What Type of Insurance Do You Need as a Landscaper?
Posted on Apr 16, 2019
As a landscaping business owner, you might fear you don’t have the right amount of insurance protection to meet your needs.
That’s more than a legitimate concern because failing to have adequate protection for your business places you in serious risk if something goes wrong.
So, what types of insurance coverages do you need for your landscaping business?
Begin with the Basics
There are a few types of coverage that are simply essential. These are the types of coverage that not only protect your financial interests but also serve to protect your business interests as well. They include:
- Business Owners Policy (BOP). Your business owner’s policy is a bundled policy that provides limited protection in a variety of situations. It often includes general liability protection, commercial property coverage, and business income protection.
- General Liability Insurance. While included, to some extent, in the BOP, the general liability coverage in such policies is often limited. Businesses operating in today’s litigious society often require broad general liability protection.
- Workers Compensation Insurance (WCI). This coverage is essential for businesses that have employees even if you do not meet the legal requirements to provide it. Not only is it required by law for most qualifying businesses, but it also helps to protect your business from potential lawsuits and legal actions if your employees are injured on the job.
- Property Insurance. Your business property includes more than the building where your business is housed. It also consists of the equipment and materials you use to perform your tasks from one home to the next, computers and mobile phones you use to operate your business, etc. Property insurance helps to replace these items when damaged or lost as a result of a covered event (fire, theft, tornado, etc.).
- Commercial Auto Insurance. Since most of your work is done onsite, you must transport your materials and the men and women who work for you. Commercial auto insurance protects the vehicles used to do this. If employees use their personal vehicles for moving equipment and staff to and from job sites, consider investing in a non-owned vehicle coverage policy to protect your business if their liability protection is insufficient.
- Inland Marine Insurance. Provides broad coverage for loss to tools and equipment you specify.
- Umbrella Insurance. Offers liability protection that extends beyond your general and other liability policy limits.
- Herbicide and Pesticide Application Insurance. Protects your business from any liability fallout from the application of herbicides or pesticides in the course of your landscaping duties.
- Professional Liability Insurance. A type of errors and omissions coverage that protects your business from liability related to design work you might engage in.
These insurance products provide essential protection for your business that helps you operate with confidence that your insurance coverage protects many everyday situations.
However, they do leave coverage gaps you may prefer to fill with other types of insurance products and protection.
Beyond the Basics
The basics represent the types of insurance that are essential in your business.
However, your insurance needs aren’t likely to end there. Depending on how you operate your landscaping business, you may need one, more, or all of the following types of insurance products as well.
- Snow and Ice Plow/Removal Insurance. This coverage is necessary if you offer snow plow services during winter months. If you provide this service, having snow plow insurance is critical.
- Data Breach Coverage. Helps to reduce your risk of civil liabilities if your business suffers a data breach.
- Business Crime Coverage. Protects your business from losses related to crimes committed against your business, such as theft, embezzlement, fraud, etc or crimes committed against your customers by your employees.
Whether you are just getting started with your landscaping business or have a few years of service in the field under your belt, having the right insurance protection can mean the difference between weathering certain financial storms or being dragged under by them.
Work with a trusted insurance agency, like us here at Otterstedt, to determine the best types of coverage for your landscaping business needs and the appropriate amount of coverage to offer your landscaping business well-rounded and essential protection.
