About $156 a month
General liability
Insureon median for tree service businesses, updated September 2026
Contractors and trades
Tree service insurance
For tree trimmers, arborists and removal crews who climb, run chippers and work near power lines: what coverage costs, which rules apply and what to have ready for a quote.
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What similar businesses pay
- General liability
- About $156 a month
- Workers’ comp
- About $215 a month
- Commercial auto
- About $299 a month
Published benchmarks, not quotes. Your price depends on underwriting.
Cost
What tree service insurance costs
About $215 a month
Workers’ comp
Insureon median for tree service businesses, updated September 2026
About $299 a month
Commercial auto
Insureon median for landscaping businesses including tree services, updated September 2026
About $53 a month
Tools and equipment
Insureon median for landscaping businesses including tree care, updated September 2026
Insureon’s medians for tree service customers come to about $1,875 a year for general liability on a $1 million per occurrence, $2 million aggregate policy and $2,580 for workers’ comp, plus about $3,590 for commercial auto across landscaping and tree businesses. Most of those customers have fewer than five employees, so a crew with several climbers will pay well above the comp median. In California, Rancho Mesa reports the 2026 WCIRB pure premium rate for class 0106 tree pruning rose to $12.39 per $100 of payroll, up from $11.24 in 2025. As an illustration, $100,000 of climber payroll would carry about $12,390 in pure premium before the carrier adds its own expenses.
What moves your price
- Which services you sell: Insureon says crane removals and power line clearance cost more to insure than simple trimming
- How much payroll goes to climbing, lift and bucket work versus ground-only jobs
- Number of climbers and how long each has done tree work
- The value of bucket trucks, chippers, stump grinders and climbing gear
- The liability limits customers, property managers and municipalities require
- Claims history, a documented training program and ISA-certified arborists on staff
- Location, including storm exposure and equipment theft in your area
Risks
The risks insurers price for
Contact with an overhead power line
A pole saw, rope or limb touches an energized line during pruning. In a 2024 Journal of Safety Research review of 95 landscaping and tree care deaths in NIOSH and state FACE reports from 1987 to 2023, electrocution from power lines was the most common cause, at 18.3%.
A fall from the tree or the bucket
A climber’s tie-in fails or an operator is thrown from a lift. Falls from trees caused 16.1% of the deaths in the same review, and OSHA’s tree care resources include a FACE report of an operator who fell from a boom lift while trimming.
Pulled into a chipper or stump grinder
A glove or sleeve catches a branch being fed into the chipper. Chipper incidents caused 12.9% of the deaths in the review, and OSHA’s FACE list includes a 23-year-old pulled into a wood chipper on his first day and a laborer pulled into a stump grinder.
A limb lands on the house, car or fence
A cut drops the wrong way or a rigging line fails, and a limb goes through a roof, windshield or fence. Damage you cause to a customer’s or neighbor’s property falls on general liability; Insureon’s own example is a window broken by a falling branch.
An untrained crew member in the first year
More than 66% of the deaths in the review involved workers on the job a year or less. The authors found 60.2% of employers had no written safety plan and 34.4% gave no job training.
Saws, gear and a chipper go missing
Chainsaws, climbing gear and towable chippers sit in open trucks and yards. General liability does not pay for your own equipment; Insureon notes items worth more than $2,500 may need to be scheduled on a tools policy.
Coverage
Coverage to consider
General liability
Pays for injuries and property damage your work causes to others, such as a limb through a customer’s roof or a neighbor’s car. Insureon’s typical tree service policy carries $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate.
How general liability works →Workers’ compensation
Covers medical bills and lost wages for climbers, groundworkers and chipper operators. Required for most businesses with employees and, in California, for D-49 tree service licensees even with no employees.
How workers’ compensation works →Commercial auto
Covers bucket trucks, chip trucks and pickups towing chippers. Insureon notes most states require it for vehicles the business owns.
How commercial auto works →Hired and non-owned auto
Covers liability when you or your crew drive personal, rented or leased vehicles for work, which Insureon says calls for this cover rather than commercial auto.
How commercial auto works →Tools and equipment (inland marine)
Pays for saws, climbing gear, chippers and lifts lost, stolen or damaged at a job, in transit or in storage. Schedule high-value items individually.
Umbrella or excess
Adds limits above general liability and auto when a property manager, municipality or utility contractor asks for more than your primary limit.
How umbrella / excess works →Professional liability
Worth considering if you sell written tree risk assessments or arborist reports, since general liability is built for physical damage, not advice.
How professional liability works →Rules
Requirements and filings
No single federal insurance rule covers tree work. The rules that bind come from state workers’ comp laws, state contractor licensing and customer contracts, and California shows how specific they can get. Check your own state’s licensing board and workers’ comp agency.
| Requirement | Applies to | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Workers’ comp for tree service licensees | California contractors holding the C-61/D-49 Tree Service classification | Required whether or not you have employees, per the CSLB and Business and Professions Code 7125. Without a valid certificate the CSLB removes the D-49 classification from the license. |
| C-49 Tree and Palm license | New tree contractors in California since January 1, 2024 | The CSLB no longer issues D-49; applicants take the C-49 (16 CCR 832.49), which requires a trade exam. Existing D-49 holders may keep their classification. |
| Workers’ comp for all contractors | California licensed contractors in every classification | Insureon reports SB 216 extends mandatory coverage to every licensed contractor in 2028; the current version of section 7125 runs until January 1, 2028. |
| Class 0106 tree pruning | California tree pruning, trimming and removal when any part of a job uses ladders, lifts or climbing | Includes cleanup, chipping and stump grinding on those jobs, per the WCIRB. Ground-only jobs go to 0042 Landscape Gardening and commercial timber harvesting to 2702 Logging. |
| Workers’ comp with employees | Tree businesses with employees in most states | Insureon notes most employers must carry it; Texas is an exception where coverage is optional. Rules vary by state. |
| Contract certificates | Work for property managers, HOAs, municipalities and utility contractors | Customers commonly set minimum limits and ask to be named as additional insureds. Check the certificate terms before you bid. |
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Pay less
How to lower the cost
- Keep job records that show which work was done from the ground: in California, the WCIRB puts jobs with no elevation in class 0042 rather than 0106.
- Write down your safety plan and training program; Insureon says documented training, regular equipment maintenance and ISA-certified arborists can help qualify for lower rates.
- Pair every new hire with an experienced climber and keep them off the chipper until trained, since most deaths in the FACE review involved first-year workers.
- Describe your services precisely so crane and power line work are priced only if you do them.
- Schedule high-value saws, chippers and lifts on a tools policy and choose higher deductibles on gear you could replace yourself.
- Compare several quotes at renewal; Florin is an independent broker that compares options from several insurers.
Before you start
What underwriters ask for
- Services you offer and the revenue split: pruning, removals, crane work, stump grinding and line clearance
- Payroll split between climbers or lift operators and ground-only staff
- State contractor license number and classification, such as CSLB C-49 or D-49
- Equipment list with values: bucket trucks, chippers, stump grinders, saws and climbing gear
- Driver list and vehicle VINs
- Written safety plan, training records and ISA certifications
- Loss runs from current and prior insurers
- Subcontractors you use and their certificates
- Limits and additional insured wording your customers require
Common questions
Tree service insurance: questions
Does general liability pay if a tree falls on a customer’s house?
Generally yes, when your work causes the damage, subject to the policy’s terms and limits. Insureon’s own example is a trimmer breaking a homeowner’s window while cutting a branch.
Is tree service insurance more expensive than landscaping insurance?
Usually. Insureon says tree companies doing crane removals or power line clearance see higher premiums than landscapers who only do simple trimming, and California’s WCIRB moves any job with climbing or lifts out of the landscape gardening class into class 0106.
Do I need workers’ comp as a one-person tree service in California?
If you hold the D-49 Tree Service classification, yes: the CSLB requires it whether or not you have employees. Insureon reports the requirement extends to every licensed contractor in 2028.
What workers’ comp class code covers tree trimming?
In California it is 0106 when any part of the job requires ladders, lifts or climbing, including chipping and stump grinding on that job. Rancho Mesa reports the 2026 pure premium rate at $12.39 per $100 of payroll; other states use their own codes and rates.
Are my chainsaws and chipper covered?
Not by general liability. You need tools and equipment (inland marine) coverage, which Insureon puts at a median of about $53 a month for landscaping and tree businesses, with items over $2,500 often scheduled separately.
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Sources (9)
- Insureon: tree service and arborist insurance cost (updated September 30, 2026)
- OSHA: Tree care industry, hazards and solutions
- OSHA: Tree care operations rulemaking
- Journal of Safety Research via PubMed: Fatal injuries among landscaping and tree care workers (December 2024)
- WCIRB: Classification 0106, tree pruning, repairing or trimming
- Rancho Mesa Insurance Services: 2026 California tree care work comp rates (September 2026)
- CSLB: Workers’ compensation requirements
- California Business and Professions Code section 7125
- Contractors License Experts: D-49 tree service is now the C-49 Tree and Palm license
Figures are published third-party estimates, not quotes. Coverage depends on policy terms and underwriting, and rules vary by state. Updated November 2026.