Before a larger job is awarded, the other side checks the business. With property managers and councils this happens formally, with forms and deadlines; with private clients it happens quietly, in the evening at the kitchen table, phone in hand. In both cases the website is the first stop. People look there for signs that they are not taking a risk: is there liability cover? Is the business entered in the craft register? Who is allowed to use the chainsaw, who may apply plant protection products? Because these questions are rarely asked out loud, the way they are answered on the page decides whether an enquiry arrives at all. At the same time this is the part of a website where firms most easily expose themselves: one word too many, a seal used without permission, a title tied to a person who left years ago — and what was meant as reassurance becomes a legal risk. This article sorts out which credentials actually exist in landscape gardening, which belong in public, which belong only in a quotation, and how to word both so they survive scrutiny.
Key takeaways
- Liability cover is not a general legal requirement for landscaping firms in Germany, yet commercial clients ask for confirmation before awarding work; the website should state that cover exists — not display the policy itself.
- Landscape gardening is a licence-free trade under Annex B1 of the German Crafts Code: the business is entered in the craft register, a master title is not required for that and must not be claimed without a master craftsman on the team.
- Using a quality mark without permission, or claiming approval by a body that never gave it, is unlawful under the Annex to Section 3 (3) of the Unfair Competition Act regardless of whether anyone was actually misled.
- Proof of competence is tied to individuals and expires: plant protection competence requires a recognised refresher every three years, and chainsaw, first aid or tree inspection credentials leave with the employees who hold them.
- For commercial work the paperwork matters more than the self-description: the exemption certificate under Section 48b of the Income Tax Act, clearance certificates and subcontractor declarations belong with the quotation, not on a public page.
What gets checked before the job arrives
Two very different checks run side by side in landscape gardening. One is formal: a housing association, a developer or a municipality works through a list, asks for certificates with issue dates and files them in the procurement record. The other is invisible: a couple sits down one evening over their terrace plans, reads three websites and decides whom to call. That second check asks no questions; it looks for reassurance — the impression of a properly run business that would stand behind a mistake.
Both checks draw on the same foundation, but they need different presentation. The formal check wants documents, preferably bundled, preferably current, and not published online but attached to the quotation. The quiet check wants sentences it can understand. Mixing the two makes life harder: an uploaded insurance policy with a contract number reassures nobody, and the phrase “all certificates available” is worthless in a procurement file.
For the website that means one findable, factually worded overview of what the business can evidence — plus a process by which the actual documents go out on request. The overview belongs near the service pages and the page about the business, not tucked into a footer. Anyone describing their services should be able to answer in the same breath who is qualified to carry them out.
Insurance cover
Public liability, where relevant environmental and contract works cover, vehicle and machinery insurance. Of interest to every client who fears damage to their property.
Business status
Entry in the craft register, chamber membership, commercial register where the legal form requires it, trade registration. Evidence that the business is properly constituted.
Qualifications
Master craftsman, technician, specialist agricultural qualifications, completed apprenticeships. Tied to individuals and therefore only nameable while those people work there.
Competence per trade
Plant protection licence, chainsaw and rope climbing training, tree inspection, first aid, load securing. Requirements differ sharply from one trade to the next.
Tax and social security
Exemption certificate under Section 48b of the Income Tax Act, clearance certificates from the tax office, the employers' liability insurance body and health insurers. Almost exclusively relevant to commercial clients.
Association membership
Membership of a regional association within the German landscaping federation or of a quality assurance group. Nameable only while the membership actually lasts.
Liability cover: the document asked for most often
Public liability insurance is not a general statutory duty for landscaping businesses in Germany, unlike motor liability cover for the firm's vehicles. In practice it is nonetheless the precondition for almost any job beyond the smallest: those who dig can strike buried services; those who fell trees can damage roofs and vehicles; those who pave change how a plot drains. Clients know this and ask accordingly.
The decisive distinction for a website is between “we are insured” and “what exactly is covered”. The first sentence reassures and is unproblematic as long as it is true. The second is a contractual detail that can change and that will be measured against the policy in a dispute. Naming cover limits on the website therefore only makes sense if they are accurate, current and dated — otherwise the page carries a promise the contract no longer keeps.
Particular care is needed with cover that is not automatic. Environmental damage, damage to the very object being worked on, damage to underground services during excavation, contract works cover, winter maintenance as a separate risk: these are modules a policy may or may not include. Holding them out in general terms without having them creates a double exposure — the loss itself, and the accusation of having promised protection against it.
“Fully insured” is a risk, not a term
The craft register and the words master craftsman
Landscape gardening is one of the licence-free trades listed in Annex B1 of the German Crafts Code. The business is entered in the craft register held by the competent Chamber of Crafts, but a master title is not a precondition for that entry. This arrangement regularly causes misunderstandings in both directions — one firm believes it may say nothing at all about its registration, another derives from it a title it is not entitled to use.
The correct position is this. Entry in the craft register is a fact that may be stated, together with the chamber and the date. It does not, however, evidence craft qualification in the sense of an examination; it evidences proper registration of the business. The term master craftsman business by contrast is a statement about people. It is permissible where a master of the relevant trade actually works in the business and shapes the work — the owner, a partner or an employed specialist. If that person leaves, the claim has to come off the website, and not merely at the next relaunch.
The same applies to additions that sound like an assessment without being one. “Approved specialist”, “certified partner”, “recognised expert”: such wording suggests that some body has confirmed something. If that body does not exist, or confirmed nothing, the claim is open to challenge. Anyone holding a genuine qualification — master craftsman, technician, specialist in tree care, certified natural stone layer — should spell it out rather than reach for collective terms that say less and carry more risk.
| Claim on the website | Permissible where | Evidence on file |
|---|---|---|
| Entered in the craft register | the entry with the competent chamber exists | Craft card or chamber notice |
| Master craftsman business | a master of the trade works in the business | Master certificate plus proof of involvement |
| Training business | the right to train exists and is being used | Registration of the apprenticeship |
| Competent in plant protection | a valid competence certificate is held | Certificate plus date of last refresher |
| Member of the trade association | the membership currently exists | Fee notice for the current year |
| Public liability cover in place | the policy is running and covers the work | Dated insurance confirmation |
Competence is tied to people and it expires
Most credentials that genuinely count in landscaping attach to people rather than to the business. The plant protection competence certificate belongs to an individual, as do chainsaw training, rope climbing technique in tree care, tree inspection qualifications, first aid training and authorisation to operate access platforms. For external presentation that produces an uncomfortable rule: whatever the website says has to move with the payroll.
On top of that, competence can carry an expiry date. Plant protection competence requires a recognised refresher course at intervals of three years (Plant Protection Competence Ordinance). Letting the deadline pass does not erase the original training, but the competence no longer counts as maintained — and the sentence on the website becomes a mere assertion. Safety courses carry their own refresher intervals depending on provider and activity, which a business has to track internally in any case.
In practice this is solved with a simple list recording, for each credential, the person, the issue date, the expiry or next refresher, and where the document is filed. Working through that list once a year keeps the website current as a by-product. For firms with pronounced specialisms it is worth separating by area — the requirements in tree care differ markedly from those in commercial grounds maintenance.
- Plant protection competence per person, with the date of the last recognised refresher
- Chainsaw training, graded by activity from firewood through to felling in standing timber
- Rope climbing technique for tree care, including rescue practice and refresher dates
- Tree inspection qualification for firms that assess traffic safety of trees
- First aiders on the team, in numbers matching the workforce, with refresher dates
- Authorisations for access platforms, loaders, trailer operation and load securing
- Trainer aptitude, where the business trains apprentices or intends to
- Credentials of former employees kept as a separate section so they are not counted
What commercial and public clients additionally require
As soon as property managers, developers, housing companies or municipalities appear among the clients, the subject shifts from presentation to paperwork. The document requested most often is the exemption certificate under Section 48b of the Income Tax Act. The background is the construction withholding tax: business clients must withhold and remit 15 percent of the consideration for construction work unless a valid exemption certificate is presented (Section 48 Income Tax Act). The certificate is issued by the tax office and is valid for at most three years (Section 48b Income Tax Act).
Whether a service counts as construction work in this sense depends on the trade. Excavation, paving and drainage work typically do, because they create or alter the substance of a structure; recurring grounds maintenance regularly does not. Mixed contracts become murky, which is why the classification should be examined case by case. For the business the consequence is simple: anyone working in the commercial segment keeps the certificate to hand and supplies it unprompted — that avoids follow-up questions and noticeably speeds up the award (project experience).
Then come clearance certificates: from the tax office regarding taxes, from the employers' liability insurance body — in landscaping the social insurance institution for agriculture, forestry and horticulture — regarding contributions, and where applicable from health insurers regarding social security payments. Public clients additionally require self-declarations of suitability, declarations on minimum pay under regional procurement acts, and details of subcontractors. Firms that tender regularly can register in a directory of pre-qualified companies and thereby replace part of the individual evidence.
credentials/
01-business/
craft-register-entry.pdf chamber, date
trade-registration.pdf
commercial-register-extract.pdf if legal form requires
02-insurance/
public-liability-confirmation.pdf valid until DD.MM.YYYY
cover-overview-internal.pdf do not hand out
03-tax-social-security/
exemption-certificate-48b.pdf valid until DD.MM.YYYY
clearance-tax-office.pdf
clearance-employers-liability.pdf
04-people/
master-certificate-owner.pdf
plant-protection/ per person, with refresher date
chainsaw-rope-climbing/
first-aid/
05-quotation-pack/
pack-commercial.pdf bundle for tenders
status.txt last reviewed onWhat you must not claim
The legal frame for statements about your own business sits in the German Act Against Unfair Competition. Under Section 5 UWG a commercial practice is misleading where it contains untrue statements or statements liable to deceive — for instance about the trader's capability, qualification, authorisation or awards. That covers not only outright falsehoods but also wording that creates an impression reality does not support.
Stricter still is the Annex to Section 3 (3) UWG, the list of practices that are unlawful in all circumstances. It includes using a quality mark or similar without the required permission, and untruthfully claiming that a trader, their goods or their services have been approved, endorsed or authorised by a public or private body. For these cases it no longer matters whether anyone was in fact deceived — they are prohibited outright.
In practice the problem is rarely brazen invention; it is convenience. An association logo stays on the page after the firm leaves. A seal from a programme that ended years ago still decorates the home page. “We work to the recognised rules of technology” quietly becomes “standards-certified”, although technical standards do not certify businesses. A manufacturer's training day turns into “authorised specialist”. Such sentences are not written in bad faith — but they are open to challenge, by competitors and associations alike.
The test sentence for every claim
How credentials should appear on the website
The most effective format is a calm page of its own with a title people search for: qualifications and cover, credentials, about the business. It carries short, verifiable sentences in a fixed order — business status, insurance cover, qualifications of individuals, competence per trade, what is available on request. At the end, a review date. Link that page from the page about the business, from the service pages and from the quotation process; it need not sit in the main navigation, but it must be findable.
Attribution matters more than completeness. A list of eight abbreviations tells a private client nothing. A sentence such as “Felling within standing timber is carried out by staff trained in rope climbing technique” says exactly what counts. Translate every qualification into the activity it permits — that is also the sentence a client will later quote when justifying the award internally.
The second effect concerns the enquiries themselves. When the website states which documents accompany a quotation, enquiries arrive with fewer open questions. An enquiry form that pre-qualifies can ask about the type of client straight away — private, property manager, public body — and show the matching note about credentials depending on the answer. For firms with a share of tender work that saves a noticeable amount of phone time each year (project experience).
Credentials do not convince by their number but by each one matching the work it is named for.
Which documents do not belong online
The temptation to photograph certificates and upload them is strong — it looks like proof. It creates two problems. First, such documents contain personal data: master certificates and competence records name individuals, often with date and place of birth; tax office confirmations show the tax number; insurance confirmations show the policy number. None of that belongs in a publicly retrievable file, least of all for employees who never agreed to it.
Second, scans age silently. An uploaded document stays retrievable long after the certificate has expired — and then becomes evidence that outdated claims were being advertised. The better route is a statement on the page plus a process: credentials on request, a bundle with the quotation, and where useful a protected area for recurring commercial clients. The effort is modest and fits into ongoing website maintenance.
Logos and marks belonging to other organisations are additionally subject to usage rules. Association marks, quality marks and training seals may generally be used only in line with the owner's conditions and only for as long as the membership or certification lasts. Anyone displaying a mark should file the corresponding usage rules alongside the membership evidence — then the annual review shows immediately whether it may stay.
The annual review: staying current without a project
Credentials age quietly. Nobody notices that an exemption certificate has run out until a client asks for it; nobody thinks of the website when a specialist leaves. The most effective part of this subject is therefore organisational rather than legal: one fixed date each year on which the folder and the website are laid side by side. Winter suits it, because documents are being sorted anyway.
For a mid-sized business such a review takes a few hours once the filing is in place. It also has a side effect beyond the website: you see where competence is thinly staffed. If only one person holds plant protection competence, that is an operational risk better discovered in January than in May.
Take stock
Enter every existing credential into one list: type, person or business, issue date, expiry or next refresher, filing location. Once created, that list is the basis for everything else.
Hold the website against it
Match every statement on the website to a line in the list. Anything that cannot be matched is deleted or reworded. Check former employees and ended memberships first.
Review the language
Work through words such as certified, approved, authorised and fully insured one by one. Ask in each case who assessed or confirmed it. Where no body exists, rewrite the claim as a description of fact.
Refresh the quotation pack
Bring the exemption certificate, insurance confirmation and clearance certificates up to date and bundle them into one compilation that accompanies the quotation.
Set the review date
Put a date on the credentials page and the next appointment in the calendar. The date looks professional externally and reminds you internally when the next round is due.
Running through this a second time, you notice it consists only of small corrections. That is the real gain: credentials become routine rather than a special project and are ready precisely when an administration asks for them at short notice. For the website it means that a section untouched for years at many firms now reliably holds up — readable too in the frequently asked questions when clients want to check before enquiring.