Nevada's C-10 Landscape Contracting class includes planting and maintaining trees, so a landscaper may hold one license for yard work and tree care. Nevada requires industrial insurance, its legal term for workers comp, once a business has one or more employees, and the NSCB wants proof of that policy, or an exemption affidavit, at licensing and renewal.
Nevada's industrial insurance law runs from chapter 616A to chapter 616D of its statutes, and two parts of it meet a landscaper before the first job: coverage starts with a single employee, and the license itself depends on proof of coverage or an exemption affidavit.
| Rule | What It Means for a Landscaper | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | Coverage is mandatory for an employer with one or more employees. | Nevada Division of Industrial Relations |
| Licensing | Proof of industrial insurance, or an exemption affidavit, is needed to obtain, keep, activate or renew a contractor license. | Nevada Revised Statutes 624.256 |
| Principal contractor | Subs, independent contractors and their employees are deemed your employees. | Nevada Revised Statutes 616A.210 |
| Independent-enterprise exception | Not available to a principal contractor licensed under chapter 624, which takes in a licensed landscaper. | Nevada Revised Statutes 616B.603 |
| Officers and LLC managers | An unpaid officer or manager may reject coverage by written notice to the company and the insurer; a paid one who owns the company may reject by notice to the insurer. | Nevada Revised Statutes 616B.624 |
| Sole proprietors and working partners | May elect into coverage. No ownership percentage is stated. | Nevada Revised Statutes 616B.659 |
| License class | C-10 Landscape Contracting, which includes planting and maintaining trees. It is a license class, not a workers comp class code. | Nevada Administrative Code, chapter 624 |
Decide with the carrier whether each owner belongs on the policy. Rules that apply to every Nevada trade are collected on Nevada industrial insurance for contractors.
Landscaping in Nevada is classified under NCCI rules. The state's advisory loss cost files give numbers only, without titles, which is why this site prints no Nevada codes. Your landscape license doesn't settle the classification either; the carrier sets it from the work your crews perform. The workers comp classification codes page shows what each state publishes.
Trees are where a Nevada landscaper may see the line drawn. The license takes in planting and maintaining trees, but a crew that spends its days climbing and cutting may be classified apart from one that mows and plants, depending on the carrier's determination. The Nevada tree service workers compensation page looks at that work on its own.
The Carrier Sets the Classification
Classification depends on what each person actually does and on the carrier's determination. We don't assign or confirm codes. A current Nevada policy's declarations show the codes already in use.
Illustrative scenario
Illustrative only. A Henderson landscaping company holds C-10 Landscape Contracting and runs two maintenance crews and an install crew. Its owner is a paid LLC manager, so the owner's payroll is counted within the yearly range for managers rather than under the per-employee limit. The company's irrigation designer is paid above the limit, so on a policy starting January 1, 2027 only $102,452.16 of that salary counts. For a large HOA install it hires an irrigation sub with no industrial insurance. Those workers count as the landscaper's own under Nevada law, and a licensed contractor gets no help from the independent-enterprise exception. Move the job to Arizona and a supervision-or-control test under a different statute decides the sub question.
Renewing on an Exemption, Then Hiring for Spring
A landscaper who works alone through the winter may renew on an exemption affidavit. The affidavit doesn't stretch to a new hire. Industrial insurance is mandatory from the first employee, so the policy needs to be in force before the spring crew starts, or the affidavit on file with the board no longer matches the business.
Industrial insurance is built around employee injuries. A sprinkler line that floods a client's garage, a pallet of sod dropped on a parked car or a mower trailer that jackknifes on the highway usually needs general liability, equipment coverage or commercial auto. The Arizona irrigation workers comp page shows the same trade one state over, and landscape workers compensation compares all three states.
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The C-10 Landscape Contracting class includes planting and maintaining trees. Trimming and removal don't appear in the scope as we read it, so put that question to the NSCB before you bid. For industrial insurance, the carrier classifies tree hours by what the crew does, whatever the license says.
Coverage becomes mandatory once you have one or more employees. While you work solo you may opt in as a sole proprietor or stay out, and staying out means filing an exemption affidavit with the board when you license or renew. Your first helper ends that option.
It may be. As the principal contractor, you are treated as the employer of your subs and their workers, and holding a chapter 624 license takes the independent-enterprise exception off the table. Get a current certificate from each irrigation, tree or hardscape sub first.
Pay above the per-employee limit isn't counted, so the limit matters only for people who earn more than it. For a landscaper, any effect can sit with salaried managers or designers, while crew members paid below the limit count in full. Loss costs were lowered at the same time, so check your own mix of pay rather than the statewide picture.
That depends on your role. An officer or LLC manager who takes no pay can opt out in writing, with notice going to the company and its insurer; one who is paid and owns the company sends notice to the insurer. A sole proprietor is outside unless electing in. Weigh the lost benefits with the carrier before you act.
12 official sources
Reviewed by David Gleason, Principal, on .
Next Level Experience. Insurance Done Right.
Nevada landscaping industrial insurance, from the first hire to the payroll limit.
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