Landscaping
This playbook is your go-to resource for understanding the coverage needs of landscaping contractors — from job site risks to protections for equipment, outdoor work, and yard care.
The following playbook is intended to provide guidance on Merchants’ appetite and most desired risk characteristics. Your Merchants team is available to speak about the entirety of a risk that may have characteristics not exactly fitting our desirability.
We also encourage you to refer to Merchants Appetite Guide under the Resources/Tools menu of the Commercial Gateway in Merchants agent portal website for class-specific eligibility.
Description of Operations
Landscape contractors work with residential and commercial clients to design, install, and maintain outdoor spaces, combining plants and architectural features such as decks or paths in a manner attractive to customers. The design may focus on aesthetics, functionality, or both, but should include consideration of climate, winds, and existing natural features. It may be purely decorative or may include practical elements, like hiding a well head or sprinkler system. Services offered may include installation of sod for a lawn, planting of trees, bushes, shrubs, flowers, and other plants, or the installation of fountains, lighting, retaining walls, walkways, or other architectural enhancements. Some landscape contractors will change the contours of the grounds, while others will limit their work to planting new or maintaining existing lawns and plants. Additional operations may include installation or winterization of underground sprinkler systems, tree trimming, nurseries, or lawn and garden shops.
Merchants Appetite
The following risk characteristics are intended to provide guidance on Merchants’ appetite. Your Merchants team is available to speak about the entirety of a risk that may have characteristics not exactly fitting our desirability. Refer to Merchants Appetite Guide under the Resources/Tools menu of the Commercial Gateway on merchantsgroup.com for class-specific eligibility.
Desirable Risks
- Small to large artisan contracting operations
- Revenues up to $6,000,000
- Favorable loss history
- Experience in current trade (new ventures are eligible)
- Subcontracted work at 40% or less with proper risk transfer in place
- Retail receipts at 50% or less
- Residential snow plowing (other than apartments and condos) of 1-4 family single structure dwellings
- Commercial snow plowing of single occupant commercial buildings (max 35 parking spaces)
Ineligible
- Commercial General Contractors
- Industrial, institutional or municipal work
- Underground work in excess of 12 feet
- Exterior work in excess of 4 stories above ground (3 stories in NY)
- Roofing operations (other than incidental work up to 35% of roof surface)
- Street, road, bridge, airport runway, racetrack, or garage parking deck construction or repair
- High voltage work performed on power lines in excess of 220 volts
- Plowing of high traffic areas (ex – strip plazas, shopping centers, big box stores, religious institutions, medical centers, apartment complexes)
Exposures
Understand the key risks contractors face in the field — and how each trade’s exposures can impact insurance coverage, potential claims, and safe day-to-day operations.
Automobile Exposure
Automobile exposures are generally limited to driving to and from customers’ premises. If plants and large trees are transported, the exposure increases due to the possibility of the load being involved in a collision or overturn. Vehicles may be custom designed with specialty equipment, such as lifts, cherry pickers, and tree planting or removal equipment. Drivers should be aware of and be able to perform cleanup procedures in the event of a collision or overturn. All drivers must be well trained and have valid licenses for the type of vehicle being driven. MVRs must be run on a regular basis. Random drug and alcohol testing should be conducted. Vehicles must be well maintained with records kept in a central location.
Crime Exposure
Crime exposures are from employee dishonesty, including theft of customers’ goods by employees. Background checks, including criminal histories, should be obtained on each employee prior to hiring. There must be a separation of duties between persons handling deposits and disbursements and reconciling bank statements. Customers may pay in cash for smaller jobs. Receipts should be required for these transactions.
Inland Marine Exposure
Inland marine exposure includes accounts receivable if the landscaper offers credit to customers, computers, contractors’ equipment, goods in transit, and valuable papers and records for customers’ and suppliers’ information. Backup copies of all data should be stored off premises. Equipment may include mowers, sprayers, cherry pickers for tree trimming and trenchers for underground work. Goods in transit may be damaged by fire, collision or overturn. While the transport of fully-grown trees for planting is rare, the stock may be of high value. Vehicles containing stock should be attended at all times.
Personal Injury Exposure
Personal injury exposures include allegations of assault to the customer, discrimination, and invasion of privacy. Failure to run background checks and review references on employees increases hazard and reduces available defenses.
Premises Liability Exposure
Premises liability exposures can be light at the landscaper’s own premises due to the limited number of visitors. If there is a nursery, the exposure increases as customers may slip or fall on wet flooring or dirt or trip over equipment. Steps and uneven floor surfaces should be prominently marked. Plants and equipment stored in the open can present an attractive nuisance. Off-premises exposures are moderate due to hazards at the job site. The area of operation should be restricted by barriers and proper signage to protect the public from slips and falls over equipment and supplies during the installation process. Stones or other debris may be thrown by power mowers, trimmers, and other equipment. Tree trimming may result in falling tools, branches or debris that may injure persons, damage vehicles or other property, or fall onto power or communication lines. Use of chain saws on trunks or limbs and the use of chippers for disposal may result in flying debris that can cause serious bodily injury. The application of lawn chemicals presents both a premises and completed operations hazard that could result in serious long-term injury, illness, or disease to customers and passersby. Overspray from operations could result in small but frequent property damage losses. Contractors who do not obtain and keep proper licensing and certification for chemical applications create a serious liability exposure to themselves. If the landscaper hires subcontractors for some work, the exposure increases. Poorly written contracts can result in liability hazards not anticipated in this classification.
Property Exposure
Property exposures may be limited to an office and a storage yard for vehicles or equipment, or include the sale of live and growing plants, shrubs, bushes, trees, or flowers. These may grow outside in a yard or in a structure such as a greenhouse. Both the structure and the growing stock are susceptible to damage by fire, wind, hail, and vandalism. The stock is also vulnerable to loss by frost, animals, or insects. Older greenhouses made of glass may be subject to frequent breakage losses. Newer greenhouses are simply framing with plastic coverings, which need frequent replacement as they tend to yellow or cloud in the weather and block out sunlight needed by plants. Special programs and coverages are available to protect the structures and the growing plants or crops. If live or growing plants are sold, power outages of refrigeration equipment can result in high spoilage losses. Equipment should be maintained on a regular basis, with backup generators available. Fire hazards can be high from the flammables used in the repair of vehicles or equipment, such as solvents and degreasers, and the chemicals in fertilizers and insecticides. These must all be well controlled, labeled, and separated with proper storage in the appropriate containers and storage facilities. Greenhouses and plants in the open may be targeted by vandals. Business income exposure is high due to the seasonality of operations.
Workers Compensation Exposure
Workers compensation exposures are high due to the operation of machinery and equipment, work at heights, work on uneven ground, and exposure to underground or above ground cables and lines. Landscaping is labor-intensive and may require employees to work under all kinds of weather conditions. Use of power-cutting equipment can result in cuts and possible amputations. Back injuries, hernias, sprains, and strains can result from lifting or working from awkward positions. Slips, trips, falls, foreign objects in the eye, hearing impairment from noise, and muscle strains are common. Chemical applications may cause lung problems along with allergic reactions and other more serious complications. Workers can be crushed when building architectural features, electrocuted when coming into contact with electricity, or be injured in automobile accidents. Casual labor, seasonal workforce, and high turnover present a significant loss control challenge.
Risk-Smart Landscape Contractors
Click each photo to see what makes it best-in-class — and how these features help minimize risk and reduce exposures on job sites and contractor-owned properties.
Red Flags in the Field
Click each photo to learn what’s not-so-great — and how these conditions can increase risk, raise exposures, or lead to costly claims on contractor job sites or properties.
Automatic Coverages
These built-in coverages come standard with our contractor policies, offering added protection for income, tools, equipment, property, and more — all at no additional cost.
Annual Aggregate Limit Per Location
This policy conditions amends the General Aggregate Limit to apply separately to each location owned by or rented to the insured.
Contractors Equipment – Employee Tools and Clothing
Under the Contractors Equipment form, coverage for employee tools and equipment are included for up to $5,000 per occurrence, but not more than $1,000 per employee. The occurrence limit may be increased. Coverage is subject to a $500 deductible.
Contractors Equipment – Fuel, Accessories and Spare Parts
Under the Contractors Equipment form, coverage for fuel, accessories and spare parts are included for up to $10,000 per occurrence. The limit may be increased and is subject to a $500 deductible.
Contractors Equipment – Trailers and Contents
Under the Contractors Equipment form, coverage for loss or damage to owned, leased or rented office and construction trailers and their contents that is caused by or resulting from a covered cause of loss is included for up to $25,000. This additional coverage does not include coverage for contractors tools. The trailer and contents limit can be increased and is subject to a $500 deductible.
Damage to Premises Rented to You (Fire Legal Liability)
Business Liability coverage for damage because of property damage to a premises while rented to the insured or temporarily occupied by the insured with permission of the owner is provided at a limit of $500,000 unless a higher limit of insurance is shown in the policy declarations.
Employment Practices Liability
Provides coverage on a claims made basis for injuries to employees due to demotion, wrongful termination, wrongful denial of opportunities, including wrongful hiring and supervision, retaliatory actions, coercion, harassment and other types of work-related discrimination, libel, humiliation and similar acts.
Equipment Leased or Rented from Others
Coverage for contractors equipment the insured owns but leases or rents from others for which the insured is legally liable in a written agreement is covered if damaged by a covered cause of loss. The limit for this extension is $50,000. A $500 deductible applies. Higher limits are available.
Installation Coverage
Coverage for direct physical loss or damage by a covered cause of loss applies to fixtures, supplies, materials and equipment that are on the jobsite, in storage or in transit in order to be installed. The following limits apply:
- Property at jobsite $10,000
- Property at temporary storage location $5,000
- Property in transit $5,000
- All covered property included above combined in any one occurrence is $20,000
Primary & Non-Contributory - Other Insurance Condition
This insurance is primary and will not seek contribution form any other insurance available to an additional insured under the policy provided that the additional insured is a Named Insured under such other insurance and the insured has agreed in writing in a contract or agreement that this insurance would be primary and would not seek contribution from any other insurance available to the additional insured.
Rental Reimbursement
Under the Contractors Equipment form, coverage for actual rental expenses for renting equipment are included for up to $10,000 per occurrence, but not more than $500 per day. A 72 hour waiting period applies. The per occurrence limit can be increased.
Unscheduled Tools and Equipment
Coverage for direct physical loss, caused by a covered cause of loss, to contractors unscheduled tools and equipment owned by the insured or in the insured’s care, custody or control is provided at a limit of $3,000. A $500 deductible applies. Higher limits are available.
Voluntary Property Damage
Voluntary Property Damage coverage is provided for unintentional property damage to the property of others caused by the insured or while the property is in the insured’s possession and the damage is arising out of the operations described in the policy. The coverage limit is $10,000 per occurrence/$25,000 aggregate with a $500 per claim deductible.
Waiver of Subrogation
Waiver of rights of recovery is waived against any person or organization, when the insured has agreed in writing in a contract, agreement or permit that was executed prior to the bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury and advertising injury.
Helpful Resources
Navigate to “Merchants On-Demand” from the homepage of your Merchants agent portal website to access flyers for your reference, as well as flyers you can distribute to clients.
