Cleaning business insurance: every policy and the order to buy them

Standard general liability leaves out the thing a cleaner does all day, which is handle other people's belongings. Fix that gap before anything else. Then list the ways a cleaning business can lose a lot of money in one afternoon and match a policy to each. For a house cleaner or small maid service, the list runs like this:

1. A client, or a client's toddler, slips on the floor you just mopped.
2. You drop a vase you picked up to dust, or etch a marble counter with the wrong product.
3. A client's keys go missing, or a client says a ring from the dresser did.
4. You rear-end someone driving between homes.
5. Someone takes the vacuum out of your car while you're inside.
6. You or a helper wrench a back carrying a full mop bucket up the stairs.

Each of those lands on a different policy, or on none if you bought the wrong one. A quote headed "cleaning business insurance" is a bundle of separate coverages, and each one has its own exclusions.

General liability

General liability (GL) is the policy clients ask for and the one to buy first. It pays when your work injures someone who doesn't work for you or damages property that isn't yours. Insureon's examples for house cleaners are a client who slips on a wet floor and a cleaner who accidentally damages a customer's property. The Hartford adds claims where your cleaning supplies or chemicals made a client sick.

Limits come as a pair: a per-occurrence limit for any one claim and an aggregate for the whole policy period. Insureon says 87% of cleaning business owners who buy GL through it choose $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate.

GL doesn't cover your own injuries, your car, your equipment or theft, and the standard version has a hole right where cleaners work, covered next. The general liability page goes through claims, limits and prices in detail.

Care, custody or control (bailee): the gap in general liability

Insureon's glossary says the care, custody or control exclusion bars coverage for someone else's property damaged while it's in your care, custody or control. For a cleaner, that describes most of the working day. NerdWallet applies it to cleaning: "Standard general liability policies exclude property damaged while in your physical care," like holding a vase to clean it.

The fix has several names and no published price. NerdWallet calls it a care, custody or control add-on, "also called a 'Bailee's' endorsement." ERGO NEXT's glossary calls it bailee coverage, and Insureon's house cleaner FAQ recommends bailee insurance alongside general liability. Thimble says its cleaning business insurance automatically comes with this coverage and sells customer property protection as an endorsement.

One limit on the exclusion: Insureon says it doesn't apply to real property, which includes buildings and permanently attached fixtures. Whether that helps with a damaged countertop depends on your policy's wording, and insurers describe surface damage differently, as the general liability page shows. The care, custody and control guide goes deeper.

Ask for it as a separate line on the quote, so you can see what it costs.

Lost key coverage

If you carry client keys or know lockbox and alarm codes, one lost key ring can mean a rekeying bill for every house on it. Insureon says lost key coverage pays the cost of replacing locks if a client's keys are lost or stolen, and that it's usually an endorsement to general liability. Its example is a custodian who accidentally tosses a client's keys "out with the trash."

It has limits. In Insureon's example, it would not pay to replace computers stolen from a building nobody locked, and it "does not include criminal behavior," which is bond territory. We found no published price. The lost key guide covers lockboxes and alarm codes.

Janitorial bond: pays your client, not you

A janitorial bond, also sold as a business service bond, pays your client if an employee steals from them. Sellers split on who ends up paying. Insureon says the insurer reimburses the client and then, unlike a typical policy, you must pay this amount back. SuretyBonds.com agrees the cleaning company is ultimately responsible for reimbursing the surety. The Hartford, describing a housecleaning theft, says a fidelity bond can reimburse you for reimbursing your client. Whether you repay depends on the bond form, so ask which one you're buying.

A bond covers theft only; Insureon says it doesn't cover damage to a client's property. Many also pay only after a conviction: Swift Bonds says they pay only after the offending employee is convicted in a court of law.

Insureon says you are not required to carry one. Clients are another matter: Insureon notes that some owners, such as Airbnb hosts, will only hire bonded and insured cleaners, and NerdWallet says a commercial cleaning contract will likely require a bond. Insureon's median for house cleaners is $9 a month ($112 a year); SuretyBonds.com lists $125 a year for $10,000 of coverage with five or fewer employees. The bonded and insured page goes through what the phrase really promises, and the janitorial bond page covers prices, amounts and how to buy one. Cover that pays you when staff steal from the business is a separate product, explained on the employee dishonesty insurance page.

Commercial auto and hired and non-owned auto

The Hartford says most personal auto insurance policies don't cover property damage or bodily injury from an accident while you drive your personal vehicle for work, and ERGO NEXT's house cleaning page says that in many cases, your personal auto insurance might not cover you.

Two fixes, depending on whose car it is:

• If the business owns or leases the car or van, insure it on commercial auto. Insureon's median for house cleaners is $268 a month. MoneyGeek's modeled average for house cleaning is $151 a month per vehicle, at state-minimum liability.
• If you or your cleaners drive personal cars, add hired and non-owned auto (HNOA). Insureon calls it a must for cleaners using personal vehicles, because your personal auto insurance is unlikely to cover a work-related accident.

HOAs ask for it by name. One Los Angeles HOA's vendor rules require general liability including hired and non-owned auto.

Tools and equipment (inland marine)

GL doesn't pay for your own vacuum, steam cleaner or carpet machine. Insureon says inland marine coverage will provide reimbursement if a vacuum cleaner is stolen from your vehicle, and that business personal property covers gear at a fixed location, "but you'll still need inland marine coverage" once it travels. ERGO NEXT sells it as an add-on to general liability and says it covers stolen or damaged equipment that you've borrowed.

MoneyGeek lists $23 a month for tools and equipment, based on external benchmarks rather than its own model. Simply Business lists a $27 monthly median for contractor's equipment, against a "from $20.83" headline that it says is based on the lowest available limit. If everything you use fits in a caddy and a bucket, this can wait. If you haul a carpet extractor, it can't.

Workers' compensation

Workers' comp pays medical bills and lost wages when an employee is hurt on the job. Cleaning has plenty of ways to get hurt: Insureon's example is a maid who could slip and fall on a wet floor and break a bone, Progressive's is an allergic reaction to a new cleaning solution, and Simply Business lists a pulled muscle while lifting supplies.

The Hartford says that if your cleaning business has employees, most states require workers' comp. The thresholds differ: California at one employee, Georgia at three or more, Florida at four or more outside construction. Insureon recommends it even for sole proprietors, because health insurance plans can deny claims. If you use 1099 helpers, biBERK says subcontractors are typically required to carry their own liability insurance, so collect their certificates.

Insureon's median for house cleaners is $100 a month; MoneyGeek models $92 a month per employee. The workers' comp guide covers state rules and the separate rules for domestic workers employed by one household.

Professional liability

Some damage comes from doing the job wrong, not from an accident. Simply Business says using the wrong chemical on marble often falls under professional liability or a care, custody or control endorsement. ERGO NEXT's janitorial page uses permanent marks on a carpet from the wrong stain remover as a professional liability example. Thimble warns that damage caused by an error in your work is often not insurable at all. MoneyGeek models professional liability for cleaning businesses at $19 a month.

If you take on stone, marble or delicate rugs, ask about this before the first job. Adding pressure washing, carpet cleaning or window cleaning to a house cleaning route changes the exclusions and the price, and each has a page: pressure washing insurance, carpet cleaning insurance and window cleaning insurance. Cleaning for a builder after construction is a fourth, covered on the post-construction cleaning insurance page.

Business owner's policy (BOP)

A BOP packages general liability with property coverage for your business's own things. Insureon's median BOP for house cleaners is $79 a month, against $51 for GL alone. The Hartford says its cleaning customers pay about $1,553 a year on average for a BOP.

Our view: a BOP earns its cost when you rent storage or an office with real value inside it. If your supplies live in your trunk, the property half does little, and the money is better spent on inland marine and the care, custody or control endorsement.

Commercial umbrella

An umbrella adds limits on top of your GL, auto and employer's liability. Insureon gives the usual trigger: a client might require you to carry $3 million in general liability, and you meet it with $2 million of GL plus a $1 million umbrella. Insureon's house cleaning median is $72 a month. Expect the request from commercial clients and large property managers, rarely from a homeowner.

Two more gaps: mold and photos

• Mold. NerdWallet says general liability may not pay if you disturb a moldy surface while cleaning and it sickens a client.
• Photos of client homes. Thimble uses posting a picture of the inside of a client's home without permission as an example of a cleaning business claim. Ask before you post a before-and-after.

What to buy first, in order

The order we'd follow for a residential cleaner:

1. General liability at $1 million per occurrence, with bailee and lost key coverage on the same policy.
2. Hired and non-owned auto if you drive your own car; commercial auto if the business owns it.
3. Workers' comp when you hire your first employee.
4. A janitorial bond when a client, platform or contract asks. Read the form first.
5. Tools and equipment once your machines cost more than you'd replace out of pocket.
6. Professional liability if you take on stone, marble or specialty floors.
7. An umbrella or a BOP only when a contract or a storage unit calls for one.

Your business	Start with	Add when it applies
Solo cleaner, own car	GL with bailee and lost key coverage, HNOA	Bond when clients ask; tools if you haul machines
Maid service with 2 to 10 people	All of the above plus workers' comp	Commercial auto for business vehicles; umbrella for big contracts
Short-term rental turnovers	GL with bailee and lost key coverage, HNOA	A bond, since Insureon says some Airbnb hosts only hire bonded cleaners
HOAs and offices	GL at $1 million including HNOA, workers' comp	Bond, umbrella, additional insured endorsements

Prices for each of these are on the cost page, and the insurer comparison shows what each seller publishes. What your state and your clients can require is on the requirements page; office accounts are covered in janitorial insurance. Starting from zero? The startup guide puts registration, insurance and pricing in order.