Cleaning Business Insurance

Whether your business provides janitorial services or specializes in floor waxing, you need to make sure that your company and staff are fully covered in case of an accident.

Unfortunate events at the workplace are inevitable. Sooner or later, an accident will happen. And while it might not be damage to your customer's property, it could be a road accident on the way to your client's site, or one of your staff can slip, fall, and fracture a bone.

The good news is that you can take out an insurance policy for every risk that your business is exposed to on a daily basis and be fully protected by it.

Generally speaking, yes, you will need a certain level of insurance before you can start a business. Though some states may not legally require you to be insured, there are plenty of others that do, and without a policy in place, you can’t legally trade.

And if that isn’t the case for your state, then it’s worth mentioning that a lot of your clients will likely not hire you without an insurance policy as you might become a liability to them in case of an accident.

The cost of house cleaning insurance will vary from business to business as many variables can determine the final premium that you’d have to pay to insure your company.

However, you can expect to pay around $850 for general liability insurance per year, $1,500 for worker’s compensation insurance per year, and around $1,000 for commercial auto insurance per year.

If you also want to insure any tools and equipment that you need to conduct business, that will cost you around $15 per month or around $180 per year.

There are quite a few insurance types that cleaning companies can take out. Some of the most relevant one's include:

• General liability insurance
• Workers' compensation insurance
• Janitorial bonds
• Commercial auto insurance
• Business owner's insurance

If you run a more specialized cleaning business, then it's worth checking if there are any additional policies you can take out that are specifically relevant to you.

When it comes to insurance policies relevant to the cleaning industry, here are some types of businesses that can benefit from such insurance coverage:

General Cleaners

General cleaners don't tend to specialize in any given area which means they can benefit from a wide range of insurance policies since the risk they're exposed to depends on the task that they're assigned to.
Like house cleaners who have general liability insurance for cleaning business, general cleaners must have general liability insurance in place as a minimum. In most cases, that will be enough to protect themselves against customer claims from bodily injury or damage to property such as scratched floors after moving furniture to conduct cleaning activities.

Floor Waxers

Floor waxers are solely responsible for bringing the flooring within a property back to life, but accidents are still likely to happen when least expected.
From slips and falls leading to bodily injuries to permanent damage to expensive flooring, all such events can lead to a claim or even a lawsuit that will most often than not require financial reimbursement.
When you have insurance in place, your business will be freed from any financial liabilities no matter the accident at hand.

House Cleaners

House cleaners, just like general cleaners, don't tend to specialize in any given area of cleaning. So their liability will vary based on the nature of work they are assigned to.
If they are responsible for cleaning ovens, wiping down and sanitizing worktops, hoovering behind sofas, and other similar tasks, those can all result in both bodily damage and property damage.
The primary insurance policy that should be considered for house cleaners is general liability insurance. This is often enough - unless you have staff, company vehicles, or the state you operate in requires you to have more cover by law.

Janitorial Service Providers

Janitorial service providers are responsible for mopping floors, cleaning toilets and sinks, wiping down windows, recycling the rubbish, just to name a few.
With these responsibilities, various degrees of risk are associated from slipping accidents to property damage, and in some unfortunate cases - theft by employees.
For all those reasons above and more, janitorial service providers need to take out an adequate level of cover to be financially freed from any liability in case of an accident.

Pool Cleaners

Pool cleaners might have quite similar responsibilities on a day-to-day basis, but accidents can still happen. They are often associated with bodily injuries from falls and misuse of equipment or chemicals and property damage often surrounding the pool.
Whether running the pool cleaning business alone or have a number of employees working for you, it's important to get general liability and worker's compensation cover as a base. If you have company cars, then you can throw in commercial auto insurance.

The main benefit of insuring your cleaning business is that it will be freed from any financial liability as a result of any potential lawsuits and claims made against you.

Whether you're a single person running the entire operation or have a team of cleaning operatives, it's essential to get the degree of cover relevant to your circumstances.

In some cases, you can get away with just having general liability insurance in place, but in others, you need to consider worker's compensation insurance, commercial auto insurance, janitorial bonds insurance, and more.

Overall, being insured for every type of risk that you’re exposed to in your day-to-day operations is of crucial importance for growing your cleaning business and moving it in the right direction.