As the Winter months run their course and Spring approaches, lawn care and general landscaping are desired services by homeowners and stratas alike. If you’re an experienced landscaper starting your own business for the first time, or a driven new entrepreneur with a green thumb, it’s important you obtain Landscaping Insurance for your venture. We’ll go into what coverage is important for general landscaping, yard maintenance, and lawn care operations. Have a read through our article below and also check out our Landscaping Insurance page for more information.
Landscaping Insurance and What It Includes
Landscaping Insurance, sounds self explanatory – it’s insurance for landscapers! However, this coverage may be called various other names including: lawn care insurance, lawn mower insurance, lawn care business insurance, garden insurance, or landscaping business insurance.
The truth is, all of these are the same thing and they include some key coverages that make it relevant to a landscaping business. There are 2 major types of insurance that are relevant to a general landscaper and the related operations, they are:
Commercial General Liability (CGL) – This is liability coverage for your day-to-day operations. That means potential claims arising from bodily injury or property damage that you may cause while on the job are covered. This includes litigation and defence costs, as well as potential payouts legally awarded to a plaintiff. Common limits for landscapers range from $2,000,0000 to $5,000,000 +.
Tools & Equipment Coverage (Business Property) – This is insurance for the property you use for your landscaping, lawn care, etc. You can request limits based on the value of tools you have such as, lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, even that “Ditch Witch” you need for a big project. Your tools & equipment are essential to your business, ensure you protect them from, theft, and other losses with this coverage.
Your Business Is Unique! What Other Coverage Is Available?
Although the above mentioned coverages are adequate insurance for a lawn mowing business for example, how about a garden renovation & garden design operations? Well, if you are providing “Professional Services” such as design work for your clients, it’s important to obtain another form of coverage:
Professional Liability (E&O) – Also called Errors & Omissions Insurance, this will protect you and your business from damages that may be brought against you for negligence in professional services rendered such as yard design or if you are working with irrigation system installs. Feel free to reach out to us at Netsurance Canada to discuss your insurance needs.
There are other types of insurance available that may be relevant to you depending on the work you are doing. These can include:
- Installation Floater
- Business Interruption
- Course of Construction
- and more
If you plan on providing unique services such as snow removal, or pressure washing, it’s important to include this as part of your operations description when obtaining your insurance. Don’t worry, we have an area for you to provide these details in our application.
Landscapers Insurance - We've Got You Covered!
You’re almost ready to start your landscaping business! With all of this insurance talk, wouldn’t it be nice if you could get things handled without leaving your desk, or even from a smart phone? You can! We offer online applications specifically for landscaping contractors insurance and you can get an online quote here. Ensure you’re covered this season with Landscaping Insurance.
If you’d like some more tips when it comes to starting a landscaping venture you can visit the Government of Canada page for landscaping and snow removal start-up checklist here.