Trade coverage
Excavation, mowing debris, and chemical application create property damage and slip exposures, but severity is generally limited compared with structural trades.
General liability responds to two different things for your trade. The first is injury or damage caused while you are working, which for landscaping work is damaging an irrigation line, landscape lighting, or buried cable while planting or trenching. The second is a claim that surfaces after you have finished, known as completed operations, and it is the half of the policy most often missing from a cheap quote.
Almost always admitted; it is a common small-commercial trade with moderate severity and a well-known loss profile.
These are the loss scenarios that drive claims for this trade, in the order we see them.
Each of these changes what the policy actually pays. Request them at quote stage.
General liability on its own leaves gaps that show up as denied claims rather than as missing coverage.
$1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate is standard. That is the limit, not the premium. The premium depends on your payroll, your state, your subcontractor use and your claims history, and it moves most with the hazard of the trade itself, which for landscaping is moderate.
Almost always admitted; it is a common small-commercial trade with moderate severity and a well-known loss profile.
In order of how often we see them: Damaging an irrigation line, landscape lighting, or buried cable while planting or trenching; A mower throwing a rock that breaks a window or injures a bystander; Herbicide or fertilizer drift damaging a neighbor's plantings or lawn.
These four come up repeatedly: Pollution coverage for chemical application; Additional insured with completed operations; Waiver of subrogation; Per-project aggregate. Get them written into the quote rather than requested after binding, because that is where the delays come from.
Alongside general liability: Commercial auto; Inland marine for equipment; Workers compensation; Pollution liability.
Yes. Their policy defends them, not you. If your work causes damage, their carrier can pay the claim and then pursue you to recover it.
Classification and carrier appetite differ by trade, so it is worth seeing how yours compares.
Tell us your payroll, state and what your contract requires.
