Home › Landscaping Business Insurance Guides › Certificates of Insurance for Landscapers
Certificates of insurance for landscapers: COIs, AI and waivers
A certificate of insurance proves your policies exist on the day it prints. It doesn't add the client who asked for it to your coverage. The extra protection a big client wants comes from add-ons to your policy called endorsements. Read the contract's insurance clause before you sign, and make sure your policy matches it.
Key takeaways
- A certificate of insurance (usually an ACORD 25 form) is evidence of coverage. It isn't coverage, and the certificate holder gets no rights under your policy from it.
- Each of the big three requests (additional insured, primary and non-contributory, waiver of subrogation) lives in an endorsement on the policy. Checking a box on the certificate doesn't create one.
- Read the insurance clause in a commercial landscaping contract before you sign. It tells you the limits, the names, the endorsements and the notice terms you'll be held to.
- If you're already our client, a certificate on the coverage you have today can go out the same day. New endorsements need carrier approval, so ask early.
The certificate of insurance for contractors, explained for landscapers
A certificate of insurance for contractors is a one-page summary of the policies you carry. It shows your insurers and policy numbers, plus the dates and limits. Most list general liability, auto, workers' comp and umbrella. For landscapers, it's the page an HOA board, a property manager or a city purchasing office wants before your first mow.
Most certificates are written on the ACORD 25 form. Its header tells the reader the form is for information and gives the certificate holder no rights. A second notice warns that a holder listed as an additional insured is protected only when the policy itself has that wording or an endorsement. A note typed on the certificate can't replace the endorsement.
Think of it as a receipt. It shows what you bought. The policy and its add-ons are what pay. If the certificate and the policy disagree, the policy wins.
Why HOAs, property managers and cities ask for a COI
Big clients ask for a certificate because your crews work on their grounds, around the people who live and work there. Say a string trimmer kicks a rock into a parked car, or a resident trips over an open valve box. The claim often names the owner as well as you. The client wants your policy, not theirs, to take that hit.
The request usually shows up as you grow. It might be an HOA common-area contract, or a property manager with a string of apartment sites. A city bid for parks and medians counts, and so does a builder who hires you for the landscape package. Each one tends to send a longer insurance page than the last.
A homeowner might just want to see that you're insured. A commercial client often wants three more things. Each one is its own add-on to your general liability policy.
Additional insured: what it means and which endorsement does it
An additional insured is a person or company your policy protects, even though they didn't pay for it. Say an HOA is added to your general liability. If someone sues the HOA over your work, your insurer may defend it and pay the claim.
On standard ISO forms, two endorsements do most of the work for landscapers:
- CG 20 10 covers the additional insured for your ongoing work, while your crews are on site.
- CG 20 37 covers them for your completed work, meaning harm that surfaces once your crew has packed up and left. A loose paver on a new walkway or a retaining wall that shifts the next season are completed-work claims.
Maintenance contracts mostly need ongoing coverage. Install and hardscape work, such as a segmental retaining wall or a paver patio, often needs both. Check which one the contract names.
This protection has limits. On the 2013 and later ISO forms, the HOA is protected only for harm your company had a hand in, even a partial one. It's no broader than your contract requires, and it applies only as far as state law allows. It doesn't cover the HOA for its own separate mistakes.
Example scenario: A crew is edging beds at a townhome community. A resident steps into a hole left by a pulled sprinkler head and breaks an ankle. The resident sues the HOA and your company. If the HOA is an additional insured for ongoing work, your carrier may defend the HOA too, depending on your policy wording.
Primary and non-contributory, in plain terms
Primary and non-contributory means your policy pays first, and it doesn't ask the client's own insurer to chip in. Without that wording, two policies can end up arguing over shares while the claim sits.
On ISO forms, this is endorsement CG 20 01. It kicks in only when you've agreed in a written contract that your policy will be primary and non-contributory. The client also has to be a named insured on a policy of its own.
Managers ask for this so claims from your crews don't land on their own record. If the contract asks for it and your policy doesn't have it, the certificate can't fill that gap.
Waiver of subrogation for landscapers
A waiver of subrogation means your insurer gives up its right to recover money from the client after paying a claim. Subrogation is the insurer's normal right to go after whoever caused the loss. The waiver takes that right away for the party you agreed to protect in writing.
On general liability, the ISO form is CG 24 04. Many contracts want a waiver on your auto and comp policies too. Each policy typically needs its own add-on.
The comp waiver comes up often for landscapers. Example scenario: A crew member slips on a broken stair at an office park while carrying a backpack blower. Your workers' comp would typically pay the medical bills and part of the lost wages. Without a waiver, your comp carrier might try to recover from the property owner whose stair failed. With one, it has usually given up that right.
A waiver doesn't make your policy primary. That's a separate form, and many contracts ask for both.
Blanket vs. scheduled endorsements
A blanket form covers anyone your signed contract says you must add. A scheduled form lists each client by name. Blanket wording saves you a call to your agent every time you win an account.
Blanket isn't always enough. One large property owner's vendor rules want three names on the form: the owner, the owner's rep and the property manager. Blanket wording is fine only when the vendor signs with the owner directly.
That matters because blanket coverage often depends on a written contract with the party being added. A handshake deal or an expired agreement may leave the client off. Keep signed contracts on file for every commercial account.
How to read a commercial landscaping contract's insurance clause
A grounds-maintenance contract usually has an insurance page and a clause about who pays for claims (the indemnity clause). Read both before you sign, not after the first visit.
- Find the limits. Look for general liability per occurrence and aggregate, products-completed operations, auto, employer's liability and umbrella. One large property owner's vendor minimums, for example, call for general liability of $1 million each occurrence with a $2 million aggregate, plus $1 million on auto covering owned, hired and non-owned vehicles. If the contract asks for more, an umbrella policy is often how you meet it.
- List every name. Write down each entity the contract wants added: the HOA, the owner LLC, the management company, a city. Spelling matters.
- Check ongoing vs. completed. Maintenance work needs ongoing coverage. Installs, hardscape and drainage work usually need completed operations as well.
- Note primary, non-contributory and waiver. Mark which policies the contract names: general liability only, or also auto and comp.
- Read the notice terms. Many contracts want 30 days' notice before cancellation. A certificate can't promise more notice than your policy gives.
- Compare the scope to your policy. If the contract includes chemical rounds, irrigation repair or tree removal, your policy needs to fit that work. Fertilizer and weed control may need pesticide and herbicide coverage. Climbing and removals are often limited or excluded on a landscaping policy, so ask us before you take that job.
- Read the indemnity clause. It says you'll pay for certain claims against the client. Standard general liability treats many of these promises as an "insured contract," subject to the policy's terms. Have an attorney review wording that asks you to cover the client's own negligence.
- Send the exhibit to your agent. Do this before you sign. If an endorsement is missing, there's time to add it.
How to get a certificate of insurance for contractors, and how fast
Send your agent the client's exact legal name, mailing address and the requirements page. Say whether the request is a one-time certificate or a new account that needs endorsements.
Timing depends on what's behind the request:
- Existing coverage, standard certificate: same day for current clients.
- New additional insured, waiver or primary wording: the carrier has to approve and issue an endorsement first. That can take longer, and some carriers charge for it.
- Higher limits: may mean a new umbrella or a change to your general liability, which needs underwriting.
Agencies don't usually bill for the certificate on its own. Any added cost tends to sit in the endorsements or higher limits. Your price depends on your payroll and class codes, your revenue, the services you offer (especially chemical work), your trucks and trailers, your claims history and the limits you choose.
If your maintenance contracts renew over the winter, ask for certificates before spring start-up. That keeps a missing endorsement from holding up your first cut of the season. For contracts with big limits or many names, see our page on insurance for commercial grounds maintenance companies.
Frequently asked questions
Do all landscaping contractors need a certificate of insurance?
How do I get a certificate of insurance for my landscaping business?
Does the certificate holder need to be named as an additional insured?
How much does a certificate of insurance cost?
Why would a landscaper agree to a waiver of subrogation?
Before you sign: the certificate of insurance checklist
A certificate of insurance for contractors shows a client what you carry. The add-ons decide who your policy protects. When a commercial landscaping contract shows up, read the insurance page first. Compare it to what you carry now. Fix the gaps before you sign.
Adding commercial accounts this year? We can go over the contract with you and look for carriers whose forms fit the way you work. Start your quote or see how endorsements and limits affect what you pay.
Want a second set of eyes on your coverage?
Independent agents, 12+ A-rated carriers, and a licensed agent back to you within one business day.