There are many benefits of being a tree expert. Perhaps you work for a large company and get to spend your days enjoying the beautiful weather outdoors. Or maybe you're a business owner, and get to feel empowered as an entrepreneur, taking the jobs you want to take and making a name for yourself as a tree service company. However, as any arborist knows, there are many dangers related to your line of work. Anytime you climb up a tree or use power tools to trim and shape a client's landscaping, there is a chance that something could go wrong. Even the most experienced and well-practiced arborists can make a mistake from time to time. Not to mention, if a third-party is near your worksite while felling trees, there is a chance that they could get hurt or that property could get damaged. It's all too common for tree branches to fall on cars or to go through windows. Having the right arborist insurance in Ontario is essential for protecting you and your business from financial ruin due to a lawsuit or injury.
With the expertise of a trusted Morison Insurance broker, you can ensure that you and your business get the protection you need with comprehensive arborist insurance coverage. No matter if you spend your days removing diseased branches or focus on tree trimming service, with the right insurance for arborists, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you are protected against loss, damage, or liability claims should something go wrong. Give us a call today to get started.
Ontario arborist Insurance, also known as tree removal insurance, is a type of contractor insurance policy that can be tailored to your business's specific needs. For instance, an arborist working out of their truck has different needs than a company that employs multiple arborists and has a fleet of commercial vehicles, so why would they have the exact same coverage in their tree company insurance policy?
While technically, you can go without a comprehensive arborist insurance policy, the fact is that no matter how proactive you are and how diligently you follow safety protocols, it's impossible to mitigate all risks. As the saying goes, accidents happen. Even the most highly trained arborist could fall from a ladder or slip while using a chainsaw and cause serious bodily harm. Those are only a couple of examples of the harm that could befall you, let alone if you're responsible for employees or if a client happens to be nearby as a tree branch is cut down, resulting in serious injury and property damage. Having the right insurance for arborists is essential for ensuring that your tree care business does not go bankrupt because of an accident. If you don't have arborist insurance in Ontario, you'll be forced to pay for damages, settlements, legal fees, and medical costs all out of pocket. This can be a serious financial strain for most people, so it’s best to speak with your Morison Insurance broker to ensure you are protected with the right arborist insurance coverage.
Although the province doesn’t legally require arborist insurance, so long as you have industry- or legally mandated coverage such as auto insurance, pretty much anyone who works in the tree care business can benefit from having tree surgeon insurance.
Whether you work as a seasonal employee, a subcontractor, or if you own an arborist tree removal business, you should have arborist insurance. Ontario customers will typically not feel comfortable hiring an arborist who is not properly insured. And, if you employ subcontractors, it's essential that they have their own coverage as well. A few tree services that should ensure they have arborist insurance include:
If you are unsure if your business activities require arborist insurance, the Ontario brokers at Morison Insurance will be happy to discuss your business insurance needs with you and determine whether you can benefit from having this type of insurance policy.
Tree removal specialists face many potential risks on a daily basis, so arborist insurance is a crucial coverage to have. If you experience a loss and do not have insurance coverage in place, you will be forced to pay out of pocket which can be extremely costly. Have peace of mind with tree service insurance policies.
Ontario doesn’t mandate that a tree service professional have insurance, outside of some legally mandated coverages such as auto insurance. That said, without proper arborist coverage, you’ll find it very hard to work as an arborist.
As discussed above, many clients won’t hire you if you can not provide proof of insurance, as they wouldn’t want to risk an accident happening and you not being able to provide the needed compensation. Additionally, many lenders or mortgage companies require you to have property coverage. Otherwise, they won’t rent or provide the funds needed to purchase a property. Ultimately, without some kind of insurance coverage, you’ll find it very hard to do business in Ontario.
Tree care or tree surgeon insurance policy doesn’t refer to just one type of policy. Rather, it refers to a broader insurance package that contains many different types of coverage. As such, your arborist insurance policy can be uniquely tailored to your specific insurance needs.
Many types of insurance can be added to your policy, and different arborist insurance companies offer different extensions of coverage. For this reason, it's best to partner with a qualified broker such as the knowledgeable team at Morison Insurance. By shopping around for competitive rates at the province's top arborist insurance carriers, we will find you a policy that offers the best coverage for your needs.
That said, there are some common coverage inclusions in many different arborist insurance policies. Ontario tree professionals often include the following types of coverage in their policies.
Also known as errors and omissions insurance, professional liability arborist insurance is essential for tree service professionals. Professional liability policies differ from general liability protection, which we'll dive into in a moment. Essentially, professional liability protects you against claims of misconduct, negligence, failure to deliver a promised service, bad advice, and breach of contract that result in a client and/or third-party experiencing financial damages. An example of this could be if a client is trying to sell their home, chooses your company to complete landscaping work, and then the landscaper makes a mistake, like cutting down the wrong tree, which makes it harder for the client to sell their home. Likewise, if you're supposed to finish pruning trees by a certain deadline before a house goes up for sale, but you don't meet this deadline, it's possible a client could lose money. Then they would be within their rights to sue you. With errors and omissions coverage, your tree service business is protected financially. The professional liability coverage on your arborist insurance will offset the cost of legal fees and settlement costs.
A commercial general liability insurance policy covers two essential risks: that of bodily injury to a third party while you're completing your tree services, and that of third-party property damage. An example of this could be if, during the process of removing a hanging tree branch from a client's property, it falls and lands on someone's car, damaging the vehicle. You could be found responsible for the damage, and possibly sued over the damage incurred. Likewise, say while performing your tree care services, a felled tree accidentally lands in a third party's backyard and injures their children. You could wind up in serious legal, not to mention financial, trouble because of this incident. CGL insurance will help offset legal defence costs and settlement costs.
If you own a commercial building where you store equipment or operate a head office out of, then you need comprehensive coverage to protect the space from a range of perils. Usually, a commercial property insurance policy will cover the cost to repair and/or replace your physical building and any tools, equipment and inventory within the building and/or property in the event of an accident or disaster. For instance, if a fire burned down your head office, this type of insurance would help you repair/replace the building. If you don't have commercial property insurance, you'd be forced to pay for these repairs out of pocket. Usually, this type of coverage also offers protection against theft and vandalism, so if someone breaks into or defaces your commercial space, you are covered for the cost of loss and damage. It's important to ask your Morison Insurance broker to go over your commercial property or arborist insurance policy so you know what it entails.
If you own a vehicle for strictly commercial purposes, then you likely already have a commercial auto insurance policy. However, if you use a personal vehicle for work purposes, you may not realize that a personal auto policy will not provide coverage if the vehicle or any possessions within the vehicle are stolen or damaged while being used for work. Additionally, if you are driving to a job site and get into an accident, your personal auto policy won’t cover you, leaving you to shoulder hefty financial, medical, or legal costs that otherwise would have been covered by commercial auto insurance. For arborists and other tree removal specialists, having a reliable vehicle is essential, making commercial auto coverage an important part of their arborist insurance in Ontario.
While some arborist businesses can get away with a standalone vehicle, for larger tree care companies, they may need coverage for multiple vehicles. If you own multiple commercial vehicles for your arborist business, then you may want to ask your arborist insurance broker about getting fleet insurance. In a nutshell, fleet insurance allows you to insure all your commercial vehicles under one policy, rather than individually. You also usually have the choice to insure all drivers for all vehicles or assign named drivers to each vehicle. This can help you save on your insurance premiums and also makes it easier for any of your employees to drive any of your insured vehicles.
If you operate a tree care business from home, especially if you store tools and equipment at your house, then you need to have home-based business insurance coverage. Most homeowner insurance policies will not provide coverage for any business-related activities that take place at your home, so if you run any part of your tree care business from home, whether it’s office equipment and client files or just storing tools, you need to have this coverage inclusion as part of your home insurance for arborists.
For example, let's say you store your tools and expensive equipment in your garage. Without home-based business insurance for arborists, if a fire breaks out or your home is flooded and the event damages your business equipment, your home insurance won’t cover the losses or damage. So, when getting arborist insurance in Ontario, make sure to ask your licensed broker if you need to protect your business with home-business coverage.
Your tools of the trade are one of the most important aspects of running a tree care business. If something happens to your tools and you're forced to replace them, the costs can be astronomical. This may force you to take out an additional loan or close your business down for good. Tools and equipment insurance for arborists, which is also referred to as an equipment floater, is essential for protecting heavy equipment from external damage, vandalism and theft while the equipment is in transit or at a job site—in other words, when it's not on your commercial premises. By having this tree surgeon insurance protection, you can rest assured that you have the financial protection you need should a crucial piece of equipment get stolen or damaged in an accident.
If your equipment is stolen, vandalized, or damaged by something like a fire or accidental impact, it's covered under your tools and equipment coverage on your arborist insurance. Ontario brokers, however, will caution that it's important to note that tools and equipment insurance does not apply to equipment malfunction or other internal problems. For that type of coverage, you need equipment breakdown insurance. Should your equipment experience a mechanical failure or be damaged by an operator error, equipment breakdown coverage affords you the necessary arborist insurance compensation to cover repair or replacement costs so you can get it up and running again and get back to work.
This type of arborist insurance is essential for all types of contractors, including arborists. Business interruption insurance covers you for loss of income during periods when you can't conduct business as usual due to a covered event. Sometimes, business interruption coverage in your arborist insurance package can help you cover the cost of renting your office building and paying employee wages while you can't operate to your full capacity.
Similar to general liability coverage, pollution liability insurance covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and environmental damage caused by either gradual or sudden pollution events that occur on job sites. For instance, if you use fertilizer and accidentally use too much, you can poison a client's lawn. Or, if a child got into the harmful chemicals some arborists use while maintaining trees, and needed to go to the hospital. You could wind up in serious legal and financial trouble in these situations. That's why it's important to ensure you're adequately protected with pollution liability coverage in your arborist insurance plan.
You probably chose your profession as an arborist because you like being outdoors and working with your hands, not typing away on a computer all day, so why should your arborist insurance in Ontario include cyber risk coverage? The fact is that most businesses need cyber liability insurance these days because most businesses conduct at least some of their business online. You may accept digital payments or store sensitive client information, such as payment details and home addresses. That makes you a target for cyber criminals looking for information they can exploit for fraud or theft. Cyber insurance gives you financial support to deal with the legal fallout of such an event, including litigation costs, settlements, and notifying your clients of a data breach.
There are many ways that your unique arborist insurance policy can protect you from financial loss due to a range of risks. The above are just a few examples of what can be included in your policy for arborist insurance. Ontario policies can also contain averages such as business income insurance, workers' compensation insurance, life insurance, and much more. If you'd like further insight about what protection these coverages offer and how you can be sure to have the most protection possible for your tree work, reach out to our dedicated and licensed Morison Insurance brokers today.
Most arborist insurance quotes include coverage options for your tools, equipment, and climbing gear. However, depending on their total value, you may need additional coverage to ensure they are insured for their full replacement cost. This type of endorsement can also provide protection while your tools and equipment are in transit or on the job site. Speak with a Morison Insurance broker to ensure your gear is properly covered.
The limitations of your insurance will depend on how much and what type of coverage you purchase. That said, each type of coverage will have its own exceptions as well. For instance, tools and equipment insurance does not cover damage from general wear and tear or damage incurred because of poor maintenance.
There are also some services you may offer or are thinking of offering that you can't get coverage for from most arborist insurance companies. For example, if you have a wood chipper, insurance carriers will not insure you if you are chipping directly into the back of a truck and hauling the chips away. The chips must be bagged on site and hauled away, or not chipped and hauled away as larger, cut-up pieces of wood. There are no insurance companies in Canada that will be willing to offer arborist insurance to a tree service professional who is chipping directly into the back of a truck.
Stump removal is another big consideration. While stump grinding is generally accepted by arborist insurance carriers, many companies will not insure an arborist who is providing stump removal services because there's a much bigger risk of causing damage to the client's property. That doesn't mean you can't get coverage for stump removal at all, but it's important to make sure your insurance broker knows exactly which services you provide so they can find arborist insurance that will give you the full coverage you need. To best understand the limitations of your policy, speak with an insurance broker at Morison Insurance today.
As established previously, there are many different types of tree care businesses, so it’s natural that they’ll have varied coverage and the cost of arborist insurance. Ontario arborists, however, can still face wildly different insurance costs even if they offer the same type of services and have the same business model as a competitor. That’s because there is a long list of factors that insurance companies take into consideration when calculating the cost of tree care or tree surgeon insurance premiums. A few of these include, but are not limited to:
In order to get you the best possible arborist insurance rate, our team of talented brokers will take the time to discuss and ask questions about your tree business. This will allow us to get a better idea of what coverages you need and provide you with comprehensive policy options at great rates.
Before purchasing arborist insurance in Ontario, it's important to gather all the necessary documents and information needed to get an accurate quote. Some of the documents you should ensure you have prepared include your payroll estimates, information regarding previous claims, services offered, and annual revenue estimates for your tree removal business or tree care service. In addition to that paperwork, you should also be prepared to answer a series of questions during the application process. Some of these questions may include:
Keep in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list of things our brokers will ask, but it should help give you a better idea about the type of information we’re looking for and will ask when discussing what you need from arborist insurance in Ontario.
You can get an arborist insurance quote by contacting the business insurance experts at Morison Insurance. We proudly work with the best business insurance companies in Ontario and will compare tree surgeon insurance quotes to ensure you get the best coverage at a competitive rate. Get started today by calling 1-800-463-8074 or by submitting a form on this page. We are here to help tree service businesses get the right insurance.
