What property managers require of landscaping and snow vendors: grounds contracts for managed properties and how to prove you meet them

What a property manager requires of a landscaping or snow vendor

QUICK ANSWER

A property manager's grounds or snow contract typically requires general liability of $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate with the owner and management company as additional insureds, no snow-and-ice or pesticide exclusion, waivers of subrogation on every policy, commercial auto of $1M combined single limit covering trucks, trailers and plows, statutory workers' compensation with $1M employers' liability, an umbrella of $1M to $5M, pesticide applicator coverage where chemicals are applied, and service logs for every visit.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 11, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Typical requirements and how to check them
Requirement	What they usually ask for	How to check what you have
Commercial general liability	$1M each occurrence / $2M aggregate with the owner and manager as additional insureds, primary and non-contributory, and no exclusion for snow and ice, pesticides and herbicides, or tree work at height	Dec page limits, the additional insured form and the exclusions page; snow and ice exclusions are common and fail winter contracts outright.
Pesticide and herbicide applicator coverage	Coverage for application of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides on the grounds, with the state applicator licence on file	The applicator endorsement on the general liability policy and the licence certificate.
Waiver of subrogation	In favour of the owner and manager on general liability, auto, workers' compensation and umbrella	Waiver endorsement on each policy.
Commercial auto	$1M combined single limit on any auto, with trailers and plow trucks scheduled, and hired and non-owned	Auto dec page symbol and limit; plows and spreaders on an equipment floater, trailers on the auto policy.
Workers' compensation and employers' liability	Statutory in each state of the portfolio plus employers' liability of $1M / $1M / $1M, with a waiver and the landscaping and snow class codes	Information page with each state, Part Two limits, waiver endorsement and classification lines.
Umbrella or excess liability	$1M to $5M following form, higher for retail centres and senior-living properties where slip-and-fall severity is high	Umbrella dec page and underlying schedule.
Snow and ice conditions	Contractual liability for the hold-harmless, a defined trigger for plowing and salting, documentation of each visit with times and conditions, and sometimes a required minimum salt application	The contract's trigger and documentation clauses; service logs kept as the defence to slip-and-fall claims.
Certificates through a compliance service	Certificates and endorsement copies uploaded to the manager's compliance service, expired at each renewal	The service's requirements sheet; a live certificate with endorsements attached is accepted by most.

Requirement

What they usually ask for

How to check what you have

Commercial general liability

$1M each occurrence / $2M aggregate with the owner and manager as additional insureds, primary and non-contributory, and no exclusion for snow and ice, pesticides and herbicides, or tree work at height

Dec page limits, the additional insured form and the exclusions page; snow and ice exclusions are common and fail winter contracts outright.

Pesticide and herbicide applicator coverage

Coverage for application of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides on the grounds, with the state applicator licence on file

The applicator endorsement on the general liability policy and the licence certificate.

Waiver of subrogation

In favour of the owner and manager on general liability, auto, workers' compensation and umbrella

Waiver endorsement on each policy.

Commercial auto

$1M combined single limit on any auto, with trailers and plow trucks scheduled, and hired and non-owned

Auto dec page symbol and limit; plows and spreaders on an equipment floater, trailers on the auto policy.

Workers' compensation and employers' liability

Statutory in each state of the portfolio plus employers' liability of $1M / $1M / $1M, with a waiver and the landscaping and snow class codes

Information page with each state, Part Two limits, waiver endorsement and classification lines.

Umbrella or excess liability

$1M to $5M following form, higher for retail centres and senior-living properties where slip-and-fall severity is high

Umbrella dec page and underlying schedule.

Snow and ice conditions

Contractual liability for the hold-harmless, a defined trigger for plowing and salting, documentation of each visit with times and conditions, and sometimes a required minimum salt application

The contract's trigger and documentation clauses; service logs kept as the defence to slip-and-fall claims.

Certificates through a compliance service

Certificates and endorsement copies uploaded to the manager's compliance service, expired at each renewal

The service's requirements sheet; a live certificate with endorsements attached is accepted by most.

What the manager is protecting

Grounds and snow vendors work where residents and shoppers walk, and the slip-and-fall claims that follow land on the owner first. The manager's program protects the owners in the portfolio with additional insured status, a policy that does not exclude snow or chemicals, waivers, an umbrella and the contract conditions that make a claim defensible: triggers, documentation and salt.

The lines a grounds and snow contract names

General liability with the owners and manager added, read for snow, pesticide and tree exclusions. The applicator endorsement and licence. Waivers on every policy. Auto covering trucks, trailers and plows. Workers' compensation in every portfolio state with the right classes. An umbrella scaled to the properties. Snow conditions and service logs, and certificates filed with the compliance service.

How to check your policies against the program

Read the general liability exclusions page first. Match limits, confirm the additional insured and primary forms, and the applicator endorsement. Check the waiver on each policy, the auto schedule, the workers' compensation states and classes, and the umbrella schedule. Read the snow trigger and documentation clauses and set up the service log before the first storm. Upload the endorsements with the certificate.

Keep the certificate current

Compliance services expire certificates at each renewal and managers re-bid winter contracts in autumn. A live certificate link stays current as policies renew, carries the endorsements as attachments and notifies the manager when a line changes, so the contract file is never the reason you lose the season.

Questions people actually ask

Why do snow contracts carry such strong hold-harmless language?

Because slip-and-fall claims from parking lots and sidewalks are the property's most frequent liability claim in winter, and the manager wants the snow vendor's policy to answer them. Your general liability covers the hold-harmless through contractual liability, if the policy has no snow and ice exclusion.

Our carrier added a snow and ice exclusion at renewal. What now?

The contract cannot be met with that exclusion. Ask the carrier to remove it or write a snow removal endorsement, or move the account to a carrier that writes snow; the manager will not accept the certificate otherwise.

Does fertilising count as pesticide application?

Under most general liability forms, yes: fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide applications fall under the same exclusion, lifted by the applicator endorsement. The manager also wants the state applicator licence on file.

What do the service logs have to do with insurance?

They are the evidence that you plowed and salted when the contract said to, which is what defeats a slip-and-fall claim. Carriers ask for them before they defend you, and managers ask for them before they renew you.