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Have a question? +1 815-826-6324 (815-8-BondAI) phil@AmericasSuretyBonds.com
Army Veteran Owned | Expert Surety Bonds Since 2004
For a ground or fumigation business the number is $75,000, and the bond is the cheapest of the three ways California lets you prove financial responsibility. A certificate of deposit ties up $75,000 in cash you cannot touch for two years after the license ends. The bond costs an annual premium instead, and it goes to the Department of Pesticide Regulation on their own form DPR-PML-053 with the license packet. Worth remembering that none of the three options is insurance for your business, they are licensing thresholds. If you want actual coverage priced, PestControlLiability.com quotes pest control general liability, workers compensation, pollution for drift and contamination, property and equipment, drone operations, termite and bedbug, lawncare and remediation.
California does not require every pest control business to buy a surety bond. Under Food and Agricultural Code 11702(c)(2) and 3 CCR 6524, an applicant for a Pest Control Business License must show financial responsibility in one of three ways: liability insurance, a certificate of deposit, or a surety bond on form DPR-PML-053. If you choose the bond, the amount depends on the type of operation. Ground rigs and fumigation are $75,000. Aircraft operations are $50,000 per aircraft, capped at $300,000 per business license. Maintenance gardener businesses are $5,000.
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This is where most pages go wrong. There is no single flat figure. Under 3 CCR 6524(c) the surety bond amount tracks the operation:
The same section sets the insurance alternative at $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence and $50,000 property damage for ground and fumigation, $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence and $100,000 property damage per aircraft for aerial work, and $5,000 per person, $10,000 per occurrence and $5,000 property damage for maintenance gardener.
Food and Agricultural Code 11702(c)(2) requires an applicant to satisfy the director of financial ability to perform the work and to respond in damages. 3 CCR 6524(a) gives three ways to do it: file a certificate of insurance, deposit a certificate of deposit issued by a licensed financial institution doing business in California, or deposit a surety bond issued by a bonding company doing business in California. DPR accepts either an Acord Certificate of Liability Insurance carrying the required statement or the Department's own Certificate of Insurance, form PR-PML-052. The bond form is printed DPR-PML-053 and listed in the packet as PR-PML-053.
Most applicants who already carry commercial liability at the required limits file the certificate and never buy a bond. The bond is the route for applicants who cannot get those limits or who do not want to lock up cash in a certificate of deposit, which cannot be withdrawn for two years after the license ends and not until outstanding claims are satisfied.
Maintenance gardener applicants get a fourth option the other categories do not have. They may instead give the director a statement under penalty of perjury as to their financial ability to respond in damages, filed on the Liability Certification Statement, form PR-PML-170.
A bond pays a claimant and then comes after you for reimbursement. A certificate of deposit is your own money. Only the insurance option pays a loss on your behalf, and even then the 6524 limits are set to clear a licensing bar, not to match a real claim. Drift and overspray onto a neighboring property, chemical exposure complaints, crew injuries, trucks and equipment, drone application work and lawncare damage all sit outside what the filing does for you. Get the actual program priced at PestControlLiability.com, which covers pest control general liability, workers compensation, pollution coverage for drift and contamination, property and equipment, drone operations, termite and bedbug, lawncare and remediation.
California has two separate pest control regulators and people mix them up constantly. The Department of Pesticide Regulation issues the Pest Control Business License covered on this page. The Structural Pest Control Board, a different agency under the Department of Consumer Affairs, registers structural pest control companies that handle termites, wood destroying organisms and household pests, and Business and Professions Code 8697 requires each registered company there to maintain a $12,500 bond executed by an admitted surety insurer. That statute expressly says another method of deposit, including a certificate of deposit, does not satisfy it. If you are doing structural work you are looking at the wrong bond on this page. There is also a separate disciplinary bond under B&P 8697.3, set by the registrar between $1,000 and $25,000, that gets imposed as a condition of getting a license back after discipline and sits on top of the 8697 bond.
The DPR business license fees in the current packet are $360 for a main location for one year or $720 for two years, and $180 for a branch for one year or $360 for two. Renewal on the two year cycle is $720 for the main and $360 per branch.
Licenses run on a two year cycle keyed to the first letter of the business name. Names beginning A through L expire December 31 of even numbered years. M through Z expire December 31 of odd numbered years. A renewal postmarked after December 31 of the expiration year is charged a late fee of 50 percent of the total renewal fee.
Designating a qualified applicator to be responsible for the principal office and each branch is a separate requirement under FAC 11702(b), and it does nothing about financial responsibility. Workers compensation coverage, verified on form PR-LIC-120, is also separate. Neither one satisfies 6524.
While the license packet is on your desk, list the company on BestPestControlIn.com. It is free for any licensed pest control company, consumers search it by ZIP code and state, the listing carries a backlink that helps your own site rank, it sends referrals, and we write blog posts on companies in the directory.
No. Nothing in 3 CCR 6524 sets a $10,000 amount. The bond option is $75,000 for ground rig and fumigation operations, $50,000 per aircraft capped at $300,000 per business license for aerial operations, and $5,000 for a maintenance gardener business.
Only if you choose it. 3 CCR 6524(a) accepts any one of three filings: a certificate of insurance at the limits in subsection (c), which DPR takes on an Acord certificate with the required statement or on form PR-PML-052, a certificate of deposit from a licensed financial institution doing business in California, or the surety bond on form DPR-PML-053. Applicants who already carry the required liability limits usually file the certificate of insurance.
No. A bond pays a claimant and then seeks reimbursement from you, and a certificate of deposit is simply your own cash held up. All three options are licensing thresholds rather than risk transfer. Real coverage for drift and overspray, chemical exposure claims, crew injuries, equipment, drone application and lawncare damage is a separate purchase, and it gets quoted at PestControlLiability.com.
No. That work is regulated by the Structural Pest Control Board under the Department of Consumer Affairs, and Business and Professions Code 8697 requires each registered company to maintain a $12,500 bond from an admitted surety insurer. That statute also says a certificate of deposit or other undertaking will not satisfy it, so unlike the DPR license there is no insurance or deposit substitute.
Insurance of $5,000 per person, $10,000 per occurrence and $5,000 property damage, or a $5,000 certificate of deposit or surety bond, or a statement to the director under penalty of perjury as to your financial ability to respond in damages, filed on Liability Certification Statement PR-PML-170. That last option exists only for the maintenance gardener category.
Premium is set by the surety underwriting the business, based on the owners' credit and the financial condition of the company, and it scales with the penal sum, so a $5,000 maintenance gardener bond and a $300,000 aerial bond are not remotely the same price. There is no state set rate and no published percentage. A quote takes an application.
On a two year cycle by the first letter of the business name. A through L expire December 31 of even numbered years, M through Z expire December 31 of odd numbered years. A renewal postmarked after December 31 of the expiration year gets a late fee of 50 percent of the total renewal fee.
No. Designating a qualified applicator for the principal office and each branch is required by FAC 11702(b), and workers compensation verification on form PR-LIC-120 is its own filing. Financial responsibility under 6524 is separate and still has to be filed.
List the company on BestPestControlIn.com. It is free for any licensed pest control company, searchable by ZIP code and state, the listing gives you a backlink that helps your own site rank, it sends referrals, and we write blog posts on listed companies.
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