Landscaping insurance for crews, trucks and trailers.

Where the CSLB license line falls

CSLB's C-27 Landscaping classification covers a contractor who constructs, maintains, repairs, installs, or subcontracts the development of landscape systems and facilities for gardens and grounds, and who prepares and grades land for that work.

• The dollar line: CSLB says any construction project, landscaping included, valued at $1,000 or more in combined labor and materials needs a state contractor license. AB 2622 raised the minor work exemption from $500 to $1,000 starting January 1, 2025 (CSLB bulletin #24-07).
• Permits and helpers end the exemption: if the job needs a permit of any kind, or the unlicensed person hires anyone to help, a license is required even under $1,000.
• Route gardeners: CSLB says gardeners paid on a regular basis to maintain landscaping generally don't need a C-27, but installing construction-related extras or doing repairs of $1,000 or more does.
• Work CSLB lists as licensed: arbors and trellises, drainage and irrigation systems, landscape lighting, outdoor cooking centers and fireplaces, patios, walkways and retaining walls, plants and sod, rainwater capture and water features. Tree removal, stump removal and pruning above 15 feet are on the list too; see tree service insurance.

Why this matters for your policy: CSLB tells homeowners to ask for certificates of insurance for liability and workers' comp before work begins, so expect that request on install jobs (see what a certificate shows). If a maintenance route starts taking installs, tell your carrier first; the operations you described are what was underwritten. Outside California, contractor licensing for landscape work varies by state.

Workers' comp: how California classifies crews

Two California rules matter: who must carry comp, and which class the payroll goes in.

• No-employee exemption: Business and Professions Code 7125(b) lets a contractor with no employees file an exemption unless the license includes C-8, C-20, C-22, C-39 or D-49. C-27 is not on that list. That section is set to be repealed January 1, 2028; see what changes in 2028.
• One class for maintenance and installs: WCIRB class 0042, Landscape Gardening, applies to construction, maintenance, repair or installation of landscape systems. It includes grading, related chipping, spraying or spreading lawn fertilizers or herbicides, and weed abatement for fire hazard control not connected with land clearing.
• Hardscape: fountains, decorative pools, garden accent lighting, and drainage or sprinkler systems stay in 0042 when the employer is primarily (over 50% of employee time) engaged in landscape work at that job or location.
• Trimming off the ground: tree or hedge trimming stays in 0042 only when no part of the job needs ladders, lifts or climbing. If any part does, the trimming at that job, ground crew included, goes to 0106, Tree Pruning, Repairing or Trimming.
• Other splits: moving trees with mobile cranes is 7219(3), and clearing land for firebreaks is 2702(2), Land Clearing.

Payroll is assigned along these lines, so keep job records showing which crews used ladders or lifts and what share of each job was landscape work. Other states use their own classification systems; these codes are California's. More in workers' comp by trade.

Official sources

• CSLB: C-27 Landscaping Contractor classification (16 CCR 832.27)
• CSLB bulletin #24-07: License Requirement for Minor Work Increases from $500 to $1,000
• CSLB Fast Facts: Choosing the Right Landscaper (Rev. 1/25)
• CSLB: Business and Professions Code 7125 (workers' compensation)
• DPR: Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business License Packet (Rev. 7/24)
• DPR: Qualified Applicator License Packet (Rev. 7/24)
• DPR: 3 CCR Chapter 3, Pest Control Operations (sections 6522, 6524, 6531)
• WCIRB: Classification 0042, Landscape Gardening
• IRMI: The CGL Pollution Exclusion
• IRMI: A High-Level View of the CGL Policy