Written By: Krystal Jackson, President, Barbee Jackson Insurance. Over the past 20 years Krystal and her team have insured thousands of contractors and small businesses throughout the United States. Licensed in 30+ states. Last updated: September 7, 2026.

Tree Trimming Insurance
Tree work is one of the hardest classes of business to insure — and if you’ve ever shopped for a policy, you already know it. Height, chainsaws, rigging, and a house, a car, or a power line sitting under everything you cut. Insurance companies look at that combination and a lot of them simply walk away.

I run the Garage & Contractor division here at Barbee Jackson Insurance. We’re an independent agency licensed in 30+ states, and tree services are one of the classes we work every week — trimming, removal, stump grinding, land clearing, and plant health care. On this page I’ll walk through what a real tree service insurance program includes, and the three key factors that decide whether your policy actually stands behind the work you do.

General liability — and why tree work is hard to place
General liability covers injury and property damage to other people caused by your work. For a tree crew, that’s the everyday exposure: a limb comes down on a roof, a fence, a parked car — or a person. A felled section swings wrong. A rope fails under load. This is the coverage every contract, every property manager, and every homeowner will ask about first.

Here’s the part most tree services find out the hard way: many standard general liability markets exclude tree work or won’t write it at all. The policies that will take it often come from specialty and Excess & Surplus lines markets — and those policies are not all built the same. That’s exactly why this class rewards working with an agent who knows it, and it’s why the three key factors below matter more in tree work than in almost any other trade.

Key Factor #1: The height limitation hiding in your policy
This is the classic tree service gotcha, and it’s the one I check first on every policy that comes across my desk.

Some policies that do write tree work carry a height limitation — work above a stated height is excluded. The wording sits quietly in the form, the premium looks competitive, and the policy reads fine right up until your climber is sixty feet up a mature oak and the policy stops at thirty-five.

Think about what that means: the exclusion doesn’t kick in on your easy jobs. It kicks in on your biggest, riskiest, best-paying jobs — the exact work where a claim would hurt the most. That’s not a coverage gap; that’s a trapdoor.

My recommendation: don’t assume, and don’t guess from the quote page. Confirm that your policy’s height provisions match how high your crews actually work — every crew, every service you sell. We review policy forms for tree services all the time, and we can tell you exactly where yours stands.

Key Factor #2: Your people and your gear
Tree work is dangerous work, and the insurance program has to respect that on both sides — the crew and the equipment.

Workers’ compensation. Tree service class codes carry some of the highest workers’ comp rates of any trade — chainsaws, falls from height, and struck-by injuries from the very limbs you’re removing. It’s expensive because the injuries are real, and it comes with employers’ liability alongside it. Two things matter here: carrying it, and being classed correctly. A climber working aloft and a ground crew feeding a chipper are not the same exposure, and how your operation is described to the carrier affects both your price and your claims. Tell us how your crews actually work — climbers, bucket crews, or both — and we’ll make sure the program matches.

Your equipment. General liability covers damage you do to others — it does not cover your own gear. Chippers, stump grinders, the mounted equipment on your bucket trucks, saws, rigging, ropes. The fix is a contractor’s equipment floater, sometimes referred to as inland marine. It covers your equipment wherever it goes — on the job, in transit, overnight — and coverage can be on a blanket or scheduled basis. Typically, items valued at $2,500 or more need to be scheduled (although that can vary by carrier), so discuss the details of your equipment with your agent, not just the total value.

Commercial auto. The bucket trucks and chip trucks themselves belong on a commercial auto policy — personal auto won’t carry them. Add hired and non-owned auto coverage for the day an employee runs a business errand in their own pickup, because personal auto policies don’t cover business use.

Key Factor #3: Power lines and the contract fine print
The third key factor is where tree services work — and where the paperwork gets serious.

Work around power lines. Utility clearance work is its own world. It often requires specially qualified line-clearance crews and separate underwriting, and a policy written for residential trimming may not contemplate it at all. If utility work is any part of your operation — or you want it to be — that conversation needs to happen before the contract, not after. Bring it to your agent early.

Work along roads and right of way. Another specialty area that a standard policy doesn’t contemplate and will likely exclude. The added exposure of working alongside moving vehicles presents a greater risk that your policy needs to cover you for.

HOA, municipal, and property-management contracts. The best recurring tree work comes with insurance requirements a basic policy usually can’t meet:

•           Additional insured status for ongoing AND completed operations — that’s the CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 endorsements. A base policy carries neither, and many endorsed policies carry only one. A contract that requires both exposes the gap.

•           Waiver of subrogation — which can be scheduled per contract or added on a blanket form.

•           Primary and non-contributory wording — meaning YOUR policy pays first, before the client’s insurance is asked to contribute.

•           Higher limits. An umbrella policy adds a layer above your underlying coverage — and it can sit over just the general liability or over all underlying policies including commercial auto and workers’ compensation. The contract usually tells you which it expects.

Don’t try to decode that language on your own, and don’t sign hoping your policy matches. Send us the contract before you sign — we’ll review it to help you with both obtaining the coverage and the pricing you can expect to pay for it.

Rounding out the program
Storm work. Storm weeks are your busiest weeks and your riskiest — downed trees on houses, compromised limbs under tension, long hours, and sometimes a crane for the big removals. Before storm season, confirm that storm and emergency work is contemplated in your policy, and if you bring in a crane for storm removals, discuss it with your agent first.

Stump grinding and underground utilities. A stump grinder doesn’t know a gas line from a root. Call 811 before you grind — every time — and make sure underground utility strikes are part of the coverage conversation.

Completed operations. The tree you topped or trimmed that fails later — after your trucks are gone — is a completed operations exposure. It’s also exactly what the CG 20 37 endorsement in Key Factor #3 exists for. We recommend confirming your completed operations coverage matches the work you leave behind.

Plant health care. If you spray, inject, or fertilize as part of tree care, many general liability policies exclude chemical application, and most states require a commercial applicator license. If plant health care is on your service list, tell us — the applicator coverage conversation is the same one our landscaping clients have, and we handle it every week.

Why tree services work with Barbee Jackson Insurance
We’re an independent agency, licensed in 30+ states, with 400+ five-star Google reviews. Tree work is a specialty class, and we work the specialty and Excess & Surplus markets that actually write it — then build the program around your real operation: how high your crews work, what your equipment is worth, whether you do storm work or utility work, and the contracts you’re chasing. Not a template.

Related coverage
•           Based in Florida? Visit our Florida Tree Trimming Insurance page.

•           Tennessee crews: Tennessee Tree Trimming Insurance.

•           Georgia crews: Georgia Tree Service Insurance.

•           Also from our Garage & Contractor division: Landscaping & Lawn Care Insurance · General Contractor Insurance · Contractors Liability Insurance · Workers Compensation

Frequently asked questions
Why is tree trimming insurance so hard to get? Because of the risk profile: height, chainsaws, rigging, and property or power lines under everything you cut. Many standard markets exclude tree work or won’t write it, so the class lives largely in specialty and Excess & Surplus markets. That’s not a reason to settle — it’s a reason to work with an agent who knows those markets.

What is a height limitation, and does my policy have one? Some policies that write tree work exclude operations above a stated height. If your crews work above that number, your biggest jobs may be your least-covered ones. We recommend confirming the height provisions on your policy match how high you actually work — send us your policy and we’ll check.

Does general liability cover my chipper or stump grinder? No — general liability covers damage you do to others, not your own equipment. Your gear needs a contractor’s equipment floater, sometimes referred to as inland marine, on a blanket or scheduled basis. Typically, items valued at $2,500 or more need to be scheduled (although that can vary by carrier).

What insurance do HOA and municipal tree contracts require? Usually, additional insured status for ongoing and completed operations (CG 20 10 and CG 20 37), a waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, and higher limits through an umbrella. A base policy carries none of that automatically. Send us the contract before you sign and we’ll confirm your policy matches.

How fast can I get a certificate of insurance? Within five minutes during normal business hours unless a change is required. If a property manager needs specific wording on the certificate, send us their requirements and we’ll make sure it matches. Call (850) 389-2001.

Get a quote built around your operation
Tell us how high your crews work, what your equipment is worth, whether storm or utility work is on the menu, and the contracts you’re after — and we’ll build the program to fit. Call (850) 389-2001, email services@barbeejackson.com, or request a quote below. Your Goals, Our Strategies.