Workers Compensation for Landscaping Crews in Mauldin, SC

Reviewed by Vic Morgano, licensed SC insurance agent, The Morgano Agency, 206B Pine Knoll Dr, Greenville SC. Updated June 2026. Workers compensation for landscaping crews in Mauldin, SC runs about $7 to $12 per $100 of payroll under NCCI class code 0042 (Landscape Gardening NOC), the rate band the carriers we work with file with the SC Department of Insurance. In our Greenville office we write a lot of lawn-care and grounds crews up and down the I-385 corridor through Mauldin and Simpsonville, and a 4-person crew running about $180,000 in annual payroll usually lands between $13,000 and $22,000 a year, swinging on the experience modifier and prior claims. Most Upstate crews we help mow accounts from Five Forks back into Greenville County, so getting the class code right matters more than the headline rate.

Reviewed by Vic Morgano, founder and licensed South Carolina insurance agent (SC insurance license #612823), The Morgano Agency Inc. Serving Greenville and the Upstate since 1998. Last updated July 01, 2026.

What is the NCCI class code for landscaping in SC?

Most landscaping operations in South Carolina fall under NCCI class code 0042 (Landscape Gardening NOC), which covers lawn maintenance, planting, mulching, pruning, and basic hardscaping. Tree removal is different. Once a crew is up in the canopy with chainsaws it rates under code 0106, which carries a much higher rate, and snow removal, irrigation installation, and pesticide application each have their own codes too. When I sit down with a Mauldin crew I make them walk me through a real week of work, because lumping everything into 0042 or splitting it wrong is the fastest way to either overpay or get burned on an audit. The classification logic the carriers follow comes straight from NCCI.

How much does landscaping workers comp cost in Mauldin SC?

A typical Mauldin SC landscaping operation pays about $7 to $12 per $100 of payroll under NCCI 0042 (Landscape Gardening NOC), so a 4-person crew at $180,000 annual payroll generally runs $13,000 to $22,000 a year. The experience modifier is what moves the needle most. A clean record earns a 0.85 to 0.95 modifier, roughly a 5 to 15 percent discount, while a string of injuries can push the modifier to 1.20 to 1.50, a 20 to 50 percent jump. I have seen two Greenville-area crews with nearly identical payroll pay very different premiums for that exact reason, so the loss history you bring me is as important as the headcount.

Does SC require workers comp for a 4-person landscaping crew?

Yes. South Carolina requires workers compensation for almost every employer with 4 or more regular employees, including landscaping crews, under SC Code Title 42. You hit the threshold the day you put the 4th regular worker on the truck. Sole-proprietor owners and partners can elect to exclude themselves, but employees, and 1099 workers the SC Workers' Compensation Commission later treats as employees, still have to be covered. With seasonal lawn-care outfits around Mauldin and Greenville County I always tell owners to count their peak-season crew, not their slow-month crew, because that is the headcount the state looks at.

Are 1099 landscaping workers covered by workers comp in SC?

Most landscaping workers labeled 1099 in South Carolina get reclassified as employees by the SC Workers' Compensation Commission under a multi-factor test that looks at control, exclusivity, who supplies the tools, and how integrated the worker is in the business. If that happens, you are looking at a retroactive premium audit and penalties. The cleaner path, and the one I steer most Mauldin and Greenville crews toward, is to require any subcontractor to carry their own workers comp policy and hand you a certificate before they ever set foot on a job. That paperwork up front beats an audit surprise every time.

How can a Mauldin landscaper lower workers comp premium?

In our experience the biggest wins come from a few things working together: a documented safety program covering chemical handling, equipment training, and PPE; keeping claim frequency down so the experience modifier improves (a closed claim under $1,000 often will not move your modifier at all); classifying people accurately so no clerical-rate office work gets buried in field-crew payroll; and actually shopping the policy at renewal instead of letting it roll. At The Morgano Agency we review class code assignments line by line for Greenville-area landscaping clients, and pulling a misclassified estimator or office manager out of the 0042 bucket is one of the most common savings I find on Upstate lawn-care policies.

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