According to Market Research, the commercial cleaning industry had a value of $117 billion in 2020. And if that staggering amount isn’t convincing enough, the whole sector is expected to be in even higher demand in the coming years for one simple reason:
COVID-19 has had more and more businesses wanting deep cleaning done more frequently.
And while this may be fantastic news for professional cleaning service providers, the increased need for janitorial and cleaning services also means that you need your cleaning business insurance to be up-to-date.
Why?
Because having more jobs also means that there are more opportunities for accidents and liability exposures to happen.
If you’re asking yourself questions like “What should insurance for a cleaning business cover?”, we’re about to tell you what you need to know about janitorial business insurance.
Just keep reading.
What Kind of Insurance Does a Cleaning Business Need?
The fact of the matter is that some coverage options are better than others for commercial cleaners.
We’ve listed a few janitorial business insurance must-haves below:
1. Commercial General Liability Insurance
According to U.S. News, lawyers made a median salary of $122,960 in 2019.
With costs running at those Legal fees alone have the potential to sink a company that’s being sued.
But here’s one of the more troubling aspects of lawsuits:
Even if you’re ultimately found not liable, those legal fees alone can have a negative impact on your personal and professional finances for years on end.
And to make matters worse, mistakes and accidents can happen in the blink of an eye.
If you or your employees were to clean a store, for example, and one of your clients’ customers were to slip and hurt themselves on a wet spot left by your company, that’s a simple oversight that could come with a hefty price tag.
Commercial general liability insurance is designed to cover businesses in the event that a third party has suffered property damage and/or bodily injury. If you ask most insurance professionals a question like “What type of insurance coverage does a janitorial business need?” Most of them would say “Commercial general liability.” without blinking an eye.
2. Commercial Property Insurance
If you’re in the janitorial business, industrial cleaners, heavy-duty floor waxers, and other tools needed to provide deep cleaning at a commercial level are likely just some of the pieces of equipment that you rely on every day to earn a living.
For many cleaning businesses, if a fire were to break out in their storage unit or if their offices were to be vandalized, the cost of repairing and replacing all of that equipment in one go would have a negative impact on the company’s cash flow. And that’s before you start calculating the cost of buying new office furniture or computers.
A commercial property insurance policy makes it possible to receive either replacement cost value or actual cash value for your losses in the event that your equipment or your furniture are damaged by an insured peril.
3. Commercial Auto Insurance
Simply because your line of work requires you to be on-site in order to provide your cleaning service, you and your staff have to do a lot of traveling from location to location. And if you’re the type of company that picks up its own supplies or that has client meetings prior to taking on a contract, that’s a lot of time spent doing business travel over the course of a year or two.
The simple reality is that when you’re driving that much for business purposes, your personal vehicle insurance policy may not be able to give you the coverage you need in the event of an accident. That’s why services like yours are often told to take out commercial auto insurance. This way you can be reasonably assured that the company vehicles you use to travel for work can be covered if anything happens while you or one of your employees is on the road.
4. Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Do you have employees or staff?
If your answer to that question was “Yes.” or “Not exactly but I will in the future.” then a workers’ compensation insurance policy should be on your radar.
At the end of the day, cleaning is a very physical line of work. You’re using mops, floor cleaners, and more while transporting equipment between floors. Injuries are a very real possibility. And if one of your employees happens to be seriously hurt while on the job, you’ll want to be prepared.
Tissue and muscle injuries can take a long time to recover from. And a broken or fractured limb can equally put a worker out of commission for an extended period of time.
According to FindLaw, workers’ compensation insurance is legally required in most states. When you’re putting together an insurance plan, it’s important to factor it in even if you’re not quite ready to pull the trigger.
5. Umbrella or Excess Liability Insurance
If the cost of defending yourself from lawsuits were to ever add up to more than your commercial general insurance policy limit, you could be on the hook for additional costs going forward.
And it’s safe to say that if you have a lawsuit that’s going over budget, the additional expenses probably aren’t going to stop at a few thousand dollars.
The beauty of umbrella liability insurance is that it can help cover the gaps left by commercial general liability insurance.
And if you’re working in a lot of commercial buildings where the equipment is worth a lot of money and people are able to sue for larger amounts, having that extra top-up insurance can give you additional peace of mind.
Here’s Why You Should Hire an Insurance Agency for Your Cleaning Business Insurance Needs
When insurance quotes and stated plans are just a Google search away, it’s easy to look at your business and think “I can save myself some time and DIY this.”
But as it turns out, there are at least three really good reasons to consider pursuing insurance through an agency:
1. You’ll Know That You’re Getting the Coverage You Need
Insurance may be legally required, but even so, you don’t want to choose a plan that doesn’t make sense for your business.
With your business and your livelihood on the line in the event that you’re exposed to liability, are you willing to risk it?
An insurance agency is staffed with professionals who have worked with businesses like yours before. Chances are that they’ll have some general responses to questions like “What type of insurance coverage does a janitorial business need?” before you even approach them.
2. You Can Get the Plan You Need Faster
The insurance industry is full of complicated jargon and technicalities that even seasoned professionals may sometimes need a dictionary to understand. It takes time to work your way through an insurance contract.
In addition, putting together insurance plans can be a tedious and time-consuming process that takes you away from what you do best.
Because an insurance agency has access to multiple issuers, they can do the comparison shopping for you. This in turn makes it possible for you to find a great insurance plan in a fraction of the time that it would take if you were doing the due diligence by yourself.
3. You Can Have Excellent Rates and Excellent Customer Service at the Same Time
With lots of goods and services, the “Cheap, quality, and fast. Pick two.” adage can sometimes feel a little uncomfortably close to the truth.
And when it comes to your insurance, many plans that you Google may require you to make these kinds of trade-offs.
When you hire a reputable insurance agency, however, you don’t have to make these kinds of choices. You can get support when you’re signing up for a plan or processing a claim and you can also get the insurance you need at a reasonable price.
Are You Looking for Cleaning Business Insurance?
Whether you’re a cleaning industry veteran or you’re relatively new to the business, it’s important to have a fantastic janitorial business insurance policy before you start providing your services. But at the same time, finding insurance for a cleaning business isn’t always easy when you’ve got tons of options to choose from and not a lot of time to decide.
Here at EPG Insurance, we specialize in helping cleaning businesses like yours get the insurance plans that they need. We’ll work with you and we’ll take the time to give you the level of attention that you deserve. And after the process is finished, you’ll have a fantastic cleaning business insurance plan.
Contact us today for a FREE cleaning business insurance quote!
