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If you operate a business as a lawn mowing contractor there are certain types of insurance you may need.
The most common one you’ll come across, especially if you’re doing work for real estate agents and property managers, is public liability.
In this guide we’ll look at the various forms of business insurance available to lawn mowing contractors.
Types of insurance
There are three main forms of cover for people operating their own lawn mowing business, these include public liability, general property and income protection.
We’ll now go into more detail on each of these forms of insurance.
Public liability
As I stated earlier, the most common insurance requirement that you’ll come across is public liability insurance.
This is especially true if you’re doing work for real estate agents or property managers, where the general requirement will be $10m cover.
Many commercial clients will also want to see that you have public liability insurance, and even domestic clients are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of contractors being insured.
But even if you don’t have any clients who require that you are insured, it is still an extremely good idea to have some protection in place, especially considering the low cost.
So what does public liability insurance actually cover for a lawn mowing contractor?
The insurance covers you and your business in the event that you cause property damage or personal injury to another person.
The most common claim that comes to mind for anyone mowing lawns is the one that involves a flying stone breaking a glass window.
If you break a plain glass window in a home you’ll probably just cover the cost out of your own pocket, but there are some cases where the cost will be much higher.
Examples include large sliding glass windows that can be expensive to replace, and automotive glass which can be even more expensive again.
But the worst type of claim when it comes to flying rocks or stones is one that involves personal injury to another person.
If a rock flicks up into someone’s eye and causes some level of blindness, and you are found to be responsible due to negligence, you could be up for a serious amount of money.
Thankfully public liability can protect you from these risks, and that’s why it’s an absolute must if you undertake lawn mowing or other landscaping activities.
The cost of pubic liability for a lawn mowing contractor starts at around $420 per year for $5 million cover, so it’s incredibly good value when you consider the protection it offers.
General property
Running a lawn mowing business can require a range of equipment and gear.
When you start out you might have nothing more than a ute and a basic rotary lawn mower, but as your business grows so will your equipment needs.
It’s important to insure this equipment from a range of risks such as theft, fire damage or damage caused in a vehicle collision or rollover.
General property insurance, sometimes referred to as ‘tool insurance’ can help to protect these items.
If you have more serious equipment, such as a ride on mower, make sure you ask your broker exactly how it is covered.
In some cases it may need to be specified on your policy rather than being included in the general cover.
Income protection
The final type of cover we’ll look at is income protection.
If you run your own lawn mowing business, you’ll know that you only get paid for the work you do.
Basically if you can’t work for any reason, then you can’t earn money.
This might not be a problem if you have to take a day or two off due to a cold, but what if you had to take a month or more off due to a more serious injury or illness?
This is where income protection insurance can help you.
Income protection can replace a large portion of your income for a period of time whilst you are unable to work due to illness or injury.
You can read more about this form of cover by visiting our income protection guide.
Other forms of cover
In this guide we have listed the three main forms of cover, but there are certainly other forms of insurance that you and your business could benefit from.
These include both business insurance as well as personal insurance.
An insurance broker will be able to run through the various forms of business insurance with you, and a financial adviser will be able to run through the personal insurance options.
To ensure you have the right insurance package to suit your business and personal needs it’s a good idea to deal with a single firm that can assist with both types of insurance.
We can put you in touch with the right people to look after you. Simply call us on 1300 542 245 or use our online contact or quote forms.