Two Reasons to Get Public Liability Insurance if You've Set Up a Gardening Business

Here are some reasons to get public liability insurance if you've recently launched a gardening business.

To mitigate the consequences of accidentally damaging a client's garden

Even if you're a responsible and skilled gardener, you could still damage a client's garden accidentally. If, for example, you get momentarily distracted whilst you're trimming a bush near a wooden fence on a client's property, the electric trimmer might cut into and damage that fence. Likewise, if you stumble when repositioning a client's ceramic planter, you might drop and break it.

In instances like this, having public liability insurance could be useful, as you wouldn't have to, for example, forfeit the fee that the client was supposed to pay you for that gardening session in order to cover the cost of fixing the broken fence or buying a new planter. Instead, you could make an insurance claim that would cover the expense. This could be particularly helpful as a new business owner, when you may not have many clients and can't afford to pay, for instance, a few hundred dollars to fix a fence that you've damaged.

As an aside, potential clients may be more likely to use your gardening services if you have this insurance, as they'll know that if any breakages or other damage happens whilst you're working in their garden, the process of remedying that damage will be straightforward and they won't have to wait long for the repairs to be made.

To ensure you're financially protected if anyone is injured by your gardening equipment

Public liability insurance could also prove very useful if anyone ends up injured as a result of your gardening equipment. If for example, you leave your garden shears on a client's lawn whilst you're doing another gardening task, and they trip over them or cut their foot on the shears whilst walking over them, this type of insurance would protect you.

For instance, if the client required hospital treatment or had to take sick leave due to the injury they sustained, they might wish to seek compensation for their medical bills and the reduction in their income. If you didn't have insurance, your business' finances could be badly affected if their claim for compensation is successful. In contrast, this event would have no serious effect on your gardening business' finances and would be much easier to handle if you had insurance that included coverage for these types of compensation claims.

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