General liability
Review injury and property-damage allegations arising from work at customer properties, plus completed-operations terms when applicable.
Tree service insurance
Insurance for tree-care companies working aloft and on the ground
Climbing, cutting, falling limbs, chippers, stump grinders, lifts, cranes, traffic, and power-line proximity give professional tree work a higher-severity profile than light landscape pruning.
Start with operational facts
- Pruning, removal, climbing, lift, and crane operations
- Maximum height and power-line proximity
- Climbers, ground crews, drivers, and subcontractors
- Chippers, grinders, lifts, vehicles, and trailers
Who this page is for
Professional tree work is its own vertical
Use this page for arborist and tree-service operations. A maintenance company doing incidental shrub or small ornamental pruning should still disclose that work, but climbing, removal, rigging, chipping, and aerial operations require a tree-specific submission.
Operations covered here
- Tree pruning and removal
- Climbing, rigging, and aerial-lift work
- Stump grinding, chipping, and storm cleanup
- Plant-health and arborist services
Disclose or route separately
- —Shrub trimming and light ground-based pruning only
- —Land clearing as a construction or excavation operation
- —Utility line-clearance work without the required qualifications
- —Pesticide application not disclosed as part of plant health
How losses can happen
Connect the operation to the insurance review
Tree work combines severe worker injury potential with falling-object damage, heavy mobile equipment, vehicle exposures, and work near structures, roads, and utilities.
| Operating fact | Loss or review area |
|---|---|
| Limb or tree falls unexpectedly | Homes, vehicles, neighboring property, people, rigging plans, drop zones, and customer instructions |
| Worker climbs or uses an aerial lift | Height, fall protection, rescue plan, training, supervision, equipment inspection, and workers compensation |
| Crew feeds a chipper or uses a chainsaw | Severe injury, guarding, maintenance, PPE, training, and emergency response |
| Work occurs near energized lines | Qualification, approach distance, utility coordination, exclusions, and catastrophic severity |
| Chipper, grinder, lift, or crane travels | Commercial auto, trailers, equipment values, operators, rented property, and transport |
| Crane or removal is subcontracted | Written scope, insurance documents, operator responsibility, controls, and audit treatment |
Coverage conversation
Match policy areas to the actual work
Disclose maximum height, climbing, lifts, cranes, power-line proximity, removals, land clearing, plant-health application, and subcontracting. Those facts can determine classification and carrier appetite.
Commercial auto
List the vehicles, ownership, drivers, radius, trailers, and actual business use instead of assuming a personal auto policy follows the operation.
Tools and equipment
Schedule or otherwise describe mobile equipment, tools, and property that travels between the shop, vehicles, and job sites.
Workers compensation
Review the people doing the work, their duties, payroll, worker status, and Utah requirements when the business hires or changes crews.
Tree-fall liability
Review pruning and removal scope, structures and traffic nearby, rigging, crane use, customer instructions, and completed work.
Chippers and heavy equipment
Schedule owned and financed units; address rentals, breakdown, transport, theft, operators, and physical damage.
Umbrella or excess
Municipal, commercial, utility-related, and high-value property work may require or justify higher liability limits.
Subcontracted operations
Disclose crane, climbing, removal, hauling, and other subcontracted work with agreements and current insurance documents.
Business evolution
Review insurance when the operation changes
These changes can happen in any order. Each one can alter the facts shown to the insurer, the policies or endorsements worth reviewing, and the documents a customer expects.
Move from ground pruning into climbing
Update maximum height, climbers, training, rescue planning, equipment, workers compensation, and carrier approval.
Add removals
Describe tree size, structures, rigging, cranes, traffic, power lines, stump work, debris handling, and loss controls.
Purchase a chipper, lift, or grinder
Schedule value and lender, then document transport, operators, storage, theft prevention, and maintenance.
Hire climbers and ground crews
Update payroll by duty, training, supervision, driving, workers compensation, and safety program.
Add plant-health treatments
Disclose products, applicator credentials, application methods, spray equipment, storage, and pollution issues.
Review treatment insuranceTake municipal or utility-related work
Send the bid and insurance exhibit; disclose traffic control, power-line proximity, qualification, subcontractors, and limits.
Quote readiness
Prepare the facts that change underwriting
- Full service list including pruning, removals, climbing, lifts, cranes, stump work, clearing, and plant health
- Maximum height, tree size, work near structures, roads, and energized lines
- Employee duties, climber and operator experience, payroll, and training
- Vehicles, drivers, trailers, chippers, grinders, lifts, cranes, and equipment values
- Owned, rented, and subcontracted crane or aerial operations
- Residential, commercial, municipal, and utility-related customer mix
- Safety, inspection, traffic-control, rescue, and subcontractor procedures
- Loss history, current policies, contracts, and certificate requirements
Cost factors
Why a generic price average is not a quote
Pricing and carrier appetite depend on the operation, people, property, contracts, controls, limits, and history. Important inputs include:
- Climbing and maximum height
- Removal size and crane use
- Power-line proximity
- Payroll by worker duty
- Chippers, lifts, and heavy equipment
- Vehicle and driver records
- Municipal and commercial contracts
- Loss and safety history
Credible sources
Verify rules and operating guidance at the source
Licensing, safety, compliance, contract, and insurance questions are related but distinct. These sources support the dated context on this page; current agency instructions, the written agreement, and the issued policy still control their respective questions.
OSHA — Tree Care Industry
Federal tree-care safety overview and industry resources.
OSHA — Tree Care Hazards
Federal hazard context for falls, falling objects, equipment, and electrical exposure.
OSHA — Tree Care Safety and Health
Federal tree-care safety and health resources.
Utah Labor Commission — Workers’ Compensation
Current Utah workers-compensation information for employers and workers.
Utah Insurance Department — Commercial Auto
Utah consumer guidance on vehicles used for business.
Utah DOPL — Contractors: Laws and Rules
Current Utah contractor statutes, rules, and official classification resources.
Start with operational facts
Build a useful landscaping insurance submission
Tell us what services you perform, how many people and vehicles you use, what equipment you own, what has changed, and whether a customer gave you written insurance requirements.
Start with three quick questions
Step 1 of 425%
What type of tree service work do you do?
FAQ
Tree Service Insurance questions
Why is tree-service insurance often expensive?+
Climbing, falling trees and limbs, chainsaws, chippers, lifts, cranes, vehicles, power lines, and severe worker injuries can produce high-severity losses. Pricing still depends on the exact operation, people, equipment, controls, contracts, and history.
Is tree climbing covered?+
Do not assume it is. Maximum height, climbing methods, worker experience, equipment, rescue procedures, and exclusions can affect underwriting and coverage. Disclose climbing before work begins.
What if a limb damages a house or vehicle?+
Preserve the site, protect people, document the tree, scope, weather, rigging, crew accounts, photos, customer instructions, and affected property, then report the incident. Coverage depends on cause and policy terms.
How are chippers, stump grinders, and lifts covered?+
List each unit’s ownership, value, lender, operator, transport, storage, maintenance, and rental use. Equipment, auto, trailer, and liability policies address different aspects of the loss.
What changes when tree work is near power lines?+
Electrical contact can be catastrophic. Qualification, approach distance, utility coordination, work methods, training, and policy restrictions require specific review. Never treat power-line work as ordinary pruning.
Does light pruning count as tree service?+
Incidental ground-based shrub or small ornamental pruning differs from professional climbing, removal, rigging, chipping, or aerial work. Describe the actual maximum height, tools, vegetation, and methods so the operation is classified accurately.
Landscaping insurance by operation
Continue with an adjacent operation
A company may perform more than one service. Review every material operation and use these pages to surface the distinct facts rather than treating landscaping as one uniform risk category.
Lawn mowing and property maintenance
Recurring mowing, edging, trimming, cleanup, mulch, bed maintenance, and light pruning.
Lawn treatment and turf care
Fertilizer, weed control, herbicide or pesticide application, aeration, overseeding, and soil treatments.
Landscape installation and construction
Planting, sod, grading, drainage, patios, retaining walls, hardscape, and incidental excavation.
Irrigation contractors
Sprinkler installation and repair, trenching, drainage, backflow-related work, startup, and winterization.
Snow and ice management
Residential or commercial plowing, sidewalk clearing, de-icing, hauling, and seasonal contracts.
Describe the operation
Tell Redoubt what work you do and what changed.
Redoubt can help identify the operations, equipment, people, vehicles, contracts, and document requirements that should be reflected in an insurance submission.