLC member and a partner are treated, and your own structure is reviewed with you.

Can I use my personal auto policy for my work truck?

A personal auto policy generally excludes business use, and it will not cover a vehicle the business owns. Commercial auto is the coverage to ask about.

Is my mower covered if it is stolen off the trailer?

That depends on how the equipment is insured. A tools and equipment floater covers equipment wherever it is used, which standard property insurance does not.

Does my landscaping policy cover snow plowing?

Only if the policy names it. Send the declarations page and check the covered work for every season. See Snow and Ice Contractor Insurance.

Can snow plowing, tree service and lawn care be insured?

Tell us every service you provide. Your account can be reviewed, and no agency can promise a placement.

What if an insurer dropped my landscaping business?

Begin with Nonrenewed or Cancelled Policies. No agency can promise a placement.

List Every Service You Provide.

Include mowing, plowing, tree work and treatments, and send the list with your quote request.

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