Rosa runs a commercial cleaning company in Lynnwood with thirty-five employees who clean offices, medical clinics, and a few schools overnight. She has grown by word of mouth, and her insurance was a general liability policy and an L&I account.
She kept losing bids with large property management companies at the insurance stage, and she asked us to find out why.
What she asked for
What the property managers' requirements meant and how to meet them.
What the review found
Stop-gap was required, and missing. Every property manager's contract required stop-gap employers liability of $1 million. Rosa had L&I coverage for her crew, as all Washington employers must, but not stop-gap. She had never heard of it.
A janitorial bond was required too. Cleaning crews work unsupervised in offices at night. Property managers wanted a janitorial bond or crime coverage that pays if an employee steals from a client. Her general liability excluded theft by employees.
Her GL did not cover damage to client property well. A care, custody, or control exclusion can bar claims for damage to property your crew is working on, like a floor scratched during stripping and waxing. Janitorial GL programs address this directly.
No employment practices coverage. Thirty-five employees, overnight shifts, and high turnover meant real employment claim exposure, and several contracts now asked about it.
What we put in place
We placed a janitorial general liability program with limited coverage for damage to property in the crew's care, blanket additional insured endorsements for property managers, and stop-gap employers liability at $1 million.
We added a third-party crime policy, often called a janitorial bond, covering theft by her employees from clients' premises, at a limit that met the largest contract's requirement.
We added employment practices liability with third-party harassment coverage, since her crews work in client buildings around client employees.
We reviewed her L&I risk classifications with her, since janitorial work has specific classifications and misclassification is a common audit finding.
Why it mattered
Rosa won her next two property management bids and now has a one-page insurance summary she includes in every proposal. A few months later, a client reported a missing laptop after a night cleaning. The crime policy's claim process gave the client a clear path, and the investigation found the laptop had been taken home by the client's own employee. The client renewed Rosa's contract the next month.
If you run a cleaning or building services company
- Washington employers need stop-gap on top of L&I; clients will ask for it
- Buy a janitorial bond or third-party crime coverage for theft claims
- Check your GL for care, custody, or control exclusions
- Add EPLI with third-party coverage when your crews work in client buildings
Get a free policy review before your next bid.