Benefits for landscaping companies whose crews change with the season

Ares Benefit Group works with landscaping and lawn-care companies of about 2 to 50 employees. We design around crew leaders, laborers, irrigation or enhancement specialists, and a small office, and we treat seasonal and part-time hours as a core fact, not a footnote.

How landscaping companies actually staff

• Seasonal and part-time hours are common. You may have a year-round core and a larger crew for peak months. Part-time and seasonal eligibility should be set on purpose. A QSEHRA may exclude part-time or seasonal employees under the federal rules; an ICHRA can be offered to a part-time or seasonal class, or not, as you choose within those rules.
• Crews work at other people's properties. People are not sitting next to the same clinic. If your crew lives across a wide service area, compare a local group network with an ICHRA, where each employee chooses individual coverage where they live.
• Weather and storm work change the week. Overtime after a storm does not, by itself, change whether someone is an employee. It can change hours that go into a full-time-equivalent count. Keep a current hours list.
• 1099 versus W-2. Some firms use day labor or treat crew as contractors. Classification follows IRS rules. Benefits are for employees. See the fuller discussion on the construction page.
• Florida and out-of-state work. A Tampa landscaping company may be year-round at home and still send an install crew elsewhere. Bring the states. See multi-state teams and Tampa Bay employers.

Structures we compare for a team this size

The usual decision for a landscaping firm this size is how to cover a year-round core without creating a plan that breaks when peak-season hires arrive. Group coverage, an ICHRA, and a QSEHRA each handle that problem differently.

• SHOP and other group coverage, when you want one employer-sponsored medical plan and you can meet eligibility and participation rules.
• A level-funded arrangement, when a carrier offers one for your census. We compare it with fully insured group coverage. We do not treat either as automatically better.
• An ICHRA, when you want a set contribution and employees choose individual coverage. Classes can be used, within federal rules, for full-time and part-time staff, hourly and salaried people, work locations, or a waiting period. It is for employees, not for a self-employed owner.
• A QSEHRA, when you are not an applicable large employer and you are not offering a group health plan. Annual contribution caps are set by the IRS. See ICHRA vs QSEHRA if both appear to be on the table.
• Section 125 for pre-tax employee premium contributions on a group plan. A QSEHRA cannot be funded by salary reduction.
• Group life and disability and voluntary benefits, designed alongside medical coverage rather than as an afterthought.

There is no federal requirement that a company under 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, offer health coverage. If you have fewer than 25 full-time equivalents and you meet the wage, contribution, and SHOP rules, you may also want to look at the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.

Recruiting and keeping a core crew

If you lose crew leaders every spring to a firm that contributes to coverage, the offer itself needs to be specific: who is eligible in the off-season, what you contribute, and when a seasonal hire can join. We will help you write that down once the structure is chosen. We will not invent seasonal turnover figures.

What to send us

A roster with roles, hire dates, typical hours in peak and slow months, and the counties or states you work in. Mark year-round employees and seasonal hires separately if you can.

Tell us about your landscaping team

Our agents are licensed in all 50 states.