When you first start a cleaning business, your initial focus is on winning customers – and of course it is, because all businesses need customers to be successful. One of the first things my good friend taught me is that in order to have a good business, it’s crucial to both build and protect it at the same time.

You may think, “Protect my business? How do you do that?”

My response is yes, everyone must protect their business – after all, we all have auto insurance in case we’re in an accident. For most of us, we may never get in an accident. But for those of us who have, we appreciate having insurance when the car we depend on every day is in an accident. We can feel less stressed knowing it will be repaired or replaced, and our investment will not be lost.

As a cleaning company owner, I want to talk about three different types of insurance. All are necessary for the success and growth of your house cleaning company or small business. First – Workers’ Compensation.

Workers’ Compensation:
This insurance is a form of medical coverage in the rare case that someone gets injured on the job. It allows you to be covered in case someone on your team, or even you if you add yourself to the plan, will be covered if the worker were to fall in a customer’s home, or even drop a heavy item on their foot while cleaning, for example.

I am insured and have had to use Workers’ Compensation insurance before. One time, one of my employees was doing dishes and a customer had a large knife in the sink. She accidentally sliced her finger badly and had to be rushed to the hospital. As scary as that was for us both, I was covered as a business owner, and she was covered as an employee. I didn’t incur any charges, and the customer didn’t incur any charges, nor did my employee. Everything was covered because I had workers’ compensation insurance.

This is the best way to protect your business because in the case that an unlikely mishap occurs, you will be covered. Check with different agents in your area to get the best rate.

General Liability:
Whether you provide residential or commercial cleaning, it is always a good idea to have general liability insurance. This insurance covers structures and properties.

Take this scenario for example:
Your employee was cleaning a gas stove and they accidentally left the burner slightly on. This caused gas to be omitted into the home, when someone came home, and static happened to hit the gas in the atmosphere. In an instant, BOOM! Their house goes up in flames, and well, you are liable because your employee was the last person to have access to that stove.

If the home is worth $500,000, and the damages are worth $200,000, your company will be liable for the damages. The main benefit of having general liability insurance is that knowing you are covered in the case that damage to property occurs makes it less stressful for you.

If damage does occur, your agent will assess the damage work with the customer to make sure that their loss is taken care of. Your rates may go up, and of course it’s sad if something like that were to happen, but still your business is protected because you’re covered by general liability insurance.

Lastly, I want to talk about Bonding: 

There’s a misconception that being bonded is protection for you, the business owner. But Bonding actually covers your customer. Consider this example Bonding scenario:

You have an employee that’s in a customer’s home and steals a $10,000 diamond wedding ring. Since you are responsible for your employee’s actions, you will be liable to reimburse that customer for the $10,000 loss of property. Now, granted, theft has to be proven not just claimed, which gives you protection for your staff who could be falsely accused of theft. In fact, this actually happened once at my company.

Bonding is an important investment for contractors and small businesses who value building trust with their customers. A company is bonded when it has purchased one or more kinds of surety bonds and it involves three parties – the customer, the company, and a bonding agency. 

Bonds are crucial to the growth and reputation of your company because they offer a degree of coverage for the insured against the possibility of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. While an employee of mine was only falsely accused of theft, I had peace of mind knowing that my company was bonded.

I believe we all know that being covered by insurance allows us to run our businesses with confidence, while providing assurance to our customers that in the event something unexpected were to happen, all parties involved are covered. After all, it’s always wise to expect the unexpected! That is why it’s wise to insure your company with Workers’ Compensation, General Liability, and Bonding.

Now Go Take A Bite Out Of Grime!

Sincerely,

Robin Crocket

CEO & Founder of Heaven Scent Home Cleaning & Virtual Bid App