A resource for Fountain Hills facility managers and office managers.
When a commercial cleaning contractor works in your building — particularly after hours — two categories of risk are always open: property damage and theft or dishonesty. Insurance and bonding are the mechanisms that assign those risks to the contractor rather than leaving them with your facility. Understanding what each type of coverage does helps you ask the right questions before signing a cleaning agreement.
General liability insurance covers third-party claims for bodily injury and property damage arising from the contractor's operations. In a commercial cleaning context, the relevant scenarios are:
Without general liability insurance on the contractor, these claims may fall to your own policy. Your facility's policy may cover the loss, but you absorb the deductible and the rate impact. With a properly insured contractor, the claim goes to their carrier first.
Ask for a certificate of insurance, not a verbal confirmation. A certificate names your facility as an additional insured and confirms the coverage is current. Policies can lapse; a certificate that is six months old is not evidence of current coverage.
Workers' compensation covers medical costs and lost wages for a contractor's employees who are injured while working. In Arizona, commercial cleaning employers are required to carry workers' compensation for their employees. If a contractor does not carry it — or if they classify workers as independent contractors to avoid the requirement — and one of those workers is injured in your building, you may face liability.
This is the most commonly overlooked insurance category in commercial cleaning. Ask specifically whether the cleaning staff are employees covered by workers' compensation or independent contractors, and ask to see the certificate of coverage. The distinction matters legally.
A cleaning bond — technically a commercial crime bond or fidelity bond — provides coverage in the event of theft or dishonest acts by a contractor's employees while on your premises. Bonding is not a substitute for background checks and proper hiring; it is a financial backstop if a background check fails to identify a problem or if a previously clean employee acts dishonestly.
Bonding limits vary. The amount of coverage should be proportional to the value of portable property in the spaces being cleaned. A medical practice with pharmaceutical samples or a law office with client files has different exposure than a warehouse. Ask what the bond limit covers and whether it covers any employee or only named individuals.
| Question | Acceptable Answer |
|---|---|
| Can you provide a certificate of general liability insurance? | Yes, provided with the written quote |
| What is the policy limit? | At minimum, $1M per occurrence is standard; $2M is common for larger accounts |
| Are your cleaning staff employees or contractors? | Employees on payroll, covered by workers' comp |
| Can I be named as an additional insured? | Yes, on request |
| Are your crews bonded? | Yes; ask for bond documentation |
A contractor's insurance and bonding documents are current-state evidence. Operating history is longitudinal evidence. A company that has operated for 22 years without losing its insurance coverage, its bonding eligibility, or its client base has demonstrated something that no single document can: they handle incidents correctly when they occur, and they do not have a pattern of claims that makes them uninsurable. Both matter when evaluating a contractor for after-hours access to your building.