“Bonded and insured” is two different purchases, and neither one covers the vase you knock off the mantel by default. General liability pays when you injure someone or damage property you are not working on. A janitorial bond pays the client when an employee steals. Damage to the item in your hands is usually excluded from liability unless you add coverage for it. Workers’ comp is not optional once you hire, and calling a cleaner an independent contractor does not change that.
What insurance does a house cleaning business need?
- General liabilityBodily injury and property damage you cause at a client’s home — the wet floor someone slips on, the hardwood ruined by the wrong product, the window broken by a vacuum.
- Janitorial bondReimburses the client if one of your employees steals from them. Often what a client means by “bonded.”
- Workers’ compensationRequired in California once you have an employee. Cleaning is physical work with real injury frequency.
- Care, custody and control coverageDamage to the specific property you are working on, which standard liability excludes.
- Commercial auto or hired and non-owned autoFor driving between jobs, including in employees’ own cars.
- Tools, equipment and suppliesVacuums, machines and stock, especially if they live in a van overnight.
Most of this can be assembled into one program. Cleaning business insurance.
What does general liability actually cover for a cleaner?
A general liability policy responds when your work injures someone or damages property that is not the property you were hired to work on. The classic cleaning claims are a slip on a freshly mopped floor, a client’s dog getting out through a door you left open, a cleaning product that stains stone or strips a finish, and water left running.
It also pays defense costs, which in practice is most of what you buy it for. A disputed claim over a ruined countertop costs money to argue about whether or not you were at fault.
Typical limits requested by clients and property managers are $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. If you clean for commercial buildings, expect that and a request to be added to their vendor program.
Bonded and insured: what a janitorial bond really is
A janitorial service bond — also called a janitorial bond or employee dishonesty bond — is not liability insurance. It is a guarantee that reimburses your client if one of your employees steals money or property from their home or office. It usually requires a conviction or, at minimum, clear proof of the theft, and it pays the client, not you.
That is different from a surety bond in the construction sense, which guarantees performance of a contract, and different again from the license bonds contractors file with the state. A cleaning business is not required by California to carry a bond; clients ask for it because they are handing you a key.
Say what you actually have. Advertising “bonded and insured” when you hold only a liability policy is the kind of thing that surfaces at exactly the wrong moment.
What if we break something we’re cleaning?
This is the gap most cleaning businesses do not know they have. General liability excludes damage to property in your care, custody or control — that is, the thing you were actually working on. Drop a client’s antique mirror while dusting it and the standard policy says no.
The fix is an endorsement that gives back a limit for property in your care, sometimes written as damage-to-property-of-others or a bailee coverage. Limits are modest by design, but they cover the everyday breakage that otherwise comes out of the job’s profit and, worse, out of the relationship with the client.
Ask specifically for it. It is not included by default, and a certificate showing $1,000,000 in liability tells you nothing about whether it is there.
Do I need workers’ comp for cleaners?
Yes, once anyone works for you. California requires employers to carry workers’ compensation from the first employee, with no small-employer exception. Cleaning generates back strains, chemical burns, falls from step stools and repetitive-motion claims, and an injury without a policy becomes a personal liability plus state penalties.
The independent-contractor route does not work the way people hope. California presumes a person performing services for you is an employee and puts the burden of proving otherwise on you. Paying a crew as 1099 contractors while setting their hours, providing their supplies and directing their work is the fact pattern that gets reclassified.
If you genuinely work alone, you are usually outside the requirement — see workers’ comp with no employees — but note that a sole proprietor is not covered by their own policy unless they elect to be. How workers’ comp is placed and audited.
What do clients’ contracts usually demand?
Residential clients rarely ask for paperwork. Property managers, HOAs, offices, medical suites and anyone with a risk manager always do. The standard package:
- A certificate of insurance naming them, issued by your broker, with current dates.
- Additional insured status on your general liability, often on an ongoing-operations form.
- A waiver of subrogation on liability and workers’ comp, so your insurer cannot come back at them.
- Specific limits, commonly $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, sometimes with an umbrella above it.
- Proof of workers’ comp, or an exemption if you are a true one-person operation.
- Notice of cancellation to them if the policy ends.
Send me the contract before you sign it. Endorsements that are cheap to add at inception can be awkward mid-term, and agreeing to something the policy cannot deliver is worse than negotiating it.
Keys, alarm codes and lockouts
Holding keys and codes is the part of the business clients worry about. The bond covers theft by an employee; it does not cover the cost of rekeying a building after keys are lost, which some policies address through a small lock-replacement or key coverage and others do not.
Practically: keep a key log, never label keys with addresses, screen the people you send into homes, and put your key-handling policy in writing for clients. Underwriters ask about it, and clients are reassured by it.
Driving between jobs
A personal auto policy generally excludes regular business use, and a crew driving from house to house all day is business use. Depending on how you operate, that means either a commercial auto policy on company vehicles, or hired and non-owned auto coverage when employees use their own cars. The second is inexpensive and frequently forgotten — until an employee causes an accident on the way to a client and the claim lands on your business.
Common questions
What insurance do I need for a cleaning business in California?
General liability at minimum, a janitorial bond if clients ask you to be bonded, workers’ compensation once you have any employee, coverage for property in your care, and auto coverage for business driving.
Is a cleaning business required to be bonded in California?
No state law requires it. Clients ask for a janitorial bond because they are giving you access to their home or office, and many commercial contracts make it a condition.
Does general liability cover something I break while cleaning it?
Usually not. Damage to property in your care, custody or control is excluded from standard general liability and needs a specific endorsement.
Do I need workers’ comp if my cleaners are 1099?
Probably. California presumes workers are employees, and issuing a 1099 does not settle it. If your cleaners work your schedule with your supplies under your direction, expect them to be treated as employees.
How much liability insurance do cleaning clients ask for?
Commercial clients and property managers commonly require $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, with additional insured status and a waiver of subrogation. Residential clients usually ask for nothing.
Can I add a client as additional insured?
Yes, by endorsement on your general liability policy. Send me the contract wording and I will have the certificate and endorsement issued to match it.
General information about insuring a California cleaning business as of September 2026, not legal advice. Worker classification questions are legal questions; confirm your own situation with counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.