Commercial cleaning and janitorial insurance in South Carolina

One license calendar, many South Carolina licenses

South Carolina doesn't license commercial cleaning as a trade. The statewide framework that matters is the Business License Tax Standardization Act (Act 176 of 2020), which took effect January 1, 2022 for every city and county that levies a business license tax.

Under the Act, each city or county that levies a business license tax uses a May 1 to April 30 license year, with renewal due before May 1. The tax is computed on your gross income from the prior calendar year, and your class comes from your NAICS code under one statewide class schedule (janitorial services fall under NAICS 561720). You still need a license in each jurisdiction where you work, but the Act created an online Local Business License Renewal Center that lets you renew your local licenses at one time.

Some cities handle renewals themselves; Charleston, for one, renews through its Revenue Collections Division. Confirm the current rule with the Municipal Association of South Carolina and each city.

Sales tax: building cleaning isn't on the list

S.C. Code 12-36-910 applies the 5% state sales tax (6% with the added 1% under 12-36-1110) to retail sales of goods and to a short list of services. Building and janitorial cleaning isn't on that list. The cleaning-type services that are taxed are laundering, dry cleaning, dyeing and pressing, so if you also launder a client's linens or uniforms, that part of the bill may be taxable.

We found no South Carolina janitorial employer registration, building-service wage or worker-retention law. State and school buyers set background-check terms in their own solicitations, so read each one.

South Carolina comp at four employees, and the subcontractor paperwork

Comp is required once you regularly employ four or more people in South Carolina. A business whose total payroll last calendar year came in below $3,000 is exempt. Sole owners and partners have no coverage unless they opt in. Contract janitorial crews are usually rated under NCCI Code 9014.

The bigger issue for cleaning companies is the statutory employer rule. S.C. Code 42-1-400 and 42-1-410 make owners and upstream contractors liable for comp to a subcontractor's workers. Under 42-1-415, if you collect proof of the sub's coverage on a form the Workers' Compensation Commission accepts when you engage the sub, and the sub turns out to be uninsured, you or your carrier pay the benefits first but can have the claim moved to the state's Uninsured Employers' Fund and be reimbursed. The law also puts a duty on the sub: a sub whose coverage lapses has five days to notify the contractor above it, by certified mail, or it risks fraud penalties.

If you should carry comp and don't, the state can fine you a dollar a day for each employee, never under $10 or over $100 daily. Willfully refusing to insure is a criminal misdemeanor. See the SC Workers' Compensation Commission and our class code and audit guide.

The state's standard liability clause

South Carolina's Division of Procurement Services publishes a standard clause for contractors doing substantial work on state property or in state buildings. It calls for:

• insurers authorized in South Carolina and rated at least A: VII by A.M. Best
• general liability on ISO CG 00 01, at least $1,000,000 per occurrence with an aggregate twice that, with the contract treated as an "insured contract"
• $1,000,000 auto liability, or hired and non-owned auto if you own no vehicles
• statutory comp with employer's liability (coverage for lawsuits brought by injured employees) of at least $1,000,000 per accident
• every using agency as additional insured on CG 20 10, or CG 20 10 plus CG 20 37 on later editions, with your coverage primary

The same compendium uses a janitorial company as its example of why agencies should let a new firm meet experience minimums through its managers' experience, which helps a young company bid state work. Read our contract insurance guide for each endorsement, and ask whether a janitorial bond is required too.

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Where South Carolina contractors get caught

Bidding state work with $500,000 employer's liability

Many small janitorial firms carry lower employer's liability limits than the state's $1 million clause demands. Raise the limit or schedule it under an umbrella before the bid, not after the award.

A subcontract crew without a certificate

Hand a building to a small sub without collecting its coverage proof on the Commission's form, and its injured cleaner can become your comp claim. The paperwork has to exist when you engage the sub.

Bundled scopes at rest areas

SCDOT's 2026 rest area solicitation combined janitorial work with building systems maintenance and interior and exterior repairs. Scopes like that test whether your GL class and your care, custody and control wording (the policy language that limits coverage for property you're working on) fit the job.

South Carolina cities, one sourced detail each

South Carolina price factors

We don't print South Carolina prices. Higher employer's liability limits on state work add some cost, and so do umbrella limits used to reach them.

Subcontracted buildings matter at audit. When a sub can't show its own comp coverage, its payroll can be added to yours, so the certificate you collect under 42-1-415 protects your premium as well as your liability.

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. See our cost guide.

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Licensed in South Carolina

Commercial Cleaning Insurance Group is a brand of The Allen Thomas Group, licensed in South Carolina (License #1911336268, NPN 7642818).

For South Carolina accounts, a licensed agent on our team checks your limits against the state clause and your contracts before quoting.