Five factors drive a landscaping insurance premium the most: your revenue, your payroll and the workers comp class code, your claims history, your years in business, and your subcontractor use. Revenue and payroll scale the exposure, the class code can nearly double or halve the comp bill, claims and your experience modifier reflect your track record, and uninsured subcontractors can add payroll at audit. Several of these are things an owner can actually influence.
Revenue and payroll
Revenue and payroll are the two biggest scaling factors: more of either means more exposure and a higher premium. Payroll is especially important because workers comp is priced per $100 of payroll, so growing your crew or hours raises the comp line directly. This is also where the class code interacts, since the rate applied to that payroll depends on the classification, which is why accurate payroll and accurate codes matter together.
The workers comp class code
The class code is the factor that can move the comp bill the most, nearly doubling or halving it for the same work. A maintenance crew filed under a construction-style code pays a much higher rate per dollar of payroll than the correct maintenance code. Because comp is usually the biggest line, getting the classification right is often the single largest lever on the total premium, and it is checkable before you buy.
Claims history, years in business, and subcontractors
Your claims history feeds your experience modifier, which raises or lowers premium based on how your losses compare to similar businesses, and it improves over time with a clean record. Years in business signals stability and can help pricing. And subcontractor use matters because uninsured 1099 crews can have their payroll added to your bill at audit. Together these explain much of why two quotes for the same operation can look so different.
Questions to ask your advisor
- Which of these factors is driving my premium the most?
- Is my workers comp class code accurate?
- How is my claims history affecting my experience modifier?
- Are uninsured subs adding to my premium at audit?
- Are the quotes I have comparing the same crew, limits, and coverages?
A landscaping premium is not a black box, it is five factors: revenue, payroll and the class code, claims history, years in business, and subcontractor use. Understanding them shows you why two quotes can look so far apart and, more usefully, which levers, the class code above all, you can actually pull. Comparing quotes on the same factors is how you tell a real deal from a misleading one.