For many landscapers, excavators, paving contractors, and general trades, winter brings a natural opportunity: plowing and salting for commercial properties. The equipment is already in the yard, the crews need work, and property managers are looking for reliable vendors. What many contractors do not anticipate is how differently the insurance world treats snow and ice work compared to the rest of what they do, and how a single slip-and-fall claim in a parking lot can affect their entire program.
If you are considering adding snow removal this season, or already do it and have never talked it through with your agent, this is worth reading before the first storm.
Why Snow Work Is Rated Differently
Insurance carriers view snow and ice management as a distinct class of business, and often a challenging one. The reason is simple: when someone slips on ice in a parking lot you plowed, you are usually named in the lawsuit alongside the property owner. Slip-and-fall injuries can be serious, involving broken bones, head injuries, and long recoveries, and the claims frequently arrive months after the storm when memories have faded and evidence has melted.
Because of this, many carriers that are happy to write your landscaping or excavation work will exclude snow removal entirely, apply a specific snow and ice exclusion, or require it to be disclosed and rated separately. Assuming your existing general liability policy covers plowing simply because it covers your other work is one of the more common mistakes in this trade.
Check for a Snow and Ice Exclusion
The first step is to read your general liability policy for any endorsement excluding snow and ice removal, or any classification limitation that restricts coverage to the operations listed on the policy. If snow work is not listed and you have not told your carrier about it, a claim may be denied on the basis that the operation was never underwritten. If there is an explicit exclusion, the answer is even clearer.
If your current carrier will not cover snow work, the options typically include a separate policy for snow and ice operations from a carrier that specializes in it, or moving your entire program to a carrier that will write both. An independent agent can compare those paths.
The Contract Is Half the Risk
Snow removal contracts written by property managers and national facility management companies often contain aggressive indemnification language. Some ask you to hold the property owner harmless for any slip-and-fall on the premises, regardless of whether you were negligent, and regardless of whether it had even snowed. Others require you to name the owner, the manager, and sometimes tenants as additional insureds with primary and non-contributory coverage.
Signing that kind of contract without matching insurance is how contractors end up personally exposed. Your general liability policy’s contractual liability coverage has limits, and very broad indemnification may go beyond it. Some states restrict how much liability a snow contract can shift to the contractor, but the rules vary. Having contracts reviewed before signing, and negotiating the language where possible, is not optional in this line of work.
Documentation Wins Snow Claims
Slip-and-fall claims from snow and ice are often decided on records. When you plowed, what time you arrived and left, how much material you applied, what the conditions were, and whether the property manager requested service or told you to hold off are all questions that will be asked. Contractors who keep detailed service logs, use GPS tracking on trucks, photograph conditions on arrival and departure, and retain weather data are in a dramatically stronger position than those who rely on invoices alone.
Many snow-specialist carriers require this kind of documentation as a condition of coverage, and even where it is not required, it can be the difference between a claim that is dismissed and one that settles for a substantial sum.
Equipment, Auto, and Workers’ Comp Considerations
Snow work affects more than liability. Plow trucks operating at night in poor conditions are a commercial auto exposure, and any vehicle used for plowing should be listed on your commercial auto policy with the plow attachment noted. Skid steers, loaders, and salt spreaders are equipment exposures that may need to be scheduled on an equipment floater. Crews working long hours in cold, dark conditions raise workers’ compensation questions, and your class codes and payroll estimates should reflect the winter operation so that the audit does not produce a surprise.
Subcontracting Snow Work
Many contractors take on more snow accounts than they can service and subcontract the overflow. If you do, the same rules apply to your subs as apply to you: require certificates, confirm that their policies do not exclude snow and ice, require additional insured status in your favor, and use a written subcontract with indemnification that flows to you. A sub with an excluded operation leaves you holding the claim.
Talk With an Independent Agent Before the Season Starts
Snow and ice removal can be profitable work, but it carries a liability profile that surprises many contractors and that standard policies often are not built for. An independent agent who works with contractors and understands the snow market can review your current coverage for exclusions, evaluate the contracts you are being asked to sign, and compare carriers that will actually write the exposure. Doing that in the fall, rather than after the first claim, is the right order of operations.