Commercial umbrella insurance for cleaning and janitorial businesses

The costs of a lawsuit against your cleaning business can quickly add up – even to the point where your insurance coverage isn’t enough to cover it.

Commercial umbrella insurance, similar to excess liability insurance, can pay for claims that exceed the limit on common liability policies.

A commercial umbrella policy can boost the coverage limits of your:

• General liability insurance
• Commercial auto insurance
• Employer’s liability insurance (part of workers' compensation insurance)

Most cleaning businesses purchase umbrella insurance to satisfy client contracts that require policy limits higher than $2 million.

Umbrella insurance activates when the limits are exhausted on an underlying cleaning business insurance policy.

For example, say a janitor or house cleaner fails to use a wet floor sign after mopping a client's floor. Your client slips and falls, suffering a serious head injury that leaves them unable to work for months. The client sues you for $2.5 million in damages.

If your cleaning business has general liability insurance with a $2 million per-occurrence limit, that policy would cover the first $2 million. Then your umbrella policy would kick in to cover the remaining $500,000.

A commercial umbrella liability policy simply mirrors the coverage of the underlying policies. 

This includes:

Umbrella insurance provides coverage after your general liability insurance reaches its policy limit. It can help cover legal costs related to:

• Customer slip-and-fall injuries
• Customer property damage
• Advertising injuries, such as slander and libel
• Copyright infringement

This policy will also cover claims on the general liability portion of a business owner’s policy (BOP), which bundles general liability insurance with commercial property insurance at a discount.

The cost of a car accident involving multiple vehicles can go sky high if the other drivers sue for damages.

Umbrella insurance covers liability claims that exhaust the limits on your commercial auto insurance. It also extends coverage on hired and non-owned auto insurance for cleaners who drive their own vehicles for work purposes.

If you or one of your employees gets into an auto accident, an umbrella liability policy can cover legal costs related to:

• Injuries caused to others
• Damage to another person’s vehicle
• Other third-party property damage

Cleaning involves physical labor, which is why umbrella insurance is a recommended policy for professions like pressure washing, pool cleaning, and window cleaning. If one of your employees blames an injury on a lack of proper equipment or other negligence, they could sue.

When an employee lawsuit over an injury escalates and exceeds the limits on employer’s liability insurance (usually included in workers’ compensation insurance), umbrella insurance kicks in to cover the costs. It adds an extra layer of protection to your existing coverage.

In addition to commercial umbrella insurance and its underlying policies, cleaning professionals should also consider:

Business owner's policy: A business owner's policy, or BOP, combines general liability insurance with commercial property insurance at a discount. Small, low-risk cleaning businesses are usually eligible. Small businesses can often add inland marine insurance to their BOP to protect cleaning equipment they bring to different job sites.

Janitorial bonds: Also known as employee dishonesty bonds, janitorial bonds protect your business against employee theft of client property. Many clients won’t hire a cleaning business that doesn’t have this coverage.

Are you ready to safeguard your carpet cleaning, septic tank cleaning or other cleaning business with commercial umbrella insurance coverage? Complete Insureon’s easy online application to compare quotes from top U.S. insurance companies.

Once you find the cleaning business insurance policies that fit your needs, you can begin coverage and get a certificate of insurance in less than 24 hours.