Landscaper Insurance Essentials For A Solid Business Plan

When it comes to running a landscaping business, there are landscaper insurance essentials you need in order to protect yourself, your employees, and your business.

These policies are the important ones to have so that you have a solid business plan that caters to your needs and ensures that you have a safety net just in case something should happen that threatens your livelihood.

The Basics and Must-Have Landscaper Insurance Policies

There are a couple of insurance policies that are must-have for your landscaping business. These include general liability and employers’ liability.

General liability insurance protects your business from lawsuits that come from customers who may sue you due to what they consider negligence from your product or service, or something that happens while on company property.

Employers’ liability insurance protects the business from employees who may bring a lawsuit for a variety of reasons. These can include things like automotive liability, pay discrepancies, injuries and damages, and accidents that happened on the job. This even covers lawsuits where an employee is injured while at a customer’s property or was injured in a company vehicle while on the job.

Other Landscaper Insurance Policies to Consider

There are other policies that are important to landscaping businesses. These depend on your individual circumstances and if they apply to your business.

Business Liability Insurance

This insurance policy protects a company’s assets and pays for obligations—medical costs, for example—incurred if someone gets hurt on your property or when there are property damages or injuries caused by you or your employees.

Property Loss Insurance

This insurance is for if you have a place of business and were to lose it due to fire, earthquake, flood, or some form of loss where the business is no longer viable.

Theft Insurance

This type of insurance is pretty self-explanatory. It helps in case of theft, whether employee or criminal acts of theft, and protects your equipment investment.

Mechanical Breakdown Insurance

Mechanical breakdown insurance covers the cost of repairs if your equipment breaks down and you suffer a loss of income. Some policies cover repairs but exclude regular maintenance and wear and tear.

Forgery Protection Insurance

This is not a typical form of insurance, but it does protect the business in case of counterfeit checks. One way around this option is to only accept cash or credit cards, but if you do decide to take checks from customers who are used to paying that way, this is a policy you may want to consider.

Commercial Auto Insurance

This is a policy that is needed if you have company vehicles. With landscaping businesses, many typically have company trucks to transport equipment, so this one is a policy that is often needed to protect your investment.

Professional Liability Insurance

Also known as errors and omissions, this protects those providing a service from being responsible for the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client, and for damages awarded such as in a civil lawsuit.

Inventory Loss Insurance

Inventory loss covers exactly what it states and protects the business if there is a loss through no fault of your own.

While your landscaping business may not need all of these policies, it is smart to at least get the basic ones first and then work on a few of the rest if they apply. For example, start out with general liability and employers’ liability, and if you have company trucks, consider commercial auto insurance as well.

The important thing is to make sure your business is protected as much as possible. If you are not sure, we can answer any questions you have. Simply contact us so we can help.