Snow removal and plowing insurance in Spokane
Four months of work, twelve months of liability. Slip-and-fall claims from a January storm routinely arrive the following autumn.
Your service log is your defence
Slip-and-fall is the defining claim of this trade, and these cases turn almost entirely on documentation. When were you on site, what did you apply, what were the conditions, who authorised the scope. Contractors who keep timestamped logs and photographs settle these for a fraction of what contractors who rely on memory pay — and carriers increasingly ask to see the procedure at application.
Spokane adds freeze-thaw to the picture. A lot cleared properly at 6am can refreeze by mid-morning, and the argument about whether that was your responsibility is decided by what the contract says. Which brings us to the contract.
Hold-harmless wording cuts both ways
Property managers hand snow contractors agreements that transfer every ounce of risk downhill — indemnifying the owner for claims arising from conditions you did not create and were never asked to treat. Some of that is uninsurable, meaning you have agreed to something your policy will not back. Send the agreement before you sign it; adjusting two clauses is free, and discovering the problem during a claim is not.
Seasonal cover and why year-round matters
It is tempting to insure only for the months you plough. The problem is that liability policies are usually occurrence-based but claims arrive late — a fall in January gets reported in September when the statute clock starts to matter. If the policy was cancelled in April, the coverage question gets complicated. Most established operators carry it year-round for this reason.
Biggest exposures for snow removal
- Slip-and-fall on a lot you cleared or treated
- Plough damage to kerbs, bollards, parked cars and landscaping
- Collisions during night and early-morning routes
- Claims arriving months after the season ended
Pre-filled for your trade. Two minutes.
Coverage
What snow removal usually carry
General Liability
The baseline policy.
Read moreCommercial Auto
Coverage for the vehicles your business owns, leases, rents or asks employees to drive.
Read moreCommercial Umbrella
Extra liability limits that sit above your general liability, auto and employer liability policies.
Read moreWorkers' Compensation
Required in Washington for nearly every employer.
Read moreQuestions
Snow Removal insurance FAQs
Frequently not. Snow and ice work is commonly excluded or separately rated because the slip-and-fall exposure is nothing like grounds maintenance. If you plough in winter it must be disclosed and endorsed, otherwise your highest-risk months are uninsured.
Commonly $1M per occurrence with $2M aggregate, and larger commercial sites often want an umbrella taking total limits to $2M–$5M. The requirement is usually buried in the service agreement, so read it before the first snowfall rather than after.
You can, but it creates a gap. Slip-and-fall claims are reported late, sometimes many months after the incident, and a lapsed policy complicates the question of whether you were covered. Year-round cover avoids the argument.
Other trades
We write these too
General Contractors
Registration, a bond, liability and workers’ comp — general contractors carry more moving parts than any trade we write, and the most contract-driven requirements.
Read moreRoofers
The hardest trade in construction to insure, and the one where carrier appetite narrows fastest.
Read moreElectricians
Low claim frequency, high claim severity.
Read morePlumbers
Every job you touch carries water, and water finds its way into places that cost far more to repair than the work you were paid for.
Read moreStart with your trade. We will take it from there.
Tell us what the business does and we will pre-select the coverage it normally needs, then compare carriers for you. About two minutes, no obligation.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (509) 944-0847.