INSURANCE FOR LANDSCAPING

There may be different policies for your landscaping business, depending on your specific needs. Below are the three main policies you may want to consider for landscaping insurance coverage.

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General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance — otherwise known as commercial general liability (CGL) insurance — is a type of policy that covers your landscaping business from costs as a result of third-party accidents, property damage, bodily injury, lawsuits alleging damage, and more.

If you don’t have general liability insurance, you run the risk of being responsible for any costs that come with running a landscaping business. With the average costs of reputational damage being upwards of $50,000, small businesses can’t afford not to be insured.

To put this in perspective, let’s say a customer trips over a leaf blower left out in their yard while you’re wrapping up a landscaping project. The customer is injured and irate, and they sue you for their injuries. As a result, the medical bills and court fees result in thousands of dollars. What do you do in this situation?

If you don’t have proper landscaping general liability insurance, you would have to pay those costs out of pocket. But with the right policy, you’re likely covered. Not only are the court fees covered, but typically so are the injured customer’s medical bills and any other associated costs.

So what could your general liability insurance policy cover? Here’s a quick summary:

• Bodily injury to another person
  Third-party property damage
  Personal and advertising injury
  Medical expenses
  And more

But what about the things general liability insurance doesn’t cover?

• Damage to your own property
  Professional services
  Workers compensation or injury to your employees
  Damage to your work
  Motor vehicles while in business use
  Intentional injury or damage
  And more

Also, it’s important to make sure your equipment is covered if something is stolen or damaged. Some general liability insurance policies include some type of contents coverage, which is the insurance that protects you in case your tools are damaged or stolen.

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Workers Compensation Insurance

From lawn mowers and weed whackers to shovels, rakes, and trowels, as a landscaper, you likely work with a lot of different tools and machines at any given time. Plus, in most states, you’re legally required to carry workers compensation insurance.

Accidents happen, which means it’s important to have the proper coverage to not only protect yourself but your employees, too.

For example, what if an employee were to drop a heavy shovel and break their foot? Or if an employee is injured while using lawn shears? Talk about some big medical bills! Your workers compensation policy will not only cover your employee’s medical bills, but it can cover other related expenses, such as time missed from work and rehabilitation expenses.

It’s imperative that landscapers have adequate workers compensation insurance. Even if we think we’re being as careful as possible, accidents can happen. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2017 more than 229,000 workplace injuries due to contact with objects and equipment were so serious that they resulted in time away from work. What’s more, the cost of work injuries in the U.S. that same year was $161.5 billion. That’s not a typo.

Workers compensation insurance for landscapers can cover:

• Medical payments
  Lost wages
  Rehabilitation expenses
  Death benefits