The wrong cleaning product being used, resulting in damage to an expensive marble counter or causing someone to fall on a freshly mopped floor: There are many risks in building cleaning, which you should protect yourself against. Especially when your employees handle complex machines and chemical cleaning agents at customers' premises, accidents can easily happen. However, your warehouse or office are also potential sources of risk. Just think about what a burst water pipe or a burglary would mean for you.
Regardless of whether claims arise from accidents, property damage, or personal injury, the financial consequences can threaten the very existence of your building cleaning business. That is why it makes sense to take out the right insurance and look closely at what protection your company needs. We want to give you an overview of which types of insurance are a must for building cleaning—and which are optional extras.
Business liability insurance: Protect yourself against damage to third parties
Every cleaning company needs business liability insurance. It is the most important type of insurance for building cleaning, because it covers damage caused to third parties — for example customers—by your employees or yourself. It covers compensation claims arising from scenarios like the marble counter mentioned above, and in the event that someone slips on a wet floor and breaks their leg. Business liability insurance also ensures that you are defended against unjustified claims.
And what happens if you do not have business liability insurance? Would you be liable to cover legitimate claims using your personal assets? The sums involved here can quickly mount up.
If you take out business liability insurance for your cleaning company, the choice of coverage amount is crucial: this should be adapted to the scope of your business and requirements of potential clients. Estimate how much damage would be caused in the worst case scenario, for example if your customer's equipment were destroyed or people were injured.
The monthly costs for commercial liability insurance for cleaning companies depend on several factors:
- Risk,
Company size,
Annual sales,
Chosen deductible.
Business liability insurance covers the essential risks associated with building cleaning. However, it may be useful to supplement this basic protection with additional insurance.
Contents insurance: Protect your business equipment
While business liability insurance covers damage to third parties, business contents insurance protects your cleaning company's own property . This includes, for example, cleaning equipment or office furniture. Risks covered by contents insurance include burglary, storms, hail, fire, or water damage.
For example, imagine if your smart cleaning robots were completely destroyed in a fire at the building in which they are stored. Without contents insurance, this would mean a huge financial loss—if you do not have reserves for contingencies, in the worst case scenario, this could even mean the end of your business. Contents insurance replaces your robots at their value when new so that operations can continue.
There are additional modules that you can use to supplement your business contents insurance depending on the individual requirements and needs of your cleaning company. For example, natural hazard insurance covers your company building against damage caused by natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, or avalanches. External insurance, such as transport insurance , protects your belongings when you are on the move, for example if machines are stolen from one of your vehicles or damaged in an accident.
Company legal protection insurance: Be prepared in the case of legal disputes
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon: A customer does not pay their bills and you have to take legal action. A legal dispute like this is not only unpleasant, but can also be very expensive. Since cleaning companies usually act as service providers, there is a correspondingly high risk that not everything will always go smoothly during the interaction. With company legal protection insurance, you are well prepared for any eventuality.
While business liability insurance only offers passive legal protection, i.e. it fends off unjustified claims, company legal protection insurance covers all costs if you stake legal action yourself. The aim is to defend or enforce your interests, for example in:
- Labor court proceedings,
Traffic law disputes involving company vehicles,
Disputes with the tax office,
Contractual problems with clients,
Debt collection service.
Before you take out company legal protection insurance, you should ask yourself the following questions: What financial reserves does my cleaning company have? Would the cost of litigation derail my business? If you answered "yes" to the last question, company legal protection would most likely be a useful addition to your insurance portfolio.
Cyber insurance: protected against digital risks
Digitalization and automation continue to advance—also the case in the cleaning industry. Many companies already accept credit card payments and manage sensitive customer data. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) : shows what the future of building cleaning could look like: Collaborative robots not only assist with cleaning tasks, but also collect data in order to continuously optimize processes.
This collected data is extremely valuable—and therefore a potential target for hacker attacks. Incidences of cybercrime have increased significantly in recent years. It is not only large corporations that are affected, but small and medium-sized companies too. Hackers also pose a real threat to the cleaning industry.
A cyberattack that steals sensitive data can bring your business to a standstill and damage your reputation in the long run. Sometimes a brief moment of inattention is enough to fall foul of a scam email. The financial damage can be immense. Cyber insurance protects your cleaning company from damage caused by hacker attacks, data loss, viruses, or other malware.
Motor vehicle insurance: Insure your company fleet
Do your employees use company vehicles? Then it might be worth considering third-party or fully comprehensive insurance in addition to the mandatory motor vehicle liability insurance. While motor vehicle liability insurance covers damage that you or your employees cause to others with company cars, comprehensive insurance covers damage to your own cars. And this can easily happen—just think of theft, an accident, or a marten causing trouble under the hood. The result: Operational downtimes that quickly become expensive.
Some insurers offer fleet tariffs where companies with multiple vehicles benefit from favorable conditions.
Business interruption insurance: Be covered in case of breakdowns
Your cleaning machines are stolen, your PCs are destroyed by a burst water pipe: your business comes to a standstill while the costs continue to mount. Wages, salaries, rents and leasing payments have to be paid, but there is no income.
To ensure that your cleaning company does not get into financial difficulties after property damage, you can take out business interruption insurance. It compensates for damages resulting from loss of earningsand covers additional costs. It therefore insures against interruptions if you can no longer provide your services. This insurance is particularly important for small and medium-sized cleaning companies to ensure financial stability in the event of operational failures.
Conclusion
No matter how your cleaning business is set up, you should not skimp on business liability insurance. If you or your employees cause damage to third parties—be it personal injury, property damage, or financial loss—the insurance company will pay compensation. The risk of such damage is relatively high in the cleaning industry, so appropriate insurance is essential.
Depending on the company's size and focus , additional insurance policies may be useful in order to provide optimal protection. The first question you should ask yourself when deciding should always be how likely it is that the potential risk to your company will materialise, whether you could pay for the damage using your own resources or whether it would be an existential threat.