The short answer
Landscaping and snow removal insurance combines liability for the work you do on clients' property with cover for mowers, plows, trailers and the trucks that pull them. Winter adds the hardest question: slip-and-fall claims from parking lots and walkways you agreed to clear. Your contracts, service logs and seasonal crew all shape the answer. A licensed broker reads them and approaches insurers willing to write both seasons.
- Lawn care and landscape maintenance companies that switch to plowing in November
- Snow removal contractors clearing commercial lots, strip malls and condo sites
- Owner-operators with one truck, a blade and a list of residential driveways
- Landscape construction firms building patios, retaining walls and irrigation
- Businesses that spray fertiliser, herbicide or pest control on clients' lawns
3 licensed brokers in the network handle this. In Alberta, Canada, a request for landscaping and snow removal insurance can be offered to up to three of them, chosen because they are licensed for this line and place. They are test brokers while we are in demo.
See the brokers → Outside Alberta, Canada you can prepare and save a request today; sending opens place by place. Brokers answer with their own quotes. Broker.insure does not quote, advise or take commission.
01 / What it covers
The parts worth understanding
Slip-and-fall liability on cleared sites
The claim that defines winter work: a shopper falls on ice in a lot you were hired to maintain. Some insurers restrict or exclude snow work, especially on commercial lots, so confirm the policy was written knowing you plow.
Contracts that shift liability
Property managers often ask the contractor to take on the owner's liability for falls, whoever caused the ice. Whether your policy follows that promise depends on its contractual liability wording, so show the broker the clause itself.
Mowers, plows, spreaders and trailers
Equipment that moves between the yard and dozens of sites, from ride-on mowers to skid steers and tailgate salters. Ask whether cover pays replacement or depreciated value, and how theft from a parked trailer is handled.
Plow trucks on the auto policy
A pickup with a blade mounted is a different vehicle to insure than the same truck in July. Describe the plow, the salter and the overnight driving so the commercial auto policy reflects winter use.
Chemical application
Fertiliser, herbicide and pest control can drift onto a neighbour's garden or harm a pet. Many liability policies limit pollution and pesticide claims, so ask what applies to the products you actually spray.
Damage to clients' property
A blade that catches a curb, sod lifted over an irrigation line, a mower that throws a rock through a patio door. Ask how the policy treats buried lines and damage discovered after the crew has left.
Seasonal crews and workers' compensation
Crew size rises in spring and changes again at first snow. In Alberta the Workers' Compensation Board sets its own registration and payroll reporting rules, separate from your private policies, so check them directly.
02 / Get ready
Bring this, and expect these questions
Gather
- Your service list for each season, with the split between residential and commercial clients
- Every snow contract, including the trigger depth, response time and any hold harmless or indemnity clause
- Service logs from last winter: arrival times, salt or sand applied, weather notes and photos
- A schedule of mowers, plows, spreaders, skid steers and trailers with rough replacement values
- Each truck that carries a blade or salter, with who drives it and where it is parked
- Payroll by season, and what you paid any subcontracted plow operators
- Products you apply, such as fertiliser, herbicide or ice melt, and any applicator certification held
- Slip-and-fall claims, damage complaints or demand letters from the past several years
- Your current policy, with any snow removal exclusion or limitation highlighted
A broker will ask
- How many commercial lots do you clear, and how many are retail, medical or condo sites?
- Who decides when to plow and salt: the contract trigger, your own judgement or the client's call?
- How do you record each visit, and could you produce last winter's logs for a single site?
- Do your contracts make you responsible for any fall on the property, or only for your own negligence?
- Do you subcontract plow routes, and do those operators name you on their certificates?
- What do you apply to lawns and gardens, and who on the crew holds certification?
- How much does the crew grow between April and the first snowfall?
- Do you build patios, walls or irrigation, or only maintain existing landscapes?
Not sure of an answer? Leave it. "Not known yet" is a fine answer, and a broker will help you fill it in.
03 / Build your request
Answer a few questions. Get your own list.
Pick what fits. Your answers shape the list beside them, and they are saved to your request as plain facts a broker can read. "Not sure yet" is always a fine answer.
04 / Three situations
See which one sounds like yours
A lawn company bidding on its first strip mall
A three-truck lawn care company has a summer client who manages a strip mall and wants the same firm to take over snow clearing for the parking lot and sidewalks. The draft contract asks the contractor to hold the owner harmless for any fall on the property.
First steps. Send the broker the draft contract before signing, with the hold harmless clause and the required limits highlighted. Ask whether the current policy allows commercial snow work at all, how the clause would be treated, and what record of visits the insurer will expect to see.
A plow operator served with a fall claim
Fourteen months after a February storm, a solo plow operator receives a lawyer's letter about a woman who broke her wrist outside a dental clinic he clears. He remembers the site but not the exact morning or what he spread.
First steps. Pass the letter to the insurer right away rather than answering the lawyer directly. Pull every record for that site and week: route sheets, texts, photos, salt receipts and weather notes. Ask the broker what the insurer needs and how the clinic's contract divided responsibility.
A landscaper adding weed control
A landscape maintenance firm wants to offer fertiliser and weed control to its residential clients next spring. The owner has never applied commercial products for pay and is not sure what licences or insurance changes follow from it.
First steps. Check the provincial requirements for commercial pesticide application before pricing the service, and keep a copy of whatever certification you obtain. Tell the broker which products you plan to use and how, and ask how drift, pet injury and pollution wording apply.
05 / Words you will hear
The jargon, in plain words
- Hold harmless clause
- A contract term in which one party agrees to protect the other from certain claims or losses. In snow contracts it often shifts fall claims toward the contractor.
- Trigger depth
- The amount of snowfall a contract says starts a plowing or salting visit. It sets when you were expected on site, which matters in a fall claim.
- Service log
- A dated record of each visit: arrival, what was cleared, what was applied and the conditions. It is often the main evidence in defending a slip-and-fall claim.
- Equipment floater
- Cover for mobile machinery and tools that follows them between the yard, the trailer and each job site rather than staying at one address.
- Contractual liability
- Liability you take on by agreeing to it in a contract, beyond what the law would place on you anyway. Policies treat it differently, so the exact wording matters.
06 / Common mistakes
What trips people up
- Signing a commercial snow contract with a hold harmless clause nobody has compared against the policy wording.
- Keeping visit records in memory or a group chat that gets deleted, then facing a fall claim a year later.
- Insuring a plow truck as though it only tows a mower trailer in the summer.
- Starting chemical application without telling the insurer, on a policy that limits pesticide and pollution claims.
- Subcontracting plow routes to operators whose certificates were never collected.
- Reporting one annual payroll figure that hides how large the crew gets at the peak of the season.
Ready when you are
Turn this into one clear request.
Save it, add what you know, and choose when to send it. A licensed broker who handles landscaping and snow removal insurance takes it from there.
07 / Questions people ask
Straight answers
Does general liability cover snow removal?
It can, but not every insurer writes snow work, and some restrict commercial lots, certain property types or the contractual liability you take on. A policy written for lawn care may not anticipate winter work at all. Tell the broker exactly what you clear, for whom and under what contract, and ask to see the snow wording in writing before the season starts.
Why do service logs matter so much for snow contractors?
Slip-and-fall claims often arrive months or years after the storm, when nobody remembers the morning in question. A log that records arrival time, what was cleared, what was applied and the weather gives the insurer something to defend with. Many contractors use tracking apps, GPS records or photos alongside a paper sheet. Ask the broker what records the insurer expects you to keep.
What is a hold harmless clause in a snow contract?
It is a promise in the contract that you will protect the property owner or manager from certain claims, sometimes including falls you did not cause. Some clauses are mutual, some are one-sided, and some reach very far. Whether your policy responds depends on its wording about liability assumed under contract. Have the broker, and a lawyer if needed, read the clause before you sign.
Do I need commercial auto insurance for a plow truck?
If a truck carries a blade, a salter or tools for paid work, the insurer needs to know how it is used, and a commercial policy is often the fit. Mounting a plow can also affect how the vehicle is rated. Describe the equipment, the night and early-morning driving and who operates it, and ask the broker how the policy treats the plow itself.
Is my equipment covered when it sits on a trailer overnight?
That depends on the equipment floater and its theft conditions. Some wordings expect locks, hitch locks or a secured yard, and some limit cover for gear left unattended at a job site. Write down where each trailer and machine spends the night in each season, and ask the broker what the policy requires for a theft to be covered.
Do I need special insurance to spray fertiliser or herbicide?
Applying products for pay brings risks a basic landscaping policy may limit, such as drift onto a neighbour's plants, harm to pets or a pollution claim. Alberta generally regulates commercial pesticide application through provincial certification, so check the current provincial requirements directly. Then tell the broker what you apply, how and where, and ask what the policy says about pesticides.
General information, not insurance advice. Broker.insure is a directory and request service: it is not an insurer and does not quote, bind or advise. Policy terms, availability and what is required where you live depend on your situation and on licensed professionals. Updated 2026-10-31.