Tree surgeons insurance: why it’s a hard-to-place trade
Why tree surgeons get declined online
Quote-and-buy sites run on tick-boxes built for low-risk trades. Tree surgery fails at the first hurdle and keeps failing: a chainsaw is a high-hazard tool before you even leave the ground, and much of the trade uses one on a rope and harness twenty metres up. Many online insurers leave tree surgeons off their trade list altogether; others accept the trade in theory, then decline the moment the answers get real — felling next to a house, a job near overhead power lines, a claim, a first year of trading.
So when you answer honestly, the system says no. Nobody has actually looked at your business — that’s the whole problem, and it’s also the way out.
What actually makes tree surgery hard to place
1. Chainsaws at height
Climbing with a saw is the defining image of the trade, and it’s also why the liability rating sits where it does. Underwriters who deal with arboriculture don’t flinch at it — they rate it: your qualifications and tickets, aerial rescue provision, kit inspection, the balance of climbing versus MEWP work, and the experience of the team. A form can’t weigh any of that; a person can.
2. Felling near buildings, roads and power lines
Sectional dismantling over a conservatory, traffic management on a roadside job, working near overhead lines — this is where the big third-party exposures live, and it’s what makes the trade expensive to insure badly and important to insure properly. Underwriters want to know how much of your work sits in these situations and how you control it. Declared and presented well, it’s placeable.
3. Protected trees — TPOs and conservation areas
Trees under a Tree Preservation Order, and trees in conservation areas, are legally protected. Fell or prune the wrong one — or the right one without consent — and you’re looking at potential prosecution and legal costs, on top of an unhappy client. Most online products never ask the question. It’s an exposure that needs declaring, and underwriters want to see that checking consents is part of how you take on work.
4. Stump grinding near services
A stump grinder a few inches from a gas main, water pipe or buried cable is a classic underground-services exposure — the same family of risk that makes groundworks hard to place. How you locate services before you grind is exactly the kind of detail a broker puts in front of an underwriter and a form never asks for.
5. Employers’ liability for climbers and subbies
Freelance climbers and groundies working under your direction are generally labour-only subcontractors — and they count as employees for employers’ liability purposes. Leave them out of your wage figures and you have a problem at claim time. Bona fide subcontractors carry their own insurance, and insurers expect you to check it. In a trade built on small crews and shared labour, getting this split right matters more than almost anywhere else.
6. Reports, new ventures and claims
Written reports on tree condition — for planning applications, mortgage lenders or landowners — are a professional opinion others rely on. If the opinion is alleged to be wrong, that’s a professional indemnity–shaped exposure, and public liability is not designed to pick it up. Add the usual online tripwires — a past claim or a new venture triggering automatic declines — and there’s plenty for a human underwriter to look at properly: what happened, what changed, and how many years you’ve spent on the ropes.
Risk management counts in your favour
Underwriters know the difference between a firm where everyone holds the right tickets for the saw and the task, aerial rescue is planned rather than hoped for, kit is inspected and logged, and consents are checked before the job starts — and a firm winging it. That evidence is exactly what a broker presents in writing, and it genuinely changes how the risk is rated. A tick-box never asks.
Why the broker route works differently
A broker doesn’t feed your details into the same machine and hope. We present the whole risk to human underwriters — including insurers and specialist schemes that don’t sell through comparison sites at all: the balance of climbing, felling and ground work, where the jobs are, your people and their tickets, survey work, and what changed after any claim. We can’t promise acceptance — nobody honestly can — but for most tree surgery businesses we can usually find a market, and we’ll tell you quickly if we can’t.
The cover a tree surgery business usually needs
Most programmes are built from the same blocks: public liability for injury or damage to others — the heart of the programme in this trade; employers’ liability, a legal requirement if you employ anyone — including labour-only climbers and groundies; cover for chippers, grinders, saws and vehicles; and professional indemnity where you produce reports on tree condition. The right shape depends on the balance of your work.
What to have ready when you call
The call goes quicker if you know roughly: turnover and wage bill, who works for you (employees, labour-only and bona fide subbies), the domestic/commercial split, how much work sits near buildings, roads or power lines, whether you do stump grinding and survey work, your qualifications, claims in the last five years, and when your current cover runs out — or when the job starts, if you’re uninsured right now. Then call 0117 325 0027. If it’s urgent, say so; we deal with time-pressed placements all the time, though we’ll never promise cover by a set date until an insurer confirms it.
Frequently asked questions
Why do online insurance sites decline tree surgeons?
Tree surgery trips several automated rules at once: chainsaw work at height, felling near buildings, roads and power lines, and a liability rating that puts the trade among the highest online systems see. Many quote-and-buy insurers leave tree surgeons off the trade list altogether; others decline as soon as the honest answers arrive. No person has looked at your business — the system simply can’t process it.
What’s the issue with TPO and conservation-area work?
Trees under a Tree Preservation Order, and trees in conservation areas, are legally protected — felling or pruning the wrong tree, or the right tree without consent, can lead to prosecution and significant legal costs. That’s an exposure most online products never ask about. It needs to be declared and thought about deliberately, and it’s one reason underwriters want to understand how you check consents before the saw comes out.
Do I need professional indemnity as a tree surgeon?
If you produce written reports on tree condition or safety — for planning applications, mortgage surveys, landowners or local authorities — people rely on that professional opinion. If it’s alleged to be wrong, the claim is about your advice, not injury or damage you caused, and public liability is not designed to pick it up. That’s a professional indemnity–shaped exposure. Tell your broker how much survey and report work you do.
Are my climbers and subbies covered under employers’ liability?
Labour-only subcontractors — including freelance climbers and groundies working under your direction — generally count as employees for employers’ liability purposes. Leave them out of your wage figures and you have a problem at claim time. Bona fide subcontractors carry their own insurance, and insurers expect you to check it. Get the split straight before you call and the conversation goes much quicker.
What information do I need before I call?
Rough turnover and wage bill, who works for you — employees, labour-only climbers and groundies, bona fide subbies — the split between domestic and commercial work, how much felling and dismantling you do near buildings, roads or power lines, whether you do stump grinding, any survey or report work, your qualifications and tickets, claims in the last five years, and when your current cover runs out. Don’t worry if you don’t have it all; we’ll work through it on the phone.
Do you promise to get me covered?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What we can honestly say is that we know which underwriters look at arboriculture risks, and we can usually find a market. If we genuinely can’t, we’ll tell you straight and tell you why — which at least gives you something to fix.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This page is general information, not advice on a specific policy.