Landscaper insurance has to follow a business that digs, builds, mows, sprays and hauls, sometimes all on one job. The risks run from buried cables to a stone flung through a car window, and the gear runs from hand tools to a mini loader on a tandem trailer. This guide sits within our insurance for tradies and looks at where landscaping and garden maintenance businesses tend to leave gaps.
Public Liability for Landscapers and Gardeners
Public liability is the centre of the cover. Three kinds of claim deserve particular attention in this trade:
- Underground services. Trenching for irrigation, drainage, edging, post holes and footings can strike water, gas, electricity, telecommunications and sewer lines. Some wordings apply a higher excess, a sublimit, or conditions such as locating services before digging.
- Flying debris. Mowers, brushcutters and blowers throw stones, sticks and grit into cars, windows, glass doors and people. It is easy to cause damage without seeing it happen.
- Damage to the client’s property. Machines tracking across driveways, lawns and paving; retaining walls that push over a neighbour’s fence; irrigation that floods a subfloor.
Your occupation description should list what you actually do. Garden maintenance, landscape construction, retaining walls, paving, irrigation, turf laying, tree work and spraying are different risks. Tree work at height and tree felling in particular are commonly rated separately, and some policies will not accept them under a general landscaping description. Our article on why the occupation matters on public liability explains what happens when the description falls short. For how limits and wordings work, see our public liability insurance page.
Retaining Walls, Paving and Your Own Work
Liability policies typically do not pay to fix your own faulty work. If a retaining wall leans because it was poorly drained or founded, the cost of rebuilding the wall itself generally sits with you. Damage the failure causes to other property, such as a neighbour’s fence, shed or driveway, may be treated differently, depending on the wording.
Walls and structures that need engineering or council approval should have it before they are built. Requirements vary by council and by state, so check the current requirement for each job. A wall built without the approvals it needed can complicate a claim when it fails.
If you also design gardens, drainage or retaining solutions for clients, that advice is a professional exposure rather than a public liability one. Talk to your broker about whether professional indemnity belongs alongside your other cover.
Chemicals and Spraying
Herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers carry their own risks. Spray drift can kill a neighbour’s hedge or mark a car. Overspray on paving and render can stain. Chemicals stored in a ute canopy or a shed add fire and contamination risk.
Liability policies commonly contain pollution exclusions. Some give back cover for sudden and accidental events while excluding gradual contamination, and some treat spraying as an activity that must be declared. Tell your broker if spraying is part of your work, and how much. Licensing for chemical application varies by state and by the products used, so check the current requirement where you work.
Small Plant, Mowers and Trailers
Mini loaders, mini excavators, ride-on mowers, stump grinders, trenchers and chippers are expensive, portable and easy to steal. A loaded trailer parked in a driveway overnight is an obvious target. Our post on mini excavator insurance covers how compact plant is rated for theft, transport and residential work.
Points to check for small plant:
- Each machine listed with its serial number and current replacement value.
- Attachments, such as buckets, augers, trenchers and harrows, listed with values.
- Cover while loading, unloading and travelling on the trailer.
- Theft conditions, such as locked storage, wheel clamps or hitch locks.
- Whether the trailer itself is insured, and by which policy.
A trailer is not automatically part of the ute’s policy. Some vehicle policies extend to a trailer while it is attached; others need it listed. The plant on the trailer is a separate question again.
Tools and Equipment
Blowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, battery packs, laser levels, plate compactors and hand tools add up quickly. Tools cover can be written as unspecified items up to a per-item limit, or as specified items with stated values. Check the conditions for theft from a vehicle, which often require forcible entry, and for tools left on site overnight. Our page on tools of trade insurance explains how those conditions work.
Subcontractors
Landscapers often bring in paving crews, stonemasons, irrigation specialists, arborists and machine operators. Your policy may not extend to work done by subcontractors, or may extend to it only where the subcontractor holds their own cover. Ask each subcontractor for a current certificate of currency before they start, check that their occupation description matches the work, and keep a copy. Our guide to subcontractor insurance requirements sets out what to ask for.
How subcontractors are treated for workers compensation varies by state and by the arrangement, so check the current rules with the scheme in your state.
Maintenance Contracts and What Principals Ask For
Maintenance work for councils, strata schemes, schools and property managers commonly comes with insurance conditions: a stated public liability limit, the principal noted on the policy, and a certificate of currency before work starts and at each renewal. Some contracts also ask for indemnities that go further than a policy does. Have the insurance clause reviewed before you sign, and set a reminder to send the new certificate each year before the old one expires.
A Landscaper Insurance Checklist
- An occupation description that lists every service you offer, including tree work and spraying.
- A public liability limit that meets what councils, builders and property managers commonly ask for.
- Clarity on how underground services, pollution and your own work are treated.
- Small plant and attachments listed with values and transit cover.
- Trailers insured, and theft conditions understood.
- Tools specified where they are expensive.
- Certificates of currency held for every subcontractor.
- Personal accident or income cover if the business depends on your own work.
For the other covers trade businesses commonly carry, see our tradies insurance page.
Common Questions
Do I need different cover for mowing and for landscape construction?
Not necessarily a different policy, but both need to appear in the occupation description. They carry different risks, and the insurer needs to know the mix.
A mower threw a stone through a window. Will my policy respond?
Public liability can respond to accidental damage to third party property, subject to the excess and the wording. Report it, and do not admit liability before speaking to your broker.
My ute policy mentions trailers. Is my plant trailer included?
Read the trailer clause closely. Some policies extend only while the trailer is attached, or only up to a limit. The trailer and the plant on it may each need their own cover.
Talk It Through
Request a quote or call 1300 983 940 and we will match your liability wording, plant and tools cover to the landscaping work you actually do.
General advice only. This article does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Consider the relevant PDS and Target Market Determination before deciding on a policy.