Most insured house cleaners aren't missing a policy. What catches them is what general liability leaves out: the vase in their hands, the rug they're shampooing, the key they lost. Before you buy on price, ask whether the policy excludes property in your care, custody or control, and get the answer by email. The who pays page works through 12 incidents, from the vase to the missing ring, against what carriers, brokers and platforms publish.
This site covers one trade: cleaning other people's homes. Solo cleaners, small maid services and short-term rental turnover crews get into trouble the same few ways, and every page here is built around them: a wet kitchen floor, a crystal vase, a ring of client keys, a marble counter and the wrong spray bottle, a fender bender between jobs. We're not an insurer and we don't sell policies. Every number and legal requirement links to the page it came from, and the about page explains how we check them.
Six coverages, and the claim each one answers
General liability pays when your work injures a client or damages their property. Insureon's house cleaner page names the two classic claims: a client who slips on a wet floor, and a cleaner who accidentally damages a customer's property. The general liability page covers what it pays, where it stops and how much to carry.
Two holes in general liability hit cleaners hardest. Many forms exclude property in your "care, custody or control," and NerdWallet's example is what you do all day: holding a vase to clean it. An endorsement often called bailee coverage closes that one (see the care, custody and control guide). The other is the key ring. Lost key coverage pays to rekey a client's locks, and Insureon describes it as usually an endorsement to general liability (see the lost key guide).
A janitorial bond pays your client when an employee steals, and it isn't insurance for you. Insureon says that unlike a typical policy, you must pay this amount back to the insurer. The bonded and insured page explains what the phrase buys you, and the janitorial bond page covers where to buy one and what it costs.
The Hartford says most personal auto insurance policies don't cover property damage or bodily injury from driving your personal vehicle for work. Insureon calls hired and non-owned auto "a must" if you drive your own car to jobs. A business-owned car or van needs commercial auto.
Workers' comp pays medical bills and lost wages when someone on your crew gets hurt. Whether you must carry it depends on your state and headcount, and Insureon also recommends it for sole proprietors, because health insurance plans can deny claims. The workers' comp guide has the rules.
The coverage page goes through every policy a cleaning business can buy and the order to add them.
What it costs, and why the sources disagree
These are the median monthly premiums Insureon reports for house cleaning businesses that buy through it. Insureon says most of those customers have fewer than five employees and five or fewer years in business, so treat them as a small-operator benchmark.
| Policy | Median monthly premium | Median annual premium |
|---|---|---|
| General liability | $51 | $608 |
| Janitorial bond | $9 | $112 |
| Business owner's policy (BOP) | $79 | $945 |
| Commercial umbrella | $72 | $859 |
| Workers' compensation | $100 | $1,204 |
| Commercial auto | $268 | $3,218 |
Other sources land elsewhere. Thimble puts general liability for cleaners at $6 an hour to $38 a month. MoneyGeek's modeled average for a house cleaning service with one to four employees is $112 a month. Simply Business lists $42 as a median, while its "from $20.83" headline is a 10th percentile of its policies. The cost page explains why the sources disagree, and the insurer comparison lists what each company publishes.
No single law requires it, but your clients will
No state has a single "house cleaning insurance" law. What you must carry comes from state workers' comp rules, a general business license and whatever your clients write into their contracts.
Workers' comp is set state by state. California requires it even if you have only one employee. Some states put the duty on the household instead: in New York, a family that employs a domestic worker forty or more hours per week must carry it.
Licensing is mostly a general business license, which Insureon says most states require. California's janitorial registration exempts anyone who only cleans residential dwellings, so taking on office clients may change your paperwork. The cleaning business license page has the details.
Clients are the third source. One Los Angeles HOA requires every vendor working in residential units to submit a certificate of insurance showing general liability of at least $1 million. The certificate of insurance guide covers those requests. An office account raises the limits and, in California, may change the registration; see janitorial insurance.
An app's guarantee is not insurance
Thumbtack's guarantee terms say in capital letters that the guarantee is not insurance. Airbnb's host liability cover includes cleaners, but only for events during a guest's stay. The apps and platforms guide compares Handy, Thumbtack, Airbnb and Turno.
Guides for the job in front of you
- Care, custody and control: the vase you're holding versus the one you bump.
- Lost key coverage: client keys, lockboxes and who pays to rekey.
- Workers' comp for cleaning businesses: state thresholds and domestic worker rules.
- Self-employed cleaner insurance: what a one-person business needs first.
- How to start a cleaning business: registering, insuring and pricing, in order.
- Cleaning apps and platforms: what the app covers and what it doesn't.
- Certificates of insurance: HOAs and property managers.
The guides page lists them all.