Coverage built around the places your team works in.
Tell us where your crews work, how they access client premises and what your contracts require. We’ll help you compare the coverage options.
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WHO WE INSURE
Cleaning operations we place.
Every cleaning operation below is placed by a HIFA commercial broker. Not listed? Still worth a call.
Commercial
Commercial Cleaning
Nightly work across offices, plazas and common areas you do not control.
Office
Office Cleaning
Desks, electronics and confidential material handled after hours by your staff.
Residential
Residential Cleaning
Damage inside someone’s home, and staff who come and go.
Industrial
Industrial Cleaning
Plant floors, machinery and chemicals that raise the severity of any claim.
Post-Construction
Post-Construction Cleaning
Chemicals, moisture, and damage to a finish only just completed.
Janitorial
Janitorial Services
You hold keys and work unsupervised. Care, custody and control.
Carpet and Floor
Carpet and Floor Cleaning
Moisture, the wrong product, and a marked surface you were hired to clean.
Specialty
Specialty Cleaning
Height, biohazard or post-loss work narrows the market before price is discussed.
NOT SURE WHICH CLASS YOU FALL INTO?
Send the contracts and a list of what you clean.
A service list, revenue and payroll, and the insurance clause from one or two client agreements is enough to start. A broker tells you where the wording falls short before you sign anything.
Want to talk now?
WHO THIS IS FOR
Is this you?
If any of these describe your business, a commercial broker is worth the conversation.
1
Your crews enter client premises after hours, when nobody from the client is on site.
2
You hold keys, fobs or alarm codes for buildings you do not own.
3
Your staff use chemicals, machines and powered equipment on surfaces that belong to someone else.
4
You run multiple crews and vehicles moving between sites each day.
5
Your contracts require certificates, limits and additional insured wording before you can start.
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
The claims we see most in cleaning.
Common risks
Damage to client property, including the surface being cleaned
Slip and fall injuries from wet floors or equipment left in walkways
An allegation of theft after a crew has had access to a building
Loss of client keys and the cost of rekeying a building
Chemical damage to floors, fixtures or client equipment
Theft of your own machines and equipment from vehicles or sites
A vehicle incident while travelling between sites
Failing to meet the insurance requirements written into a client contract
Coverage to discuss
Care, Custody and Control extensions
Crime and Employee Dishonesty
Tools and Equipment
Business Interruption
Janitorial Bonds (where required)
Availability, limits and extensions vary by insurer and by operation. A broker confirms what applies to yours.
WHAT WE’LL ASK YOU
The questions that change the policy.
An online form asks what you are. We ask how you operate before approaching insurers.
01
What is the split between commercial and residential work?
02
What kinds of premises do you clean, and are any of them industrial or post-construction?
03
What are your annual revenue and payroll, and how much of the work goes to subcontractors?
04
How are keys, fobs and alarm codes issued, tracked and returned?
05
What vehicles are used, who drives them, and what is left in them overnight?
06
Which chemicals and machines are in use, and what do your contracts require you to carry?
Rather work through these with a broker?
REAL CLAIM EXAMPLES
Two situations worth understanding.
Damage to a client’s finishes
A crew uses the wrong product on a stone floor in a client’s lobby and the surface is permanently marked. The client sends you the restoration quote. Liability coverage may respond to the damage, including a care, custody and control extension where one has been arranged. Standard wordings frequently exclude damage to the property being worked upon, which is exactly what this is.
Illustrative only. Whether a policy responds depends on its wording, limits and exclusions.
Theft alleged after an after-hours clean
A client reports items missing from an office following a scheduled overnight clean. Nothing has been established, and an investigation begins. Crime or employee dishonesty coverage may respond where a loss is substantiated, and the enquiry usually turns on access records and who held the keys that night. Key control documentation is often what settles it.
An allegation is not a finding. Crime wordings usually require proof of loss, and sub-limits, exclusions and deductibles apply.
WHY HIFA
What a specialist broker does differently.
We close the ‘property being worked upon’ gap
Standard CGL frequently excludes damage to the very thing you were cleaning, which is one of the most likely claims a cleaning business will make. Liability answers for the person who slips; it does not always answer for the client’s property in your care. We raise care, custody and control extensions before the policy is bound, and we tell you where the wording stops.
We read the insurance schedule before you sign
Contract and certificate requirements get reviewed before you commit: limits, additional insured wording, and the janitorial bond some building managers insist on. A bond answers to your client if an employee steals from them, it is separate from liability coverage, and it is frequently a condition of winning commercial work. We arrange it alongside the programme rather than after a contract has already been lost.
We price access and personnel as the real risk
Key control, alarm codes, subcontracted crews and employee dishonesty are what this class actually turns on, so they get asked about properly. Staff using their own cars between jobs creates a non-owned automobile risk for the business, which is inexpensive to cover and expensive to discover. We put both in front of insurers rather than leaving them to surface at claim time.
WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICE
Two cleaning companies with similar crews can price very differently.
What affects your premium
Split between commercial and residential work
Annual gross revenue
Number of employees and total payroll
The kinds of premises you clean, and whether any are industrial or post-construction
Specialised services such as exterior window cleaning at height
Use of subcontracted crews and whether they carry their own limits
Vehicles on the road, who is permitted to drive them and what is left in them overnight
Claims history, particularly property damage and theft allegations
What to have ready
Breakdown of services provided
Estimated annual payroll and revenue
The insurance clause from one or two client agreements
Key control and building access procedures
Employee training and safety protocols
A list of machines and equipment with values, and where they are kept overnight
Vehicle list with the drivers who use them
Loss runs for the past three to five years
WHERE WE WORK
The western GTA.
Office towers, plazas, industrial units and residential clients across Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga and Hamilton, where the insurance requirements are usually set out in the service agreement.
Common questions
What cleaning contractors ask.
What is a janitorial bond and do I need one?
Does standard CGL cover damage to the item I am cleaning?
What if an employee loses a client's master key?
Do I need commercial auto if employees drive their own cars?
Does coverage differ between residential and commercial cleaning?
READY TO TALK?
Cover that follows the crew into the buildings they work in.
Send a service list, your revenue and payroll, and the insurance clause from one or two client agreements. A broker comes back with what the wording covers, what it does not, and where the gaps sit.
Want to talk now?