Best Gardening Business Insurance

NEXT earned the top ranking for gardening businesses with a MoneyGeek score of 4.82 out of 5. It excels across all categories and offers comprehensive protection starting at $44 monthly or $531 annually. 

We recommend comparing quotes from our other top picks, such as The Hartford, Thimble, Simply Business and Coverdash, to find the best fit for your gardening service.

Note: We based all scores on a gardening business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

NEXT offers the most affordable gardening business insurance at $44 monthly or $531 annually. It ranks first for workers' compensation and business owner's policies, plus second for professional liability and general liability coverage.

For gardeners seeking the cheapest rates, The Hartford edges out NEXT for professional liability at $36 monthly, while Thimble offers the lowest general liability at $49 monthly.

Thimble delivers the most affordable general liability insurance for gardening businesses at $49 monthly or $590 annually. This saves gardeners $64 monthly compared to the $113 industry average, cutting your general liability costs by 57%. 

Whether you're a self-employed gardener or run a garden maintenance service, Thimble's rates protect your business without straining your budget.

Garden maintenance businesses pay just $44 monthly for the cheapest workers' compensation through NEXT. Professional gardeners with employees can lock in these low rates while meeting state requirements and protecting their crew from on-the-job injuries.

Professional gardeners protect themselves from errors and omissions claims for just $36 monthly or $431 annually with The Hartford, which offers the most affordable professional liability insurance. Your gardening service saves $5 monthly compared to the $41 industry average. 

This coverage defends you when clients claim your fertilizer application damaged their lawn or pruning work harmed valuable plants.

Bundling liability and property coverage costs gardening businesses only $32 monthly or $388 annually through NEXT's most affordable BOP insurance. That's $126 less per month than the $158 industry average, an 80% reduction. Your garden maintenance service is covered for client property damage your crew causes, and for your own equipment stolen or damaged at job sites.

In general, gardening business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $113 on average per month, ranging from $89 to $131, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $47 on average per month, ranging from $40 to $54, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $40 on average per month, ranging from $35 to $47, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $158 on average per month, ranging from $122 to $186, depending on the state

The required coverages for gardeners include workers' compensation and commercial auto insurance if you have employees or business vehicles, plus general liability to protect against the common risks your gardening service may be exposed to.

You’ll also need professional liability, tools and equipment coverage, and business owner's policies, which provide additional financial protection for specific situations your garden maintenance business encounters.

• Workers' Compensation Insurance: Nearly every state legally requires workers' compensation once you hire your first employee. When your helper slips on wet grass and breaks their ankle or develops respiratory issues from daily pesticide exposure, this coverage pays their emergency room bills, ongoing treatment and wages while they recover at home and are unable to work.
• Commercial Auto Insurance: State law requires this for business-owned vehicles. When your truck full of equipment rear-ends someone at a stoplight or gets stolen from outside a client's property, commercial auto covers the other driver's medical bills, your vehicle repairs and replacement. Personal auto policies exclude business use and won't pay these claims.
• General Liability Insurance: A rock from your mower shatters your client's bay window. A homeowner trips over your hose and needs surgery. Their property damage and injury claims and your legal defense are covered. Most contracts require $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate limits before gardeners can submit bids for commercial properties or HOA work.
• Professional Liability Insurance (Errors & Omissions): A client claims your fertilizer program killed their prize rose garden worth $15,000. Another says your advice to remove a tree caused drainage problems costing $8,000 to fix. Professional liability defends against these accusations that your gardening advice or services caused financial losses. Most gardeners carry $1 million to $2 million limits for adequate protection.
• Tools and Equipment Insurance: Someone breaks into your trailer overnight and steals $12,000 worth of commercial mowers, edgers and trimmers. Your Honda generator gets damaged when rain soaks your truck bed. This coverage replaces stolen or damaged equipment, whether stored in your vehicle, trailer or sitting at a job site. Standard limits cover equipment up to $10,000 per item.
• Business Owner's Policy (BOP): This bundles general liability with commercial property insurance at 15% to 25% less than buying separately. If fire destroys your storage shed with all your backup equipment inside, or a storm floods your office with customer files and billing records, the property portion kicks in. In contrast, the liability portion handles client injuries. Garden maintenance businesses use BOPs to meet contract requirements cost-effectively.
• Commercial Umbrella Insurance: When a catastrophic accident happens (your crew accidentally cuts a gas line, causing an explosion that destroys your client's $800,000 home) and lawsuits exceed your $2 million general liability limit, umbrella coverage adds $1 million to $5 million more protection. Large commercial clients and municipalities often require $3 million to $5 million total liability before awarding gardening contracts.
• Cyber Liability Insurance: You store client credit card numbers in your invoicing software. A hacker breaches your system and steals payment data from 200 customers. Cyber liability covers the cost of notifying affected clients, providing credit monitoring services, handling lawsuits and recovering your digital files. Even small gardening businesses have this risk when accepting online payments or storing customer information electronically.

Follow our step-by-step approach on how to get business insurance.

Your gardening operation may encounter damaged client property or injured workers. NEXT stands out in our analysis with a 4.82 out of 5 score and $44 monthly rates that cover general liability, commercial property, workers' compensation and commercial auto, among other types of coverage. 

This combination of affordability and responsive claims service gives professional gardeners comprehensive protection for their business.

We answer frequently asked questions about gardening company insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for gardening companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue