How much does insurance cost for a landscaping or lawn care business?

Three kinds of work, three comp prices

Most landscaping companies do some mix of weekly maintenance, installation projects and tree work. Workers’ comp rating treats these as separate trades with separate rates, and the split of your payroll between them moves the premium more than almost anything else you control.

The federal industry code does not make that distinction. NAICS 561730, Landscaping Services, covers landscape care and maintenance, installing trees, shrubs, plants, lawns or gardens, and, when done along with those services, designing landscapes and building walkways, retaining walls, decks, fences and ponds⁠⁹. The comp rating systems pull these apart:

• Ohio (NCCI-based codes). Lawn maintenance, commercial or residential, is coded 9102, a code that covers grass cutting, weed control and lawn spraying. Pruning done from the ground stays in 9102. Code 0042, landscape gardening, covers laying out grounds and planting trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns. Excavation, filling and backfilling are rated separately in 6217. The index says 0042 and 9102 may be assigned to the same employer⁠².
• Tree work in Ohio. As soon as a pruning contract involves any work above ground level, including ladders, the whole job goes in 0106. That includes chipping and cleanup, even if those are written on a separate contract. Incidental tree removal done with pruning stays in 0106, which applies when a tree is taken down in sections; NCCI points risks engaged exclusively in tree removal to logging code 2702⁠².
• Washington. Class 0308-01 covers maintenance of established lawns and gardens: mowing, thatching, edging, weeding, fertilizing, and trimming and spraying shrubs. New landscape construction, lawn sprinkler installation and paver patios fall in 0301, tree care in 0106, and grading or land clearing in 0101⁠³⁠⁴. Felling trees is reported separately again, in 5001⁠⁵.

The official rates for those classes in the three states whose state funds publish the full rate:

Base rates set by the state fund before experience modification. Ohio and Wyoming charge per $100 of payroll; Washington charges per hour worked, and part is withheld from wages. Other states’ insurers file their own rates; see where rates are published.

What the table shows (our calculations from the published schedules):

• Ohio, from July 1, 2026: landscape gardening ($2.7014) costs 2.4 times lawn maintenance ($1.141), and tree pruning ($6.7604) costs 2.5 times landscape gardening. Clerical payroll is $0.0466, so a dollar of office payroll costs one-58th of a dollar of planting payroll⁠¹.
• Washington, 2026: tree care ($7.0142 an hour) costs 4.7 times lawn care maintenance ($1.4948). Landscape construction sits between them at $2.1811. Logging class 5001, for crews that fell trees, is $19.6415 an hour⁠⁶. Because Washington bills per hour worked, a crew leader’s hour costs the same as a new hire’s.
• Wyoming, 2026: the schedule is built on NAICS groups and has no landscaping or tree line. Landscaping services (561730) sit inside 561000, Administrative & Support Services, at $3.20 per $100 of payroll, which is above the $2.39 for specialty trade contractors⁠⁷⁠⁹. Wyoming law lists industry group 5617, which includes landscaping, as extrahazardous employment, so coverage through the Department of Workforce Services is compulsory before work begins⁠⁷⁠⁸. Classification within the NAICS hierarchy is our reading; the state fund assigns each employer.

In most other states, private insurers file their own rates on top of rating-bureau loss costs. The class codes work the same way, but the dollar rate varies by insurer. See how class codes are assigned and where official rates are published.

The BLS benchmark

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a landscaping-only figure, and none of its groups isolates outdoor crews. In June 2026, private employers spent $0.43 per hour worked on workers’ comp. Professional and business services, the industry group that contains NAICS 561730, averaged $0.36, a figure dominated by office-based firms. Construction averaged $1.10⁠¹⁰. A landscaping firm’s own cost per hour depends on where its payroll sits among the classes above, which is why the state rates are the better guide.

Average employer cost per employee hour worked for workers' compensation and for health insurance, averaged across all workers in the group, plus workers' compensation as a percent of total compensation. Group averages mix high- and low-risk jobs, so they are not a premium rate for any single business. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), National Compensation Survey, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private industry workers, released 9 Sep 2026.

What a mixed crew costs: worked examples

These are our calculations from the official 2026 rates with the stated assumptions. They are base-rate figures before any experience modification, not quotes.

1. Ohio, maintenance plus installation

   $120,000 of installation payroll in 0042 ($3,241.68), $80,000 of mowing payroll in 9102 ($912.80) and $40,000 of office payroll in 8810 ($18.64): $4,173.12 a year⁠¹. If all $200,000 of field payroll were reported in 0042, the field payroll alone would cost $5,402.80. The difference rests on records: an auditor can only split payroll by class if your time records show it.

2. Ohio, adding tree work

   $100,000 of payroll for pruning that involves climbing goes in 0106: $6,760.40 a year, more than the whole mixed crew in example 1⁠¹⁠².

3. Washington, four mowers and two installers

   6,400 hours in 0308 × $1.4948 = $9,566.72, of which $2,127.04 may be withheld from wages. 4,000 hours in 0301 × $2.1811 = $8,724.40, of which $1,711.60 is the worker share⁠⁶.

4. Wyoming, $200,000 of payroll

   $200,000 ÷ 100 × $3.20 = $6,400, before the employer’s experience factor⁠⁷.

Pesticide licenses and their insurance floors

Spraying herbicide on beds or treating lawns for grubs is regulated work. Texas, Florida and California license the business, and each makes liability insurance or a substitute a license condition. The amounts are set by statute or rule, not by your insurer. The rules below were checked on October 13, 2026.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

What these rules mean in practice:

• Texas has two routes. The Structural Pest Control Act covers pests and diseases of trees, shrubs and other plantings next to homes, businesses and streets, as well as weeds⁠¹⁶. A lawn care business that treats them for pay needs the structural business license and its $200,000/$300,000 policy. The policy must carry a 30-day cancellation notice to the department, and a lapse is grounds to suspend or revoke the license⁠¹⁶⁠¹⁷. Work on growing plants, trees and grass is outside that act if it is done by, or under the direct supervision of, a holder of a chapter 76 commercial applicator license that covers the work⁠¹⁶. That license brings its own, lower minimum, which does not have to cover damage to the plants or land being treated⁠¹⁵.
• Florida’s floor is the highest here. A pest control business license cannot be issued or renewed without the certificate of insurance, and a business that fumigates needs $1 million per person and $2 million per occurrence instead⁠¹⁹. Florida also has a limited certification for commercial landscape maintenance workers. It allows herbicide work in plant beds, driveways, sidewalks and patios, using only handheld or backpack equipment and products labeled “caution” or with no signal word. The applicant must show that the employer carries the same $250,000/$500,000 insurance. The certification does not allow treating turf or running a pest control business⁠²⁰.
• California splits gardeners from applicators. A maintenance gardener who only occasionally does pest control as part of a gardening business for hire takes the maintenance gardener license, with the lowest floor in the table. A business whose primary purpose is pest control takes a Pest Control Business license instead⁠²²; the first California row above is the floor 3 CCR 6524 sets for agricultural pest control business applicants who spray with ground rigs⁠²¹. California’s financial responsibility covers chemical bodily injury and chemical property damage specifically⁠²¹. The DPR application also asks every applicant that is an employer for its workers’ comp carrier and policy number⁠²².

A license minimum is the least the state accepts. In Texas and California the filed coverage must apply to the licensed operations themselves, so check that your general liability policy does not exclude pesticide and herbicide work⁠¹⁶⁠²¹.

Contractor licenses: where comp and bonds become mandatory

Separate from pesticide rules, some states treat installation and tree work as contracting:

• California. A C-27 landscaping contractor builds, installs, maintains and repairs landscape systems and may grade land for them⁠²⁵. Like most CSLB licensees, a C-27 holder with no employees may file a comp exemption. A C-61/D-49 tree service contractor may not: CSLB requires comp or self-insurance “whether or not they have employees”⁠²³. Business and Professions Code 7125 bars D-49 from the exemption. Since July 1, 2023, if a license that combines D-49 with other classes lacks a comp certificate, the registrar removes the D-49 class instead of suspending the whole license⁠²⁴. As written, section 7125 is repealed on January 1, 2028⁠²⁴. Every license carries a $25,000 contractor bond⁠²⁶.
• Washington. The contractor registration law names “performing tree removal services” as contracting, and L&I lists tree removal among its 63 specialties⁠²⁷⁠²⁸. Registration requires a $15,000 specialty contractor bond and general liability of $200,000 public liability plus $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit, with L&I named as certificate holder⁠²⁸.

State-by-state comp thresholds for businesses with few employees are in the workers’ comp requirements table, and the Texas, Florida, California and Washington hubs explain each state’s comp system.

General liability: published figures and how insurers rate it

Two insurers publish landscaping-specific figures, measured differently:

Why the numbers differ and what they leave out:

• Who is in the sample. Insureon says most of its landscaping customers have fewer than five employees, revenue from about $50,000 to over $200,000, and five years or less in business⁠¹¹. A comp median of $150 a month is what those small firms paid, not a rate for a larger crew. Example 1 above, at $4,173.12 a year, already exceeds Insureon’s $1,802 annual comp figure.
• Different statistics. Insureon reports medians. NEXT reports the price band where a share of its customers fall, and the same page says “most” customers pay $18 to $55 a month for GL. NEXT’s headline “as little as $50 a month” is a GL minimum premium for landscaping businesses in Texas⁠¹².
• Limits. NEXT’s landscaping GL policies carry $300,000 to $1 million per occurrence⁠¹². A $300,000 policy would meet Texas’s structural pest control minimum but not Florida’s $500,000⁠¹⁶⁠¹⁹.

How the GL premium is built: for most contracting and service risks in ISO’s program, payroll is the premium base⁠¹⁴. The insurer applies a rate per unit of payroll for the class it assigns, so the same mowing-versus-installation split that drives comp also drives GL. Ask which class and exposure base each insurer used, and check that the year-end audit uses the same. General liability explains the policy’s structure and the limits contracts ask for.

Trucks, trailers and mowers

Insurer- and broker-reported figures from each company’s own customers, as published on its website; not a random sample of all businesses. Figures are rounded as published.

• Vehicles. Commercial auto is the most expensive line in Insureon’s landscaping figures, at a median of $299 a month⁠¹¹. Progressive Commercial publishes per-vehicle figures for contractors, not for landscapers specifically: 2025 new-policy premiums per power unit for liability and physical damage, for policies with no driver violations⁠¹³. Ask each insurer to list every truck and trailer and state which coverages apply to each; see commercial auto.
• Mowers and equipment. GL covers damage you do to other people’s property, not your own gear. Insureon notes that items worth more than $2,500 may need to be listed separately on a tools and equipment policy⁠¹¹. NEXT sells it as an add-on to contractor GL with blanket limits of $3,000 to $5,000 per item and a $500 deductible⁠¹²; compare those limits with what your largest machines would cost to replace. Inland marine explains scheduled and blanket equipment floaters.
• Bonds. Insureon’s $9 a month median for license and permit bonds does not say which bonds or amounts it covers⁠¹¹. California’s $25,000 contractor bond and Washington’s $15,000 specialty bond are set by law; the premium is set by each surety⁠²⁶⁠²⁸. See surety bonds.

Building your own figure

No published number gives a landscaping company’s total insurance cost. A figure you can check against quotes:

1. Split payroll, or hours in Washington, by kind of work

   Maintenance, installation, any excavation, tree work above ground, and office. Keep time records that show the split, because the auditor will use them.

2. Apply your state’s rate to each class

   In Ohio, Washington and Wyoming, use the official rates above. Elsewhere, ask each insurer which class codes and rates it applied.

3. Add license floors

   If you spray for hire, start from your state’s pesticide-license minimum. If you do tree work in California or Washington, add the contractor rules above.

4. Price GL on the same payroll split

   and confirm that pesticide and herbicide work is covered.

5. Add vehicles, trailers and equipment separately

   , each on its own base: units and drivers, equipment values.

The premium calculation guide covers each step, and the workers’ comp estimator runs the comp arithmetic with official rates.

Sources

1. 1
   Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation / Ohio Administrative Code, OAC 4123-17-06, Appendix A: base rates effective July 1, 2026 (private employers) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation / Ohio Administrative Code, OAC 4123-17-04, Classification of occupations or industries (appendix: NCCI classification index, January 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Washington State Legislature, WAC 296-17A-0301, Classification 0301 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Washington State Legislature, WAC 296-17A-0308, Classification 0308 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Washington State Legislature, WAC 296-17A-0106, Classification 0106 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, 2026 hourly rates by risk classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' compensation 2026 industry base rates by classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes title 27, W.S. 27-14-108 (extrahazardous employment) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   U.S. Census Bureau, NAICS 561730, Landscaping Services (2022 NAICS) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (released Sept. 9, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Insureon, How much does lawn care and landscaping business insurance cost? (updated October 12, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    ERGO NEXT, How much does landscaping insurance cost? (data updated October 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Progressive Commercial, Commercial auto insurance cost Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    Verisk (ISO), Here's a powerful new pricing tool for general liability insurers (Sept. 29, 2021) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    Texas Legislature, Texas Agriculture Code chapter 76, section 76.111 (financial responsibility) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    Texas Legislature, Texas Occupations Code chapter 1951, Structural Pest Control Act (sections 1951.003, 1951.053, 1951.312) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    Texas Department of Agriculture, 4 TAC 7.123, Insurance requirements (structural pest control) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
18. 18
    Texas Department of Agriculture, Structural pest control licensing Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
19. 19
    Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes 482.071, Licenses Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
20. 20
    Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes 482.156, Limited certification for commercial landscape maintenance personnel Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
21. 21
    Cornell Legal Information Institute (text of California Code of Regulations), 3 CCR 6524, Financial responsibility (California Code of Regulations) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
22. 22
    California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business license packet (Rev. 7/24) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
23. 23
    Contractors State License Board (CSLB), Workers' compensation requirements Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
24. 24
    Contractors State License Board (CSLB), Business and Professions Code 7125 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
25. 25
    Contractors State License Board (CSLB), C-27 Landscaping, licensing classification detail Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
26. 26
    Contractors State License Board (CSLB), Bond requirements Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
27. 27
    Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.010, Definitions (contractor registration) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
28. 28
    Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Register as a contractor Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

Spotted an outdated figure? Report an error