How much does cleaning business insurance cost?

Cleaning businesses pay an average of $48 per month, or $580 per year, for general liability insurance.

This policy helps pay for legal costs if a customer slips on a wet floor, or if a cleaner accidentally damages a customer's property. It also covers advertising injuries, which include slander, libel, and copyright infringement.

This is the average general liability policy for cleaning businesses that buy from Insureon:

Premium: $48 per month
Policy limits: $1 million per occurrence; $2 million aggregate

For small cleaning businesses that have a building or office, our insurance agents recommend a business owner's policy, which bundles general liability insurance with commercial property insurance at a discount to protect your building and its contents.

Among cleaning businesses and independent contractors that purchase general liability coverage with Insureon, 53% pay less than $50 per month and 86% pay less than $100 per month.

The amount you pay depends on several factors, such as the size of your business, how often you interact with customers, and your business revenue.

Businesses with larger premises, such as a pool cleaning company with a two-story office, typically pay more for general liability insurance than smaller businesses, such as a carpet cleaning business with only a few employees. Your industry risks, years in operation, claims history, and location will also affect your insurance premium.

One of the most important factors is your type of business. General liability premiums increase when there's a possibility that your work will cause a bodily injury or property loss.

For example, pressure washing businesses could accidentally damage the exterior of a customer's home during a cleaning, so they can expect to pay more for this policy than a house cleaning business with minimal risks.

The average cost for a pressure washing business is $75 per month, or $895 annually, while the average for a house cleaning company is $44 per month, or $525 annually. As you can see, the cost varies significantly across professions.

Policy limits are the maximum amounts your insurer will pay on covered claims. Most cleaning business owners (89%) choose a general liability policy with a $1 million per-occurrence limit and a $2 million aggregate limit.

The per-occurrence limit is the maximum your insurer will pay for a single incident, while the aggregate limit is the maximum they will pay for all claims during your policy period, typically one year.

Choosing lower limits is one way to get an affordable premium, but you'll also want to make sure it's enough to cover a lawsuit.

Learn other ways to save, how to choose coverage limits, and more on Insureon's general liability insurance cost analysis page.

Cleaning businesses pay an average of $136 per month for workers' compensation insurance, or $1,627 annually. This insurance covers medical expenses when a cleaner is injured on the job, and it also provides disability benefits while they're recovering and unable to work.

Typically, state laws require cleaning businesses that have employees to carry this coverage. It's also recommended for sole proprietors, as health insurance plans can deny claims when an injury or illness is related to your job.

Most workers' comp policies include employer's liability insurance, which covers the cost of lawsuits related to workplace injuries.

The cost of workers' comp depends on several factors, such as your business's location, the number of employees, and the type of work they do.

Among commercial cleaning businesses that purchase workers’ compensation insurance with Insureon, 36% pay less than $100 per month and 67% pay less than $200 per month.

Insurance companies primarily look at the number of employees and their level of occupational risk when determining your premium.

On average, cleaning businesses pay only $11 per month, or $126 annually, for a janitorial bond. You might need this bond in order to sign a contract with a client.

Janitorial bonds are a type of surety bond, also called employee dishonesty coverage. If one of your employees steals from a customer, the insurance company will reimburse the customer for their loss. Unlike a typical insurance policy, you must pay this amount back to the insurer.

When you carry a bond, customers know they can trust your company to protect them. In fact, some customers may choose only to hire bonded and insured cleaning companies.

The cost of a surety bond depends on how much coverage you buy, as it's a percentage of the total bond amount.

Cleaning businesses pay an average of $173 per month, or $2,075 per year, for commercial auto insurance. This policy can pay for property damage and medical bills when your cleaning van or other vehicle gets into an accident. It can also cover vehicle theft, vandalism, and weather damage.

Most states require a commercial auto policy for vehicles owned by a business. For personal, rented, and leased vehicles used for work purposes, look to hired and non-owned auto insurance (HNOA) instead.

The cost of commercial auto insurance depends on several factors, including the policy limits you choose, the value of your vehicle, and the driving records of anyone permitted to drive.

Cleaning companies that are small and have few risks are often eligible for a business owner's policy. A BOP costs an average of $76 per month for cleaning businesses, or $907 annually.

A business owner's policy is the best way for cleaners to protect themselves against common lawsuits and damage to your building and other business property. It bundles both general liability coverage and commercial property insurance together at a lower cost than buying these policies separately.

For cleaning companies that don't have a physical location, you can instead add business personal property (BPP) coverage to your general liability policy, or buy contractor's tools and equipment insurance to cover items that travel to jobsites.

This is the average business owner's policy for cleaning businesses that buy from Insureon:

Premium: $76 per month
Policy limits: $1 million per occurrence; $2 million aggregate

You can often add business interruption insurance to a BOP, which covers day-to-day operating expenses and other costs if your business is forced to close temporarily due to a fire or other covered property claim.

The cost of a business owner's policy depends on the value of your cleaning equipment and other property, along with the same factors that affect your general liability premium, such as your type of business and its size.

Cleaning businesses pay an average of $67 per month, or $801 annually, for commercial umbrella insurance, which is available in $1 million increments.

This policy boosts the protection of your general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, and employer's liability insurance. When a claim exceeds the limits of the underlying policy, umbrella insurance kicks in to provide coverage.

Cleaning businesses may need this type of insurance if a client requires liability coverage in excess of $2 million. For example, a client might require you to carry $3 million in general liability coverage before they'll allow your staff onto their property. You could carry $2 million in general liability insurance along with a $1 million umbrella policy to meet this requirement.

The cost of umbrella insurance depends on your risks and on how much coverage you buy. You need to buy a certain amount of underlying coverage before you can buy umbrella insurance.