Commercial · industry practice
Cleaning & janitorial.
Solo operators to multi-crew commercial accounts. Care, custody, control coverage and bonded-and-insured language matter — clients ask before signing.
What it is.
Solo operators to multi-crew commercial accounts. The two endorsements that matter most are care-custody-control (most GL excludes damage to property in your care) and a janitorial bond (clients require it before signing). Without both, you'll lose contracts at the contract-review stage. Standard small-business GL doesn't include either — they're add-ons that need to be specified.
The lines in your policy.
Each one is its own knob. The carrier's default rarely fits a real life.
What a claim looks like.
Three anonymized files. Numbers are illustrative.
Residential cleaner accidentally damages a client's antique sideboard while moving it. Repair: $4,800. CCC endorsement paid. Standard GL would have denied — property in your care, custody, or control exclusion.
Crew member takes valuables from a residential client during a clean. $14K loss. Janitorial bond pays the customer's claim and recovers from the employee. Without the bond, the cleaning company would have paid out of pocket — and likely lost the contract permanently.
Cleaner loses set of master keys to a 50-suite office building. Re-keying + lock changes: $24K. Lost-key coverage paid in full. Without it, the cleaning company would have paid the full re-keying cost.
How to read a cleaning policy.
The four things worth looking for on the dec page, in the order we read them.
The first page tells you who's actually covered, on what address, and under whose legal entity. A surprising number of policies have the wrong name, the wrong address, or a missing additional insured, and you don't find out until you file a claim. Cross-check it against your driver's license, your title or lease, and any contract that requires you to be insured.
Policy limits are abstract until you stack them against the assets they protect. A $300k liability limit feels generous in isolation; against a $1.2M home and a college fund, it isn't. Walk down each numbered line on your dec page and ask: if this were the cap on the worst day, would I be okay?
Page one shows you the base form. Pages four through twelve show you what the endorsements added, and, more importantly, what they took away. Water-damage exclusions, roof-payment schedules, named-storm deductibles, scheduled-valuables caps. These small numbered forms decide more claims than the headline limits do.
Carriers re-rate, re-form, and re-endorse policies at every renewal. If you keep last year's dec page, a side-by-side read takes ten minutes and tells you which limits drifted, which sublimits got cut, and which endorsements quietly disappeared. It's the single most useful habit in personal insurance.
Frequently asked questions.
Why does standard GL not cover damage to client property?
Standard GL has the 'care, custody, or control' exclusion — covers third-party damage NOT in your care. Property you're handling, transporting, or working on is excluded. CCC endorsement carves this exclusion back for cleaners specifically.
What's the difference between a janitorial bond and employee dishonesty?
Janitorial bond is a fidelity-style bond covering employee theft from client property. Employee dishonesty (on a crime policy) covers theft from your business. Both are sometimes packaged together; commercial cleaning clients almost always specify the janitorial bond by name.
Do I need workers comp as a sole proprietor?
In MO and KS, sole props are usually exempt — but most commercial clients will require it on a COI before signing. Voluntary low-payroll WC starts around $700/yr to clear contract requirements.
How do per-project aggregates work?
Standard GL aggregate applies across all your jobs for the year. One big claim can erode the limit for everyone else. Per-project aggregate gives each contract its own aggregate — usually required by larger commercial clients.
Want a second read on your cleaning policy?
Send us your declarations page. You'll get it back marked up, in plain language, with the gaps and the over-coverage flagged, yours to keep, no obligation to switch.
or phone (913) 408-7280
We're an independent broker. We represent you, not the carrier , paid by the carrier we ultimately place with, but accountable only to the person whose name is on the policy. Read more about how we work.