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Winning commercial cleaning contracts: the insurance and bonds buyers require
To win commercial cleaning contracts, your bid first has to clear the insurance section. That often happens before anyone looks at your price. Property managers, school districts and public RFPs spell out liability limits, workers' comp proof, endorsement wording and sometimes a janitorial bond. Here's how to read that exhibit, price it into your bid and send the right papers with it.
Key takeaways
- Buyers check insurance before they score price. A bid without the right certificate, comp proof or endorsement can be set aside as non-responsive.
- Many buyers start at $1M/$2M general liability (per occurrence and aggregate), then add auto liability and workers' comp. Larger and public contracts often add an umbrella, a janitorial bond or third-party crime coverage.
- Wording matters as much as limits. Additional insured, primary and non-contributory and waiver of subrogation come from endorsements on your policy, not from boxes on a certificate.
- Read the insurance exhibit during the question period, then build the cost of any new coverage into your price.
How to get commercial cleaning contracts: the short version
Most commercial cleaning contracts come from three places. Some come from property and facility managers you reach directly. Some come from referrals. Others are public bids posted by cities, counties, school districts and federal agencies on SAM.gov.
Pick a building type you can staff well. List the buildings within a short drive. Get the bid walk, price from real production rates and follow up until you hear yes or no.
Every one of those buyers asks the same thing before they read your number: can you prove you carry the insurance our contract requires? A property manager wants a certificate of insurance (COI) before your night crew gets an access card. Public buyers can be stricter. In a 2026 janitorial RFP, Mifflin Township, Ohio said a proposal without a current BWC workers' comp certificate could be ruled non-responsive.
What commercial cleaning contracts usually require
An insurance exhibit lists each coverage the buyer wants, the minimum limit and the exact wording. These are the lines that show up most often in janitorial contracts.
| Exhibit line | What you'll often see |
|---|---|
| Commercial general liability | $1M each occurrence and $2M aggregate on an occurrence form, with products-completed operations included |
| Auto liability | $1M combined single limit for owned vehicles plus hired and non-owned ones |
| Workers' comp and employer's liability | Statutory comp, plus employer's liability limits such as $1M or $500,000 per accident |
| Umbrella or excess | $1M to $2M or more on top of GL, auto and employer's liability |
| Janitorial bond or crime | Protection for the client if an employee steals. Recent bids asked for $10,000 (Alabama) and $50,000 (North Carolina) |
| Endorsements | Additional insured (AI), primary and non-contributory (PNC), waiver of subrogation (WOS) |
| Carrier rating | A.M. Best A- VII or better, sometimes A VII |
Three real exhibits side by side
- Mifflin Township, Ohio (2026 RFP): GL at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, $1M auto for owned vehicles plus hired and non-owned ones, a $2M umbrella, the township as additional insured and a BWC certificate with the proposal.
- Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, Illinois (2020 agreement): GL and umbrella of at least $1M per occurrence, with the aggregate applying to that location. The district goes on the policy through ISO form CG 20 10 or an equal, the coverage must be primary, employer's liability runs $1M, and carriers should be rated A VII or better. Certificates and endorsements are due before work starts.
- District of Columbia Department of General Services (2019 RFP for a youth services center): GL at $1M and $2M with a $2M products-completed operations aggregate, $1M auto and employer's liability of $500,000. It also asked for third-party crime coverage of $10,000. The list went on to cyber and pollution lines plus professional and abuse coverage, and the RFP said the District would not negotiate its insurance terms.
Most exhibits are shorter than the D.C. one; the Illinois and Ohio examples are more typical. Either way, read first and bid second.
How to read an insurance exhibit before you bid
Read the exhibit the day the bid packet lands, in this order.
- Find every insurance section. It can sit in the RFP, the contract, the general conditions and a later addendum. Read them all.
- Set each limit next to what you carry now. Check the per-occurrence limit, the aggregate and whether the aggregate must apply per location or per project.
- Mark every endorsement. Note which policies each one must reach: GL only, or also the auto policy, the umbrella and comp.
- Copy the exact names to be added. Owners and management companies often appear, along with their officers and employees. The names on your paperwork have to match.
- Find the bond or crime line. Write down the amount and whether a crime policy can stand in for a bond.
- Read the subcontractor clause. The D.C. RFP made the contractor require the same insurance from every sub.
- Note the deadline for proof. Some buyers want it with the bid, others at award or before the start date.
- Ask questions before the Q&A cutoff. The D.C. RFP told bidders to review the terms with their broker during the bid and to send questions by the stated date.
The wording buyers want: AI, PNC and WOS endorsements
Three requests show up on most larger commercial and public cleaning contracts: additional insured (AI), primary and non-contributory (PNC) and waiver of subrogation (WOS). Each is an endorsement, a page that changes your policy. On standard ISO forms:
- Additional insured (AI). ISO CG 20 10 extends your general liability to the building owner or manager for claims tied to your ongoing work. CG 20 37 does the same for work you've finished. On the 04 13 and later editions, that cover applies only when you caused the injury or damage at least in part, and it's no broader than your contract requires.
- Primary and non-contributory (PNC). ISO CG 20 01 makes your policy respond first, without asking the owner's own insurer to share. It applies when a written contract calls for it.
- Waiver of subrogation (WOS). With ISO CG 24 04, your carrier gives up its right to chase the owner for money it paid on a claim. On the 12 19 edition, the waiver reaches only the people or companies in its schedule, and only as far as you gave up your own right of recovery before the loss, usually in your written contract.
Some policies carry blanket versions that apply on their own to anyone your written contract requires. Others need each client listed by name.
Example scenario: At 7:40 a.m., a tenant crosses a lobby your day porter mopped five minutes earlier. The wet-floor sign is behind a planter, and she lands on her wrist. Her lawyer sues the building owner and your company.
With AI on your GL, the owner's defense may run through your policy. With PNC, your carrier usually answers before the owner's. With WOS, your carrier generally can't turn around and sue the owner to get its money back. How it plays out depends on your policy wording and the facts.
Janitorial bonds and crime coverage: what buyers mean
A janitorial bond protects your client when a member of your crew takes money or property from the building you clean. It's a promise to the client, not insurance for you. Theft by your own staff from your own company is a different coverage, usually called crime or employee dishonesty insurance.
Bond amounts swing widely from one contract to the next. A 2022 Mobile County, Alabama bid asked for a fidelity bond of $10,000. A 2026 janitorial RFP from the Town of Boone, North Carolina set the floor at $50,000.
Some buyers take crime coverage in place of a bond. The D.C. exhibit asked for a third-party crime policy of $10,000. A 2026 Hill College RFP in Texas asked for employee dishonesty or fidelity bond coverage of $500,000. When an exhibit offers both, ask the buyer whether a crime policy with clients' property coverage will satisfy it.
Some public bids also ask for a bid bond, a guarantee that you'll sign the contract if you win. The same Mobile County bid asked for a 5% bid bond on contracts above a set dollar amount. A janitorial bond's price usually depends on the bond amount and how many employees it covers, and some bonding companies also weigh your credit or time in business.
See janitorial bonds for how they're written, and what "bonded and insured" means before you put the phrase in a proposal. Some contracts hand you keys and alarm codes. Many GL policies exclude property in your care, custody or control, so look at client property and lost-key coverage too.
Workers' comp proof and the umbrella
Most exhibits ask for statutory workers' comp plus employer's liability at a stated limit. Two states work differently.
- Ohio: private employers get comp from the state fund, the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, unless they qualify to self-insure. Private carriers don't sell it. Buyers ask for the BWC certificate. Employer's liability isn't part of that coverage, so many Ohio companies add stop-gap employer's liability, often on the GL. See Ohio cleaning insurance.
- Texas: most private employers may choose not to carry comp. A contract can still require it, so read the exhibit before you assume you can bid without it. See Texas cleaning insurance.
If you use subcontractors, collect their own comp certificates. At year-end audit, a sub who can't show coverage may be counted as your employee and added to your payroll.
The umbrella is how most cleaning companies reach a $2 million requirement without raising every base limit. Exhibits often accept an umbrella or excess policy if it follows the form of the policies under it. Some, like the Homewood-Flossmoor agreement, want the owner added under the umbrella as well. Our umbrella insurance page explains how the layers stack.
Pricing insurance into a commercial cleaning bid
Buyers expect insurance inside your price, not added later. The D.C. RFP said so directly: it expected each bid to account for the contractor's insurance cost and risk.
Start with comp, because it moves with labor. Comp is rated per $100 of payroll in each class code and then adjusted by your experience mod. Every hour you bid adds premium, so put comp in your loaded labor rate next to payroll taxes.
Remember the audit, too. Your comp deposit is based on a payroll estimate. When the term closes, an auditor checks the payroll you really ran, and you either owe more or get some back.
Say you win a large office building and add three night porters. That new payroll shows up on the audit bill, even if you never called your agent.
Then price anything new. Say the exhibit pushes you from a $1M umbrella to $2M, or asks for a bond you don't carry. Get that cost before you finish the bid. Decide whether it belongs to this one building or spreads across all your accounts.
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 guide covers the ranges.
Example scenario: A six-person company bids a medical office park, three nights a week. The exhibit wants a $2M umbrella; the company carries $1M. The owner prices the bigger umbrella during Q&A week and folds the added cost into the monthly price.
What to send with a commercial cleaning bid
Send the full insurance file the first time. A buyer comparing ten bids won't chase a missing page.
- A certificate that matches the exhibit. Limits, holder name and the description of operations should line up with the contract or building.
- The endorsement pages. Include the AI, PNC and WOS forms when the exhibit asks for them.
- Workers' comp proof. In Ohio, that's the BWC certificate.
- Bond or crime proof. Show the amount and the client named, if required.
- Any bid bond the bid instructions call for.
- References, a staffing plan and a quality plan. The Mifflin RFP asked for three references, a staffing plan, an inspection process and a safety program.
If you're already our client, our team can usually turn around certificates on your existing coverage the same day. New endorsements, higher limits and new bonds take longer, so start those as soon as the bid packet arrives.
The verdict on how to get commercial cleaning contracts
Here's how to get commercial cleaning contracts scored instead of set aside. Prospecting gets you the bid walk. The insurance file gets your bid read.
Know the usual limits. Read the endorsement wording. Keep bond or crime proof on hand, and price each new requirement before you send the number. If an exhibit asks for something you don't carry, start your quote. A licensed agent on our team will check which markets fit before you bid.
Frequently asked questions
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