Why do gardeners and landscapers need insurance?
Property damage
While undertaking weed control, your assistant accidentally sprays chemicals onto neighbouring land, damaging plants and grass. Since the owner holds you responsible, you’re now facing a claim for damages and a bill for legal costs. Public liability insurance can offer a lifeline for a self-employed gardener by providing financial backup. If third party property damage happens because of your business, this can help to cover the legal costs and a potential settlement.
Laser measurement breakdown
Ensuring your landscaping work is accurate is important to you, so when your laser measuring device is accidentally broken you need to replace it quickly – and insurance may help. Portable equipment insurance can help to avoid costly bills and lost work time by helping to pay for swift repairs. It’s a type of business insurance that can provide support for gardeners who work with expensive machinery such as chainsaws, collections of rakes and grass trimmers, or even digital devices.
Up for interpretation
You take your clients’ ideas seriously, but the results may not always match their vision. Clients know exactly what they want, so it’s easy for a gardener to miss the brief. In such cases, professional indemnity insurance may prove beneficial. You might top and trim a row of conifers only for your client to say they wanted a crown reduction. For gardeners, one chop with the cutters can have lasting effects – if a client takes you to court over their begonias, it’s good to know your insurance can step in.
What insurance is available for gardeners and landscapers?
Public liability insurance
For gardeners, public liability (PL) insurance can make all the difference if there’s an accident on the job. This could impact a client, a passer-by or someone else’s property. You might be working in a public park surrounded by people or making changes to a small, private garden. Either way, PL insurance keeps you covered if someone claims they’re injured, or their property is damaged, because of your business activity. Tailoring insurance to include public liability helps gardeners to pay compensation – as well as the legal costs of defending such a claim.
Employers' liability insurance
A gardener’s work is physical, so an extra pair of hands can help – especially on big jobs or during busy seasons. If you take someone else on, it’s worth knowing that employers’ liability insurance is often legally required in the UK (external link). This can apply even for casual staff. Aspects of the work can create hazards for gardeners, so if someone you employ cuts themselves with a saw or is blistered after working on a giant hogweed, this insurance could help. It can offer financial support if a current or former employee takes you to court for work-related illness.
Tool insurance
A landscape gardener relies on the tools of the trade, so you might find it makes sense to purchase insurance for these. Without your ride-on lawnmower, leaf blower and chainsaw, the job becomes more time-consuming – hitting your revenue. Insurance for gardeners is often tailored to include tools cover, which insures items whether they’re owned or hired. If there’s a theft from your locked van, or machinery is damaged beyond repair, this insurance assists with paying for repairs and replacements.
Some gardeners may also customise their business insurance by adding professional indemnity insurance, cyber and data insurance or legal protection – which can come in handy for contract or payment disputes.
These are just some of the types of business insurance for landscape gardeners that we can offer. We can provide other specific types of cover and build them into a policy that’s tailored to the exact needs of your business.
Get your quoteInsurance for gardening and landscaping: FAQs
How much is public liability insurance for gardeners?
The amount gardeners might expect to pay for public liability insurance depends on where and how they work. If you run a large gardening business that’s often contracted by local authorities to maintain parks, your employees might have more frequent contact with the public than gardeners on a private estate. Similarly, landscaping may come with a greater risk of accidents – so, if you dig ponds or transport patio slabs, you might choose to purchase more insurance cover.
At Hiscox, we put you in control of your own business insurance. Whether you’re a self-employed landscaper or you oversee a team of gardeners, the public liability insurance cover limit is yours to set.
What insurance do I need if I am a self-employed gardener?
Public liability insurance can be helpful for a self-employed gardener since there’s always a risk something could go wrong when a customer or other third party is nearby. Other potentially useful types of cover include legal protection insurance – which helps with covering legal expenses and offers free access to legal and tax advice – and tools cover.
If a self-employed gardener takes on some temporary help, employers’ liability insurance might be legally required – even if you usually work alone. Find more self-employed insurance options to tailor cover to your profession.
How much does landscape insurance cost?
The cost of landscape gardening insurance varies according to the cover types you choose to add to your policy and the limits you set for each. These decisions are personal to each business – you might choose to simply ensure liabilities are covered, or you might want the reassurance that there’s support available if someone complains about your service or hacks your website.
Insurance for landscape gardeners starts at £8.40 per month*. The more cover types you add to your policy, the higher a quote might be.