Landscape Designer insurance – cost and coverage

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, Landscape Designer insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your Landscape Designer enterprise, you must consider how much financial risk you are taking on.

If your Landscape Designer business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a giant chance not just of losing some money but of a final wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the consequences of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for growing businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where available, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your Landscape Designer business?

What this means, for any Landscape Designer business owner, is that if some customer claims that your business caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your Landscape Designer business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where edicts can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Texas, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a court can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the right of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a claimant more than they have claimed.

When you are running your Landscape Designer operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the results of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent up-front the money necessary to have your business running as a corporation, all of that liability belongs to you alone.

What does Landscape Designer insurance protect you from?

For your Landscape Designer business, the most important types of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

Also there are some official kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any Landscape Designer business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main categories of insurance for your Landscape Designer businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any Landscape Designer business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them themselves or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your Landscape Designer business protects you against claims coming from injury to visitors or damage to their property.

It protects your Landscape Designer business from the claims themselves and as well to any follow-on court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it can also help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts require proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your Landscape Designer business would be with a boundary of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your Landscape Designer insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Landscape Designer business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Landscape Designer business for them, you can quickly face a law suit.

Even if the matter against you is decided in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Most small Landscape Designer business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a once-off claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of Landscape Designer insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your Landscape Designer operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that clients may claim that what you delivered didn’t meet your description of function, or that your guidance was basically incorrect.

You need to understand the explicit laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any likely lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Landscape Designer

Only you can know exactly how much insurance you need.

Best advice is to consult with experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for guidance.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Landscape Designer business

Beware! – most policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any event like theft or accidental damage when the vehicle is being used for business purposes.

The best way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a proper commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial truck policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

As well, in case of any accident, the car itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is insured if your truck is involved in a crash.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, require this type of insurance.

The necessary value of the insurance is calculated on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your declared level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Landscape Designer business needs specific and expensive equipment, you can appreciate how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The gear may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

As well, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can destroy your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specialized gear quickly out of your own pocket, you must have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your Landscape Designer business running.

It is difficult to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your Landscape Designer business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any Landscape Designer business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the building, you probably have a substantial capital investment, along with a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Your physical building location should carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against natural occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your Landscape Designer business deals in areas of high risk, like Texas or South Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Washington, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Landscape Designer business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Whereas the level of cover depends entirely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of Landscape Designer insurance section below to give some idea of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Landscape Designer business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your Landscape Designer business

Is your Landscape Designer business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business variable?

Using short-term insurance makes perfect sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Landscape Designer – are special policies where you can cover a designated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having less premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The important feature of short-term insurance is that you pay for the cover for a defined period – a specific date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of better business activity, get the existing cover increased.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your Landscape Designer business

You have the choice to combine most of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by packaging these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will cover you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is frequently the right choice for small and medium-sized Landscape Designer businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs do not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will rule whether you are permitted to take out BOP cover.

The usual business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and not more than five million dollars in annual sales.

As well, you must separately take out the mandated worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your Landscape Designer business employees

In most states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Landscape Designer business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the enterprise against any costs that arise if an employee experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits cover medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only authorize coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you cannot take out your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation charges are computed based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must refer to the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every Landscape Designer insurance level is unique, there are enough examples of average quotes from insurance companies for us to give appropriate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an insurance representative what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have gathered for the main types of insurance your Landscape Designer businesses needs.

Cost of insurance for your Landscape Designer operations depends on many different factors.

We have calculated these figures for small self-employed Landscape Designer businesses.

In larger states like California, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, while in smaller states like New Mexico, they can be about 20%-30% lower.

The location and size and type of your Landscape Designer business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

As well you can let the internet do the work for you by searching for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another good source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your suburb.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Landscape Designer operations?

This is a wide term used to describe basic insurance policies designed to protect Landscape Designer business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my Landscape Designer business have to have insurance?

Some of the kinds of insurance are not mandatory for you to operate your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Certain other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small Landscape Designer business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides protection against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the most common policies for Landscape Designer insurance.

How much will Landscape Designer business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, several other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for Landscape Designer, in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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