what insurances do you carry

[climber338]

Hey guys i was just wondering what insurances your company and yourself carry. Im just starting off and my boss/work partner say that i should only have general liability. Imho insurance is cheap compared to what could happen. I hear guys talking about the cost of insurance alot but when i got a quote is was only 900 for liability. 900 is not to much to complain about so there must be more that you carry.

 

[jzgator]

I have liability and workers comp. Liability is fairly inexpensive ($600 per year). Workers comp is EXPENSIVE. I feel it's needed to help seperate yourself from drunk guys with chainsaws in their trunk. Plus I do some commercial work and they demand it.

 

[climber338]

So i can just have liability insurance for my self and be consider insured or should it be for he company? As you can tell im a newbie to the business side of this work. Im not going to have any workers under me for awhile so work mens comp is out of the picture for now. Im just going to have my buddy (landscaper) who i will subcontract to use on the ground if i need to.

 

[rob b]

Just went thru this myself as long as your buddy has insurance your ok if you hire some one you can go thru a paychex type company and they take care of the workers comp and all the other legal bs

 

[highpointtree]

Make sure you get and keep a copy of insurance from your buddy the landscaper. that includes G.L. and Workers comp. especially if he has workers. when you get audited they will want to see your sub's insurance or you may have to pay their workers comp on the dollar amount you paid them. (probrably only if you start to carry workers comp for your business). also you may have a hard time getting paid from some builders without proof of workers comp.

 

[climber338]

He is going to have insurance. We are both getting out of school and im going into arboriculture and hes going into landscaping but we are going to work together when we need to. We have been working together for awhile and we work together. Ill make sure that he had tree care on his insurance. We will most likely have the same insurance plan just separate for each of us for now.

 

[treeman82]

I'd suggest going with at least 1M of liability coverage. If you can get it for $900 more power to you! Other than that, make sure you have the right auto policy. Equipment coverage is a big plus, in case something burns or is stolen. Comp & disability are important too, but expensive.

 

[Treecutr]

I finally caved and got General Liability last spring. I thought it would be a lot, not bad at all $576 1st year, if no claims on it, it will drop to about $400. It's a $1,000,000 per incident policy with a $2,000,000 cap year year. Also covers $100,000 damage to premises rented to me ( didn't look into what that actually is ). There's other stuff covered like pesticide over spray, and who knows what else that I don't do. It says" Tree Work= Pruning, Dusting, Spraying, Trimming or fumigating, Landsacaping/Gardening, tree removal, and on and on, lot of stuff, most of which I don't do. Mine is through Western Heritage, if that helps. Don't have work comp yet, I do a lot on my own. Gonna get it after I get back from Afghanistan. Don't want to shell out moeny for something I may only want to have a few times befor I head over to that dump.

 

[jzgator]

In Florida you can become "workers comp exempt". I'm not sure of the exact wording, but, basically you make yourself an officer of the company and can make a couple of others officers (in writing/legally) you don't have to get coverage. This allows many smaller companies to claim they are fully insured and have workers comp.