How to Verify a Tree Service Is Insured (and Whether It Needs a Licence) in Tennessee

Why insurance, not a licence, is the thing to check

Tree work is unusual among home services: there is no Tennessee state licence for it. Electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors have licence boards and lookup tools; tree companies do not. The state contractor licence exists, but the statute defines a "contractor" as someone who undertakes "the construction, alteration, repair, improvement, movement, demolition, putting up, tearing down or furnishing labor to install material or equipment for any building, highway, road ... or any other construction undertaking for which the total cost is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more" (Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-6-102(4)(A)(i)). The Board for Licensing Contractors' own page puts it as a licence "for projects of $25,000 or more when acting as a prime contractor". Neither mentions tree work, and almost no residential tree job approaches the figure. (Tennessee also licenses home-improvement contractors for smaller jobs in some counties; we have not reviewed whether tree work falls under it — the Board can say.)

What tree work does have is risk. A climber fifty feet up over your roof with a running saw, a two-ton trunk section on a rope, a chipper at the curb — if any of that goes wrong and the company is not insured, the loss lands on you. The check below is built around that reality.

The ten-minute verification, step by step

1. Ask for the certificate of insurance before the visit. Email or text: "Please send your current certificate of insurance showing general liability and workers' compensation." A real company has a PDF (an ACORD 25 form) and sends it the same day.
2. Read the certificate: two coverages, two dates. Confirm it lists General Liability AND Workers' Compensation with policy numbers and expiration dates after your job date. Many small tree crews carry liability only — that leaves an injured climber's claim pointed at your homeowner's policy.
3. Call the insurance agent on the certificate, not the company. The agent's phone number is printed on the form. Ask whether the policy is active today. Certificates are easy to fake or let lapse; the agent's answer is not.
4. Check the business exists with the Tennessee Secretary of State. Search the business name on the Secretary of State's business entity search (sos.tn.gov). You want an active LLC or corporation whose name matches the certificate. A mismatch is a question to ask, not automatically a deal-breaker — some crews operate under a trade name.
5. Apply the Tennessee contractor-licence test. Tennessee requires a state contractor licence when a project's total cost is $25,000 or more. Almost no residential tree job reaches that; a lot clearing can. If yours might, ask for the licence number and verify it on the Department of Commerce & Insurance's licence search (verify.tn.gov). Tennessee also has a separate home-improvement contractor licence for smaller jobs in some counties, which we have not reviewed — ask the Board if your job is large.
6. Ask about Chattanooga registration (inside city limits). Chattanooga's 2025 ordinance requires anyone paid to work on a tree over 12 inches in diameter to register with the Urban Forestry Program, hold a City business licence and carry liability insurance (Sec. 32-318). Ask; call 311 to confirm if the answer is vague.
7. If the job is about the tree's health, check the arborist credential. If the company says a certified arborist will be on site, ask for the name and look it up on the ISA "Find an Arborist" / credential verification tool. ISA Certified Arborist is the one tree credential that is tested and renewable.

Reading the certificate of insurance

The document you will receive is almost always an ACORD 25 "Certificate of Liability Insurance" — a one-page form every insurance agent can generate. What to look at:

• Insured. The company's legal name. It should match the name you are contracting with and the name at the Secretary of State.
• Commercial General Liability. A policy number, an effective date and an expiration date. This covers damage to property — yours and your neighbors'.
• Workers' Compensation and Employers' Liability. A separate line, often missing on small crews. Without it, an injured worker's claim can come to you.
• Producer. The insurance agency, with a phone number. This is who you call to confirm the policy is active today. A certificate shows a moment in time; policies lapse for non-payment and the certificate keeps circulating.
• Certificate holder. Ask to be named here. It costs the company nothing and means you are notified if the policy is cancelled before your job.

Chattanooga's own requirement: the Sec. 32-318 registry

Inside Chattanooga city limits the 2025 Tree Ordinance adds a local layer. Sec. 32-318 requires "all individuals or companies intending to do tree work for hire on any tree over twelve (12) inches DBH within the city" to register online with the Urban Forestry Program, hold a City of Chattanooga business licence, and provide proof of liability insurance "in the maximum amount of the applicable limits of liability for governmental entities under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act". Unregistered companies can be issued a stop-work order and fined — the company, the ordinance says, "not the property owner". The ordinance also says registered companies "shall be listed publicly"; as of October 25, 2026 we could not find that list on the City's site, so ask the company and confirm with 311. The rest of the ordinance is on the permit rules page.

When the licence threshold does matter

Three situations push a tree job toward $25,000: clearing a wooded lot for construction, removing many large trees at once on an estate-size property, and storm damage where the tree work is bundled with structural repair. In the first and third the licence question usually attaches to the builder or roofer who is the prime contractor, not the tree crew. If you are contracting the tree work directly and the total approaches the threshold, ask for a licence number and check it on the Department of Commerce & Insurance's licence verification site before you sign. The Board's page also notes a licence is required before "bidding, offering to engage, or negotiating a price" on such a project — so the question is fair to ask at the quote stage.

What "certified arborist" does and doesn't mean

ISA Certified Arborist is a credential from the International Society of Arboriculture: an exam, continuing-education requirements, and a public lookup by name. It signals that a specific person knows tree biology and pruning standards. It does not insure anything, and a company with one certified arborist may send a crew without one. Ask for the name of the person who will be on site, look it up, and treat it as a plus for health and pruning work rather than a requirement for a removal. For which jobs it matters, see tree trimming in Chattanooga.