Insurance for Landscaping Contractors
What Kind of Insurance Do Landscapers Need?
Like any business, landscaping businesses need the protection that commercial insurance provides. Landscapers can face several potential hazards at work, and even the safest workplaces can experience accidents. With the proper insurance coverage, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your business is protected!
So, what kind of insurance do landscapers need? What additional coverages should your business consider?
Types of Coverages Landscapers Need (& Merchants Offers!)
Merchants has you covered with our MAP® Contractors Package designed especially for contractors! A few of our automatic coverages include:
- Commercial General Liability Insurance – Also called general liability (or GL) insurance, this helps protect your business from third-party claims involving bodily injury, property damage, and more. This coverage protects you if a customer is injured in your business office, for example, or if you damage a customer’s property while working at their site. Some of the included GL coverages are:
- Blanket Waiver of Subrogation – Merchants agrees to not seek recovery from a third party with whom you have a written contract that requires us to do so.
- Primary and Non-Contributory – When required by written contract, coverage provided to an additional insured is on a primary basis and Merchants will not seek contribution from the additional insured’s own policy.
- Employment Practices Liability (EPL) – EPL coverage protects you against claims of discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
- Pesticide/Herbicide Application – Limited pollution coverage – This coverage provides you with limited pollution coverage for bodily injury and property damage pertaining to pesticide or herbicide application.
- Inland Marine Insurance – This protects products, materials and equipment when transported over land or while temporarily stored by a third party.1
- Contractors Equipment Coverage– Protects your equipment and valuable tools, such as shovels, rakes, pruning shears, and hedge trimmers, and includes coverages such as rented equipment and employee tools and clothing, with various limits.
- Installation Coverage – Protects your property such as materials, supplies and fixtures intended to be installed, while at the job site, in temporary storage or in transit.
Need Additional Coverage?
Depending on the needs of your business, you may want to consider additional coverage options. Merchants offers several Optional Coverages to complete your Landscaper Insurance policy. While MAP® Contractors Package provides comprehensive included coverages for your business, you may want to add additional coverages, such as:
- Additional Insured Options – Blanket or Scheduled – Provides liability protection for the additional insured under the named insured’s policy.
- Contractors Errors and Omissions Coverage (Not available in Vermont) – Contractors Errors & Omissions (E&O) coverage is protection for claims when a contractor’s work is allegedly faulty or defective, and is installed or incorporated into other products or property causing a loss associated with the replacement or reworking of the defective work.
- Cyber Liability Coverage (Not available in Vermont) – This provides comprehensive data security and privacy coverage that address both first party losses and third party liability claims, expert claims handling and breach response services in the event of a suspected breach, and a risk management website which provides information, guidelines and tools to help mitigate risk before a breach occurs.
- Snow and Ice Removal Coverage – Available for Residential and Light Commercial Exposures – This provides coverage for bodily injury and/or property damage pertaining to your snow and ice removal operations.
Commercial Property Insurance
This covers your property such as buildings and/or their contents when damage is caused by a covered cause of loss such as fire.
Building and Business Personal Property Coverage
When Building and/or Business Personal Property Coverage is written, some of the included property coverages are:
- Business Income and Extra Expense – Provides reimbursement of net lost business income and continuing normal operating expenses, including ordinary payroll due to the suspension of your business operations from a covered loss.
- Equipment Breakdown Coverage – Equipment Breakdown coverage responds to the cost of repairing or replacing mechanical, electrical or pressure systems equipment that suffers a breakdown. Covered property can include compressors, pumps, computers, and boilers.
- Communication Equipment – Provides coverage for loss of or damage to Communication Equipment used in your business from any of the covered causes of loss. Communication Equipment includes, but is not limited to, cellular / mobile telephones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
Having the right coverage will provide you with financial peace of mind, allowing you to focus on your clients’ needs and helping your business thrive!
To learn more about Merchants’ coverage options for your landscaping business, click here. Ready to discuss your business’s insurance needs? Use our Find an Agent tool to locate an independent insurance agent near you!
This blog is adapted from an earlier version published by Merchants on March 11, 2021.
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