Commercial cleaning and janitorial insurance in Connecticut

What Connecticut asks a cleaning company to file, collect and pay

A Connecticut cleaning company forms its entity with the Secretary of the State, then gets a sales and use tax permit from the Department of Revenue Services, because janitorial services are taxable. Connecticut doesn't license commercial cleaning as a trade. It has no local sales taxes, and we didn't find town business licenses aimed at cleaning companies, though it's worth a call to the town clerk where you're based.

Janitorial services are their own taxable line

Connecticut lists janitorial services as an enumerated taxable service in Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-407(a)(37)(Y), separate from window cleaning and maintenance services, which have their own lines. The rate is 6.35%. DRS has treated maintenance and janitorial work as taxable since July 1, 1989, and its regulation defines janitorial services as cleaning the inside or outside of buildings or their contents. Confirm the current rule with the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services.

The standard wage on state cleaning contracts

Conn. Gen. Stat. §31-57f covers janitorial, cleaning, maintenance and security companies paid under a contract with the state. Their hourly nonsupervisory workers must earn at least the Labor Commissioner's standard rate: the wages and benefits for Hartford work under the Hartford County union agreement covering the most workers in each job class (at least 500), or federal Service Contract Act wage rates plus a benefits amount if there isn't one. The job classes include light cleaner, heavy cleaner, furniture handler and window cleaner.

You keep wage records and submit certified payrolls to the contracting agency once a year or when asked. Underpaying costs $2,500 to $5,000 per offense, and every short pay period counts on its own. The section doesn't apply to contracts of $49,999 or less a year.

The same section has a successor rule. When you win a contract for substantially the same services as the last one, you keep the prior contractor's employees for 90 days, except those working under 15 hours a week or on site less than 60 days. You can't let them go without just cause in that window, and satisfactory workers must be offered continued employment for the contract's term.

School background checks

Conn. Gen. Stat. §10-222c reaches contracted positions with direct student contact. Your company collects each such worker's employment history and a signed release, asks past school employers and other child-contact jobs about any finding of abuse, neglect or sexual misconduct, and passes any finding to the board, which decides whether that worker may have student contact. Criminal-records checks under §10-221d are written for the district's own applicants, so fingerprinting of your crew comes from the contract terms.

Connecticut comp from the first paid employee

Connecticut requires comp from any employer with even one paid employee (C.G.S. §31-275). Owners have some choices. A sole owner or partner stays outside the system unless they sign up in writing, while an officer of a corporation is inside it by default and must file a written exclusion to step out.

Going bare is expensive. Once cited and heard, an uninsured employer faces a civil fine that can climb to $50,000, with a floor set at $500 for each worker (capped at $5,000). If the lapse was knowing and deliberate, the responsible owner or officer can be charged with a class D felony.

Connecticut uses the national NCCI system, so contract janitorial crews usually fall under class 9014, "Janitorial Services by Contractors – No Window Cleaning Above Ground Level & Drivers." Your carrier assigns the class. The state also runs a Joint Enforcement Commission on Employee Misclassification (§31-57h), so a 1099 crew is a question for your attorney, not a shortcut. See the Workers' Compensation Commission for filings.

What a Connecticut town bid expects from a custodial contractor

Town custodial bids can ask for more than a typical office client. Southbury's 2022 custodial services RFP, covering its town buildings, set out:

• occurrence-form general liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 aggregate and $2,000,000 products-completed operations
• auto liability of $2,000,000 combined single limit for owned, hired and non-owned vehicles, plus a $2,000,000 umbrella
• workers' comp at statutory limits, plus $100,000/$500,000/$100,000 in employer's liability
• a separate endorsement naming the town as additional insured, a waiver of subrogation, 30 days' notice by registered mail, and insurers authorized in Connecticut and rated A-VIII or better

Subcontractors had to carry the same unless your policies covered them. The town didn't require a bid bond, and a bid bond answers a different question than a janitorial bond that covers staff theft. Our guide to contract insurance requirements shows how to read each line.

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Connecticut risks that start on paper

Taking over a crew under the 90-day rule

Win a state contract that replaces another cleaner, and you inherit staff you didn't screen or hire. Discharging any of them during the 90 days needs just cause, so poorly documented decisions can turn into employment claims. Employment practices liability can respond to some of those claims, but most EPLI excludes wage disputes.

Short-paid shifts on a state account

Each short pay period under the standard wage is a separate $2,500 to $5,000 offense, and certified payrolls make gaps easy to find. Wage penalties aren't something insurance usually pays, so the protection is payroll that matches the posted rate.

Four Connecticut markets, four different details

Pricing coverage for a Connecticut cleaning company

We don't list Connecticut prices, because they turn on your own numbers. Three local factors move them.

State contracts at the standard wage raise payroll per hour, and payroll is what comp premium is figured on. Town bids that ask for a $2 million umbrella and $2 million auto add policies a small office-only contractor might not carry. Class 9014 payroll, reported accurately, keeps the year-end audit from surprising you.

Your price depends on the payroll in each class code, your annual sales, the kinds of buildings you clean, how much specialty and chemical work you do, the vehicles your crews drive, your claims history and the limits your contracts require. Our cleaning insurance cost breakdown walks through each piece.

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Licensed in Connecticut

Commercial Cleaning Insurance Group is a brand of The Allen Thomas Group, licensed in Connecticut (License #2668839, NPN 7642818).

Connecticut cleaning contractors can start a quote here, and our licensed team will go over the town or state exhibit with you before quoting.