THE GROUNDS GUYS

For The Grounds Guys specifically, the 2025 franchise agreement requires general liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, auto liability at a combined single limit up to $2,000,000 but no less than $1,000,000 per vehicle, workers' compensation at state-required levels regardless of state law, and cyber liability at $500,000 per claim and aggregate. All required liability policies must name The Grounds Guys SPV LLC and its related entities as additional insureds, with a waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory language. The Operations Manual adds pesticide and herbicide coverage. Requirements differ by brand, so confirm against your own current FDD.

For The Grounds Guys, the floor is $1,000,000 per occurrence in general liability with a $2,000,000 aggregate, auto liability of at least $1,000,000 combined single limit (up to $2,000,000 if specified), state-level workers' compensation, and $500,000 in cyber liability. These are minimums set by the franchisor. They are not the same as the limits a commercial customer or HOA may require on a certificate, which often run higher.

Yes. A state pesticide applicator license and an insurance policy are two separate requirements. Your applicator license permits you to apply regulated chemicals. Your insurance pays when something goes wrong. One does not satisfy the other. Most states require a licensed or certified applicator for the products lawn care franchises apply, and operating without the license is a regulatory violation that insurance cannot cure.

Start with the exact entity name. The Grounds Guys SPV LLC, its parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates must appear as additional insureds on your general liability and auto policies. Your policy must carry a waiver of subrogation in favor of those additional insureds and apply as primary and non-contributory — and those terms must appear in the policy forms, not just in a verbal confirmation from your agent. Then confirm the pesticide and herbicide coverage your Operations Manual requires is actually on the policy.

Your own legal business entity — your LLC, corporation, or doing-business-as name — is the named insured on the policy and the certificate. The Grounds Guys SPV LLC is the additional insured. These are two different roles on the same document. The named insured is the business the policy covers. The additional insured is the franchisor, who receives protection from your policy for claims arising from your operations.

Yes, in nearly all cases. The Grounds Guys requires workers' compensation regardless of whether your state mandates it. Seasonal and temporary crew members are employees for workers' compensation purposes, and their payroll is included when the carrier audits your policy at year-end. Leaving seasonal payroll off your estimate does not avoid the cost — it produces an audit bill once the carrier sees the actual payroll.

The Grounds Guys 2025 FDD sets its requirements in Item 8: general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation, and cyber liability, with additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory language, and an A.M. Best A-VIII carrier rating. Item 8 also states that additional requirements — including pesticide and herbicide coverage — are described in the Operations Manual. Item 7 lists a pre-opening insurance estimate of $1,200 to $3,000, which understates the ongoing cost of a working operation.

Usually no. The standard general liability policy contains a pollution exclusion that removes coverage for bodily injury and property damage caused by the release of pollutants — and herbicides and pesticides qualify as pollutants. Chemical drift onto a neighbor's property is exactly the kind of claim that exclusion blocks. Contractors pollution liability is the coverage built to respond to drift, runoff, and other chemical-release claims.

This claim can fall into two gaps at once. The pollution exclusion can block the chemical-damage portion, and the "your work" exclusion can block the cost of redoing your own application. Contractors pollution liability answers the chemical-damage piece, and contractors errors and omissions answers the faulty-workmanship piece. General liability alone often does not cover either.

This is usually covered. Damage your crew causes to a customer's existing irrigation system — a cut line, a broken head, a cracked valve box — is property damage to the customer's property, which general liability covers. The exception is when you were hired to repair that same system and damaged the part you were actively working on, where the "your work" exclusion can apply. Report any contact with an irrigation system the same day, because undetected leaks can turn a small repair into a large water-damage claim.

This is a pollution claim, and standard general liability excludes it. Fertilizer runoff that reaches a pond can cause an algae bloom and a fish kill — a real loss caused by the product you applied. Because fertilizer is a pollutant under the policy, the pollution exclusion blocks the claim. Contractors pollution liability covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and cleanup costs from chemical and nutrient releases like this.

Only if you carry inland marine, also called an equipment floater. Standard commercial property insurance generally does not follow your tools and equipment once they leave a fixed location, so a trailer of mowers and spreaders stolen from a parked truck overnight is often not covered without inland marine. Size the limit to the actual replacement value of your field equipment.

Your workers' compensation carrier audits your actual payroll at year-end, and seasonal, temporary, and H-2B workers are part of that payroll. If their wages were not included in your original estimate, the audit produces a bill for the additional premium. There is also a classification question: if seasonal crews do higher-rated work like tree trimming, the auditor may apply the higher class rate. Update your payroll estimate mid-season if your crew grows, and confirm each worker is classified for the work they actually do.