How to get cleaning contracts: the paperwork that wins or loses the bid

A homeowner hires a cleaner on a recommendation and a text message. A building, a property manager or an office hires from a vendor file, and that file gets checked against a sheet of requirements. If your certificate doesn't match the sheet, nobody reads your price.

The three sets of vendor rules below were all re-read on 2026-10-01. The janitorial insurance page goes deeper on the office side.

Where the accounts come from

Insureon's guide to commercial cleaning contracts names the usual sources. Realtors can promote you to home buyers, sellers and Airbnb owners. Property managers and office managers can help you land janitorial work. Facility management companies subcontract cleaning for the organizations they run, and the local chamber of commerce runs networking events. It also lists bidding sites such as Thumbtack, Angi and Bark, some free, some charging per lead.

The list is Insureon's, and Insureon is a broker that sells the policies those buyers ask for. It fits the vendor rules below: the buyer is a manager, not a household, and the manager has a sheet.

What three buyers wrote down

Three published vendor rules, each for a different kind of work. None is a template for your next client.

Buyer	Liability	Other lines	Wording
Evo HOA (Los Angeles HOA, managed by Action Property Management)	At least $1,000,000, including non-owned and hired auto, primary and non-contributory	Workers' comp at statutory limits; an employee dishonesty bond "if reasonably available", with a special legal obligation clause	HOA and manager named as additional insureds on all policies; waiver of subrogation for both
FirstService Residential (Virginia vendor program)	Limits not stated on the public page	Credentialing through BCS	Gold tier names "FirstService Residential and any of its managed Associations"; Silver names specific associations
Bryant University (vendors and contractors)	$1,000,000 per occurrence, $3,000,000 annual aggregate	Auto $1,000,000 combined single limit; workers' comp statutory; employers' liability $1,000,000; umbrella $1,000,000	University named additional insured on general liability and umbrella

FirstService's credentialing company charges the vendor: BCS takes an annual fee of $95 to verify coverage and licensing, paid directly to BCS, and the Silver tier needs a separate endorsement for each community you want to work in. Bryant says its certificate should give the holder 30 days' notice of cancellation, recommends insurers rated A or better by A.M. Best, and may add pollution liability for anyone working with hazardous materials. Evo's list names its two entities in full, so copy them exactly.

Bryant adds that its limits are the most common ones and can vary by contract. Evo's list applies to all vendors conducting work in residential units. The page doesn't say whether that covers a cleaner a unit owner hires, so ask the front desk before assuming it does.

Reading the sheet

Each line on those sheets means a call to your agent. A certificate is proof and nothing more; it creates no rights for the building. The certificate guide covers getting one and what each box means. Additional insured status and the waiver of subrogation are endorsements on your policy, so the certificate can't promise them until your insurer has added them. A waiver of subrogation is the usual stand-in on workers' comp, which can't carry additional insureds.

On limits, $1,000,000 is the common floor. When a buyer wants more than $2,000,000 of liability, Insureon's example is a $1,000,000 commercial umbrella over a $2,000,000 policy.

Evo wants a bond that pays for property of others stolen by your employees, and only if reasonably available. What it costs and what to check on the form are on the janitorial bond page. If you're solo, say so; that's often the whole answer.

"Statutory limits" on workers' comp means the coverage your state sets for employees. With no employees, ask the buyer what they accept in its place. State thresholds are on the requirements page.

What meeting the sheet costs

Insureon publishes monthly medians for the cleaning businesses that apply through it, with separate figures for house cleaners and janitorial companies.

Policy	House cleaning median	Janitorial median
General liability	$51 a month	$60 a month
Commercial umbrella	$72 a month	$87 a month
Janitorial bond	$9 a month	$10 a month
Workers' comp	$100 a month	$114 a month

Source: Insureon's house cleaning and janitorial cost pages, read 2026-10-01. Insureon says these are medians for owners who apply for quotes through it (the page footer calls them averages of policies its customers bought), so they describe its customers and not every quote you'll see.

A solo house cleaner who clears Evo's list needs liability with hired and non-owned auto on it, two endorsements and perhaps a bond. On Insureon's house cleaning medians that is $51 for liability and $9 for the bond, $60 a month before any endorsement fees. Chasing a university-style sheet adds an umbrella at $72, which takes liability, bond and umbrella past $130 a month, before the auto, workers' comp and employers' liability lines that sheet also lists. This is addition on published medians. Nobody quoted it.

The contract itself

Winning the account brings the agreement. Insureon's contract tips list what a commercial contract should state: the services and how often, the price, the schedule, payment terms, who supplies equipment, how disputes are handled and how either side ends it. It adds that a written contract can serve as evidence if a client sues. The cleaning service agreement guide turns that list into clauses lined up with the insurance.

Government bids

Public buyers work differently. The SBA's get started with contracting page says you need a Unique Entity Identifier through SAM.gov, a NAICS code and a size that fits SBA's standard for that code. It also says some businesses spend $80,000 to $130,000 to win a first contract, and that it can take up to two years to see a return.

A public bid asks for a different bond than the janitorial dishonesty bond. SBA's surety bond page describes bid, performance and payment bonds that guarantee the work is done, and says the agency guarantees contract bonds, not commercial ones. For performance and payment bonds it charges a fee of 0.6% of the contract price.

States run their own programs. California's Department of General Services certifies small businesses for state bids. Its certification page lists a California principal office, 100 or fewer employees and $19 million or less in gross receipts averaged over three tax years, and gives certified firms a 5 percent bid preference. Agencies can also buy directly from certified firms on awards of more than $5,000 and under $250,000 after collecting two quotes. We read California's page only; check your own state's purchasing office.

California adds a registration of its own for anyone cleaning offices, covered on the California cleaning license page.

Before you pitch

Get the vendor insurance requirements in writing and send them to your agent before you quote, along with the exact legal names the certificate must carry. Keys, access and damage handling go in the agreement; the lost key guide covers the key side. Work out whether you can meet the limits today or need an umbrella first, and price the endorsement fees into the bid, not after it.