insurance

treesurgeon · Sep 4, 2005

what is the best way to find out if other tree services in the area have insurance. i did an estimate today and the lowest bidders claimed they have liability and workers comp. which i know they dont. they trout around not having insurance, not charging taxes and claim they are equal to the rest of us. the only people this person is going to hire is someone with both. i want to research to find out who does really have it and who doesn't.

treeman82 · Sep 4, 2005

Well, you could ask a couple of friends to call up companies which you have doubts about. Ask them to get prices for whatever work they can dream up, and then ask to see a copy of the insurance certificate. That would probably be the best way I can think of.

Newfie · Sep 4, 2005

Like Matt said, but take it one step further and request that their insurance agent send you a certificate of insurance for liabilty and WC. That way you can be sure that it is verification of an in-force policy and not just a copy of a certificate for insurance that the tree guy allowed to lapse or never renewed. SOP around here for those that require it as a condition of the work.

treesurgeon · Sep 5, 2005

Newfie said:
Like Matt said, but take it one step further and request that their insurance agent send you a certificate of insurance for liability and WC. That way you can be sure that it is verification of an in-force policy and not just a copy of a certificate for insurance that the tree guy allowed to lapse or never renewed. SOP around here for those that require it as a condition of the work.

this is how i like to send my insurance papers to people. its from the insurance agent and it has the persons address on it.
now that the season is starting to slow and we are catching up to our backlog of jobs, i find that other tree hacks out there are getting more ruthless in getting jobs. this estimate that i was talking about one of the guys is an ex-con and the other person got in an argument with the client because they did not get the job right away. it seems that competition is getting easier but some people will hire anybody because they only care about the bottom line, cost.

dtw902 · Sep 5, 2005

Most home owners will ask if you are insured but will not ask for proof. Your competion may not be lying but in the same since not telling the truth. When asked if they are insured they can say yes, knowing the odds are in there favor that the home owner will not ask for proof. They may or may not have general liability ins. But they will atleast have insurance on there vehicals. So they arent lying they just didn't specify what type. In are work any township, town or city, school or gov job will require a fax from the insurance company.