The cheapest insurance for a cleaning business (that still pays out)

The short answer

For a solo residential cleaner or a small team, basic commercial general liability in Canada usually costs about $400 to $700 a year, according to Canadian broker estimates. A midsized cleaning business with staff and a standard policy should expect about $700 to $2,000 a year. Canadian owners in our research report paying about $37 to $100 a month.

That's the policy that pays when your work damages a customer's property or injures someone. It's the one customers, condo boards and offices ask to see. Add the extras a cleaning business usually needs (keys, equipment, business use of your car) and the total climbs from there.

If you've never seen what each of those policies does, read the licence and insurance guide first. This one is about the price.

Why insurance matters more for cleaners than most trades

Clean Papi advertises itself as licensed and insured, right next to same-day booking. That's not decoration. A cleaning company asks a stranger to hand over their keys, leave the house, and trust that the people inside won't break the TV, scratch the floors or lose the fob. "Insured" is often what turns a quote into a booking.

It's also what saves the business when something goes wrong. Cleaners work with water, chemicals and other people's expensive things, in homes they've never seen. Sooner or later, something breaks. A flooded floor or a ruined stone vanity can cost more than a small company makes in a month.

Make the policy work for your marketing too

You're paying for the policy either way, so let customers see it. Say "licensed and insured" on your website, your Google profile and every quote. Keep a PDF of your certificate of insurance ready, because property managers and condo boards will ask before they book, and some homeowners will too. When a commercial client wants to be named as an additional insured, your broker can usually issue a new certificate within a day.

One caution: say only what's true. If you're not bonded, don't put "bonded" on the van. If your policy excludes post-construction work, don't advertise it as covered. A claim that's refused after you promised cover is worse than never having promised it.

What makes one cleaner's quote three times another's

Two cleaning companies in the same city can get very different quotes. These are the things insurers price on:

Notice that most of these are choices. You can't change your claims history this year, but you can choose what services you offer, which limit you buy and how you handle keys.

The cheap policies that cost you later

The lowest quote is often the lowest because something's missing. Before you take it, check for these gaps:

• No care, custody and control cover. A basic liability policy can exclude damage to property in your care. For a cleaner working inside someone's home, that's most of what you touch. Ask directly whether it's included.
• No lost key cover. If a cleaner loses a key or fob, re-keying a house or a condo building's fob system is on you.
• Excluded services. The policy covers "residential cleaning," but you also do post-construction. A claim from a construction site could be refused.
• Subcontractors not covered. If you use contractors, the policy may only cover employees, or require the contractors to carry their own insurance.
• A personal car doing business driving. Personal auto policies can refuse claims when the car is used for work. Tell your auto insurer what you do; it's usually a small increase.
• A tiny limit. A $1 million policy is cheaper, but it may not satisfy a property manager who writes $2 or $5 million into the contract.

Read the exclusions page before the price page. If a broker can't tell you clearly whether a broken countertop in a customer's kitchen is covered, that's your answer.

Nine safe ways to lower your premium

These cut the cost without cutting the cover you need:

1. Get three quotes. From at least one broker who works with cleaning or janitorial companies. Compare limits, exclusions and deductibles, not just the total.
2. State your revenue accurately. Overestimating to look bigger costs you money; underestimating can create a problem at claim time. Use your realistic number for the next 12 months.
3. Only list services you actually do. If you don't do floor stripping or window work at height, don't let it be on the application. Add it when you start.
4. Choose a deductible you could pay tomorrow. Raising it from $500 to $1,000 can lower the premium. Only do it if you'd have $1,000 ready the day something breaks.
5. Buy the limit your clients require, not more. $2 million is the usual starting point. Raise it for the specific contract that needs $5 million, and price it into that bid.
6. Bundle. Liability, equipment and lost key cover from one insurer is often cheaper than three separate policies.
7. Pay annually if you can. Some insurers charge extra for monthly payments.
8. Show you manage risk. Training records, checklists, before-and-after photos and a key-handling policy can help with some insurers, and they definitely help when you make a claim.
9. Stay claim-free on the small stuff. For a $60 lamp, most owners pay it themselves, because a small claim can raise next year's premium by more than it pays out.

When to claim and when to pay it yourself

Insurance is for the things that would hurt the business, not every scratch. A rough rule:

Whatever happens, tell the customer the same day, before they find it. Photograph the damage and write down what happened while it's fresh. For anything big, don't admit fault in writing until you've spoken to your broker.

The More Knocks cleaner app saves before-and-after photos to the booking, and customer notes on the customer record ("marble in the main bath, stone-safe products only") show up for every cleaner who goes to that home.

Workers' compensation isn't optional, and it isn't the same thing

Liability insurance covers damage and injuries to other people. It doesn't cover your own cleaners getting hurt at work. That's workers' compensation, run by each province, and in most of them it's compulsory for cleaning companies once you hire.

• Ontario (WSIB): compulsory for cleaning businesses; register within 10 days of your first hire. Janitorial work was $1.43 per $100 of payroll in 2026.
• British Columbia (WorkSafeBC): register when you hire your first worker.
• Alberta (WCB-Alberta), Quebec (CNESST) and other provinces have their own rules and rates.

It's not a cost you can shop around: the rate is set by the board. But it's a cost you must price in. On a cleaner earning $22 an hour, Ontario's rate adds about 31 cents an hour.

Put insurance in your prices

Insurance is a fixed monthly cost, and like any fixed cost it has to be spread across your jobs. At $70 a month and 40 cleans a month, it's under $2 a clean. At 120 cleans, it's under 60 cents. The busier you get, the smaller it feels, which is one more reason recurring customers matter.

For commercial contracts that need a higher limit, price the extra premium into that one bid. If a $5 million certificate costs you $600 more a year on a contract that runs three nights a week, that's under $4 a visit.