Insurance for landscaping contractors in California

Your crew works outdoors, around parked cars, glass doors, neighbors and buried utilities. General liability (GL) answers when that work injures someone else or damages property you do not own. The C-27 claims that come up again and again:

• Debris from equipment. A mower, edger or string trimmer launches a rock into a slider, a car window or a person walking by. This is the claim landscapers see most.
• Irrigation and trenching. A trencher slices a gas, water or cable line. Or a valve or backflow lets go after you leave and floods a slab, a basement or the yard next door.
• Drainage and hardscape. A patio or paver job sends water toward the house, and months later the foundation or the inside of the home is damaged.
• Retaining walls. When a wall fails, it can damage the property below it and anything sitting there. Insurers care about wall height and whether it was engineered.
• Trips and falls. Open trenches, hoses, pallets of pavers and loose gravel on a site the owner or tenants still walk across.

GL generally pays for third-party bodily injury and property damage caused by your work, and for completed operations when the policy includes it. It does not pay for injuries to your own crew, your mowers and trailers, your truck, or the cost to rebuild work done wrong.

• Tree work. Plenty of landscape policies exclude trimming or removal above a set height, or any tree work at all. Tree service is a separate CSLB class (C-49 Tree and Palm since 2024; older licenses may still show D-49) and is rated on its own. Tell us if you touch trees.
• Pesticides and herbicides. Spraying is often excluded through a pollution or pesticide exclusion. If you apply weed or pest control, read that wording and ask about separate coverage.
• Wall height. Some forms cap retaining walls at a certain height or leave out walls that need engineering.
• Grading and excavation. Large earth moving may fall outside a landscape classification.
• Slow water and mold. Check how the policy treats an irrigation leak that nobody finds for weeks.
• Other work. Pools, concrete or fences may need their own class. The policy should match what you really do.

Every quote on your board spells out what is included and excluded, so you can compare before you submit.

• A certificate of insurance (COI) showing GL of $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate. Those are the limits GCs, HOAs and property managers usually ask for.
• Additional insured status for the GC, the HOA or the management company, especially on maintenance contracts. A certificate holder is not an additional insured. Contracts often add primary and non-contributory wording and a waiver of subrogation.
• A fresh COI at every renewal. Maintenance accounts often hold your check until the new certificate arrives.
• Workers' comp proof if you run a crew.

Each of these is explained in plain words in our certificate of insurance guide.

General information from the CSLB, not legal advice.

• Workers' comp. Under B&P §7125, each licensee must file either a workers' comp certificate or an exemption with CSLB. A C-27 with no employees can file the exemption today. Tree service under D-49 is different and must carry workers' comp even without employees. SB 216 would have required workers' comp for all licensees from 1/1/2026; SB 1455 (2024) pushed that to 1/1/2028. We quote workers' comp online from your license number, same as GL. Read our workers' comp guide.
• LLC licenses. If the license belongs to an LLC with 5 or fewer people on the personnel of record, CSLB requires liability insurance with at least a $1,000,000 aggregate limit. See the LLC requirement.
• Everyone else. GL is not required by law for non-LLC licensees, but CSLB strongly recommends it, and GCs, HOAs and many homeowners write it into the contract.
• Home improvement contracts. These must include a "Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL)" notice with your insurer and its phone number, or another statement the law allows, such as that you carry no CGL (B&P §7159 / §7159.10).
• The $1,000 line. Starting 1/1/2025, someone without a license may only take jobs under $1,000 in labor and materials, with no permit and no hired help. Past that, a homeowner has good reason to hire a licensed C-27.

1. Enter your CSLB license number. We find your business in the CSLB public record and match it to A-rated insurance companies that write C-27.
2. Confirm you are the owner with your name, mobile and email.
3. Answer about a minute of tap-to-answer questions: homes or businesses, installation or maintenance, sales, payroll, subs, crew size, years, claims and current insurance.
4. Your quote board shops A-rated programs live. Every price shows its deductible, limits and what is in and out. We also text and email you the link.
5. Tap "Submit for approval" on your pick. A licensed agent handles it. Expect approval in 30 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the carrier; the final quote then comes by email for your signature.

Nothing is bound until you sign. When coverage starts, your GC or HOA gets the certificate from us. Your price turns on sales, payroll, the split between maintenance and installs, homes versus commercial and HOA work, wall heights, any tree work, subs, years and claims. Pure maintenance usually rates differently from hardscape and wall building. Enter your license number for your real price, or read the cost guide. Commercial auto, umbrella and bonds go through an agent by phone at (877) 940-4313, call or text, English or Spanish. CalRisk Insurance Center, CA Lic. 0K97400, 713 W Duarte Rd, Suite G747, Arcadia, CA 91007. Other trades are on the insurance by trade page.