As a small landscaping business owner, you have many responsibilities that keep you busy.
From overseeing daily operations to meticulously maintaining your expensive equipment, the demands are ceaseless. You also have to protect your employees while they’re on the job.
And let’s not forget about those numerous contractual requirements.
That’s enough to make a lot of people feel overwhelmed.
Enter landscaping insurance—coverage for your business and its employees in the event something unforeseen happens.
Let’s dive right in and learn more about the different types of landscaping insurance and which policies might be right for your business.
Do I Really Need Insurance for My Landscaping Business?
Look at it this way.
You’ve invested everything you have into your business. It takes years to grow and establish your company.
One freak accident can impact your bottom line and negate all the years of sweat you put into your business.
Is there even a remote possibility that your landscaping company’s work could damage something nearby or accidentally injure another person? (even a flying rock from a lawnmower could end up taking someone’s eye out).
If your answer is yes, then you need to learn about the different types of landscaping insurance to figure out which ones you need to safeguard your business. Let’s start by understanding the benefits of landscaping insurance as a whole.
Benefits of Landscaping Insurance
- Provides protection against unforeseen risks
- Safeguards both your current and future liabilities
- Protects you in the event of a lawsuit
- Establishes a better reputation as a landscape professional
- Secures your financial interests in the face of unexpected events
- Gives you peace of mind knowing that in almost any eventuality, you’re protected.
What Are the Types of Landscaping Insurance?
Your landscape business will have different insurance needs from another, based on the individual services you offer.
Depending on your business, you might need a collection of different types of landscaping insurance.
Some insurance companies will combine the different kinds of landscaping coverage into one easy-to-manage policy like LandPro.
Let’s take a closer look at each type of landscaping insurance.
Commercial general liability insurance
Commercial liability insurance is a broad policy designed to protect individuals other than yourself or your employees.
What will it cover?
This landscaping insurance type covers damages to property and covers health-related costs resulting from injuries or death to third parties, including customers or bystanders.
What would happen if you didn’t have insurance to cover any of these eventualities?
Well, depending on the extent of a possible claim, you could face financial ruin.
Commercial liability insurance prevents potential bankruptcy by covering expenses like property repair or rebuilding, medical care for third parties, and any legal fees and settlements arising from any unfortunate event.
Commercial automobile insurance
This type of landscaping insurance is essential for any vehicles used in your business operations.
What will it cover?
If you or one of your workers is responsible for an automobile accident while driving any company vehicle, a commercial auto liability policy steps in to cover damages or injuries to other parties.
Key point—your personal vehicle insurance doesn’t provide coverage for you or your drivers resulting from business operations. If you or your employees are using their private vehicle during work, private auto insurers might refuse your claim. Commercial auto insurance is a must-have for your business.
Commercial property insurance
You’ve invested a lot in your landscaping businesses’ assets, such as lawnmowers, tillers, excavation equipment, nursery inventory, and other items.
If you’re a sizable business, you may have been able to purchase or lease a commercial building or property to store it all.
Any property or business equipment faces certain risks, such as theft, storm damage, fire, etc. If any of your business property is damaged or stolen, a commercial property insurance policy can help pay to replace it.
What will it cover?
This type of landscaping insurance covers any physical asset of your building, from the business’s building itself, to equipment, and inventory.
Paying an insurance premium towards commercial property insurance certainly beats putting down tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars that it would cost to replace everything on your own in case of any loss, theft or damage.
Inland marine insurance
You might be thinking, “What does inland marine have to do with my business? I don’t work on the water or with boats.”
Contrary to its name, inland marine insurance doesn’t have anything to do with either water or boats.
Inland marine insurance is for business equipment that you move on land from your commercial site to a client’s place or a job site.
What will it cover?
Landscaping equipment is expensive.
If your business’s equipment or tools are damaged, destroyed, or stolen while being moved, this type of landscaping insurance will cover those losses. If you bring a computer to your job site, and it gets damaged, inland marine insurance will likely cover that too.
Workers’ compensation coverage
Given the landscaping business risks, if you have employees working for you, workers’ compensation would be a wise and necessary addition to your insurance coverage.
Nearly every state requires employers to carry workers’ comp for their workers. What’s more, when you bid on a job, a potential client is likely to ask if you have coverage for your employees.
What will it cover?
Workers’ compensation insurance pays for missed wages and medical expenses for injuries and illnesses an employee gets while working for you.
This type of landscaping insurance will also cover you if one of your workers decides to sue you over an injury or work-related illness. It will usually pay for court costs, attorney’s fees, and any settlement arising out of the suit.
Employment practices liability coverage
Employee-filed lawsuits are on the rise.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) protects your business from lawsuits that may be brought on by your employees. It also offers protection to your employees under certain conditions like:
- Sexual harassment claims
- Wrongful termination
- Discrimination
- Negligence
- Drug testing
- Employee benefits mismanagement
- Invasion of privacy
What will it cover?
EPLI will cover the costs of defending your landscaping business and any employees involved against the previous types of claims.
Even when you and your employees are blameless in a situation, the burden of proving your innocence in these types of claims in court is expensive.
The average cost of settling out of court is $75,000, but the average award in a court of law is $217,000.
A dedicated EPLI policy will usually reimburse your business for legal expenses to defend your case, and also pay any settlements that might arise from a court decision.
Excess liability insurance
An Excess Liability policy offers coverage limits in excess of another liability policy, such as general liability or umbrella liability coverage.
Let’s say you have a general liability policy that has a limit of $1 million. An excess liability insurance policy could possibly increase your coverage by another $500,000 to $1 million.
What will it cover?
A single expensive lawsuit could easily max out the limits on those policies, leaving you with having to find a way to pay the rest.
But, if you have an Excess Liability policy, it would kick in and help pay for:
- Injuries and property damage claims
- Legal fees and expenses, as well as lawsuits, as they relate to your business
- Added commercial vehicle insurance protection
- Other liability excesses over and above some of your primary policies
What Factors Will Determine My Premium Cost?
The insurance premium depends on many factors. These can include:
- How many workers do you have on your payroll?
- How large is your operation?
- Do you perform more minor jobs like general lawn care, or do you also remove trees?
- How much equipment and trucks do you have?
- Do you have a commercial building?
Other types of insurance for your landscaping business
There are other various types of coverage available to landscaping businesses.
The type of insurance policies you’ll need for your business will depend on your particular job descriptions and the risks involved in performing them. These can include:
- Business Loss of Income Insurance
- Commercial Excess Insurance
- Cyber Insurance
- Errors and Omissions Insurance
- Employment Practices Liability
- Environmental Liability Insurance
- Flood Insurance
Most landscaping businesses can roll their primary coverage into one policy.
If you obtain coverage with the right insurance company, they can offer you a customizable policy that covers most eventualities.
Protect Your Business With Landscaping Insurance
You have your hands full just trying to run your business. The last thing you want is to be worried about replacing damaged or stolen equipment, lawsuits, or how you will pay for your employees or someone else if they get hurt.
It pays to partner with an insurance company that specializes in providing coverage for landscape companies like yours.
NIP Group offers Landpro – the protection you need to grow your business and handle any risks that may arise.
Our team’s hands-on expertise empowers clients with trusted guidance to reinforce safety protocols and sustain growth through the shifting seasons ahead.
With LandPro’s specialized policies, your services will thrive – whether you mow, mulch, snow plow, or more.
Contact us today to learn more.
