What Georgia Cleaning Companies Need
Your crews work inside buildings you do not own, at hours when nobody is watching, and they get there in their own cars. That last detail is where most janitorial policies fail.
Most cleaning companies in Georgia carry:
- General Liability (GL) for property damage and injury at client premises.
- Workers Compensation (WC) for employee injuries.
- Commercial Auto for company vehicles, plus two endorsements most policies are missing.
Cleaning companies generally do not need the equipment and installation coverage that contractors carry. Your exposure sits in vehicles and in people, not in tools.
The Largest Gap: Employees Driving Their Own Vehicles
Your cleaning crews may drive personal cars to client sites. Some carry supplies. Some transport other employees.
A commercial auto policy covering vehicles your business owns does not respond to a claim in an employee’s personal vehicle. Neither does the employee’s personal auto policy, which excludes business use.
Hired and non-owned auto liability closes that gap. It covers your business when an employee drives a personal or rented vehicle for work.
If any employee ever drives to a client site, you need this coverage. Most cleaning companies operate this way and most do not have the endorsement. It is the first thing we check on an expiring janitorial policy.
The Endorsement Almost Nobody Has: Newly Hired Drivers
Cleaning companies hire constantly. A new employee starts on Monday and drives to a job the same week. Your agent has not added that driver to the commercial auto policy yet.
A newly acquired or newly hired driver endorsement covers drivers automatically for a defined period before they appear on the schedule. Without it, a claim involving an unscheduled driver invites a coverage dispute.
High turnover makes this coverage more important, not less. Ask us whether your current commercial auto policy contains it.
Subcontractor Exposure
Two subcontractor rules drive janitorial underwriting.
Subcontractor payroll above 25% of total payroll. Heavy subcontractor use shifts risk you do not control onto your policy. Carriers price for it or decline it. If you run above that threshold, expect a higher rate.
Uninsured subcontractors count as your employees. If you use a crew with no workers compensation coverage, your carrier can charge you premium for that crew’s payroll at audit. Collect a certificate from every subcontractor before work starts, and keep it until your audit closes.
Both rules catch growing cleaning companies. Scaling through subcontracted crews is faster than hiring, and it changes your insurance program.
Facility Type Changes Your Program
Underwriters price janitorial accounts on where the crews work, not only on square footage.
Medical facilities. Cleaning hospitals, surgical centers, and clinics adds bloodborne pathogen exposure, medical waste handling, and access to areas containing patient records. Carriers underwrite this work separately.
Aerospace facilities. These sites carry contractor requirements, background check obligations, and higher contract limits.
Clean rooms. Contamination of a controlled environment produces a loss far larger than the cleaning contract. Carriers restrict or decline this work.
If you clean any of these three, tell your agent before you quote. A general janitorial program will not fit, and a carrier that learns about clean room work at claim time will ask why the application did not disclose it.
Standard commercial office, retail, and warehouse cleaning fits a general program without difficulty.
Certificate Limits Your Customers Will Request
Property managers, building owners, and facility managers request a certificate of insurance before adding you to a vendor list and will often request limits shown below.
| Coverage | Typical required limit |
|---|---|
| General Liability | $1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate |
| Workers Compensation | $500,000 / $500,000 / $500,000 employers liability |
| Commercial Auto | $300,000 combined single limit (CSL) or higher |
Commercial property managers commonly require additional insured status and a waiver of subrogation. Hospital systems, government facilities, and large commercial portfolios require higher limits and an umbrella policy.
Read the contract before you bid. A certificate that falls short costs you the account.
Employee Dishonesty and Client Property
Your crews hold keys and alarm codes for buildings you do not own, and they work when nobody is watching. Clients ask about this before they hire you.
A general liability policy does not cover employee theft. Two separate products address it, and they cover different property.
Employee dishonesty coverage protects your own money and property against theft by your employees. On a standard form, it stops there. It does not pay when an employee takes a client’s laptop.
A janitorial services bond covers theft of your client’s property by your employees. This is sometimes written instead as a third-party extension to the employee dishonesty coverage.
The distinction matters. A cleaning company that carries employee dishonesty coverage and assumes it protects client property is uninsured for the claim it actually fears. We see this on expiring policies.
Many commercial cleaning contracts require a janitorial bond by name and ask for it on the certificate of insurance. Read the contract before you bid, and confirm which product it requires.
Ask us to review what your current program covers, and whose property it covers.
Georgia Workers Compensation for Cleaning Companies
Georgia law requires workers compensation coverage once a business employs three or more people. The count includes part-time employees.
Two issues affect cleaning companies specifically.
Turnover and payroll reporting. Premium is estimated at binding and adjusted at audit. High turnover makes accurate payroll reporting harder and audit surprises more likely. Report payroll monthly rather than reconstructing it at year end.
Uninsured subcontractors. See the section above.
What Drives Your Premium
- Payroll. Workers compensation rates apply per $100 of payroll. Payroll is the largest driver on most janitorial accounts.
- Facility mix. Medical, aerospace, and clean room work price differently than commercial office cleaning.
- Subcontractor use. See the 25% threshold above.
- Driver count and vehicle use. Company vehicles, employee vehicles, or both.
- Claims history. Your experience modification factor affects which commercial contracts you can win. Many facility managers refuse a vendor with a modification factor above 1.00.
Coverages Larger Cleaning Operations Require
Blanket additional insured endorsement. Property management companies each require naming. A blanket endorsement covers every party your written contract requires you to name.
Blanket waiver of subrogation. Commercial vendor agreements commonly require it.
Commercial umbrella. Hospital systems, government facilities, school districts, and large property portfolios require $2,000,000 to $5,000,000 above primary limits.
Get a Quote
Call 678-569-0113 or request a quote online.
Have these ready and we can quote in one call:
- Annual payroll and employee count
- Annual subcontractor cost
- Types of facilities you clean
- Whether employees drive personal vehicles to client sites
- Company vehicle count
- Whether any contract requires a janitorial bond
- Certificate limits your customers require
We are an independent agency serving Georgia cleaning and janitorial companies from Woodstock, Canton, and Warner Robins.