Landscaping Business Insurance: What You Need To Know

Working in the great outdoors is one of the biggest benefits of being a landscape contractor. Come rain or shine, you are out there, making a masterpiece out of lawns, trees and shrubs. It is a most rewarding job, but like with anything, things can and do go wrong, when landscaping your own garden, if you do something wrong, it is usually little more than an inconvenience. However, get something wrong in a clients garden and it can damage your finances and your reputation - in a catastrophic way. It doesn’t matter how careful you are, how conscientious you are, mistakes and accidents can happen, and when they do, landscape contractors insurance is there to cover you.

What types of insurance coverage is available for landscape contractors?

General liability insurance: Unless you are working in your own back yard, you are going to be working around members of the public. That applies whether you are working in a public park or someone’s private gardens. If someone is injured or their property is damaged because of you, your employees or the work that you are carrying out, they are more than likely going to file a personal injury or property damage claim against you and your business. If you don’t have general liability insurance - which is not a legal requirement but highly recommended - it could be very expensive indeed.

Employer liability insurance also known as Workers Compensation insurance: Even if you employ just one person part-time you are legally required to have workers compensation insurance. If you don’t have this, you could be hit with fines of up to $250 per day for each day that you don’t have workers compensation insurance coverage.

Portable Equipment Insurance also known as Inland Marine: As a landscape contractor, you are going to be hauling around some pretty expensive equipment from job to job, from backhoes to skid steers and tree spades. If you lose these, or they are damaged or stolen, it could cost you a large amount of money to replace, but scheduled equipment or inland marine insurance will cover the cost.

Business Auto Insurance: The chances you are driving around in a pick-up truck or some sort of vehicle and trailer to carry about the bigger equipment and moving tree cuttings, sand, soil, rocks and so on. You may wonder, do trailers need insurance? It is a legal requirement to have auto insurance, but you also need to sure that it covers any trailers that you use and for business use as well by scheduling them on the policy you do this by providing an itemized list to your insurance company.

Personal accident insurance: What would you do if you were unable to work due to an injury? When the unexpected happens and you need to take a pause, personal accident insurance is there to cover you. It offers a weekly pay-out which can also cover the expense of medical bills, whether you need to stay in hospital or can't physically function at your usual rate. This is also known as a cash benefit policy and it is something that should be discussed with an insurance agent licensed for life and health coverage.

It is important that when you start  a business as a landscape contractor you take time to consider the appropriate insurance, even if you think that you will never use it. Without it, you could find yourself in a very expensive financial situation.

• Contact a representative at Mountain Insurance to set up a consultation.
  

Mountain Insurance provides insurance to landscaping businesses in Colorado Springs and Montrose, Grand Junction, Ouray, Crested Butte, Gunnison, Telluride, and surrounding areas.