Liability Insurance - I have a few questions

[Mohave Commercial Cleaning]

Long story short this industry found me. Not the other way around.

I tend to network a lot & While searching for some free or cheap IBC totes. I found a plant manager that was so frustrated with every cleaning company he has hired.

To put it in perspective. This is a small manufacturing plant. A total of four people work there. But due to automation they do well.

The plant manager who I know through friends just wants simple reliable service. It will be basic work. Mopping and vacuuming and a bit of scrubbing.

OK......

So after I inquired a lot about his previous cleaning companies. He dug through his filling cabinet and showed me all his past invoices and their liability insurance.

The most recent company held over three million in coverage.

This seemed rather excessive to me.

I don't want to be too cheap and screw myself. But I don't want to waste money either.


What do you think? This will be a two man operation. ( Simply due to my current work schedule. I cant make all the days I need to be there. ) For a very simple job.

In the future I know I can buy more insurance. But what is a good place to start at?

 

[Todd the Cleaner]

Usually $1,000,000 will cover you unless a customer of yours requires more. I've always carried $1,000,000.

 

[Mama Fen]

Long story short this industry found me. Not the other way around.

I tend to network a lot & While searching for some free or cheap IBC totes. I found a plant manager that was so frustrated with every cleaning company he has hired.

To put it in perspective. This is a small manufacturing plant. A total of four people work there. But due to automation they do well.

The plant manager who I know through friends just wants simple reliable service. It will be basic work. Mopping and vacuuming and a bit of scrubbing.

OK......

So after I inquired a lot about his previous cleaning companies. He dug through his filling cabinet and showed me all his past invoices and their liability insurance.

The most recent company held over three million in coverage.

This seemed rather excessive to me.

I don't want to be too cheap and screw myself. But I don't want to waste money either.


What do you think? This will be a two man operation. ( Simply due to my current work schedule. I cant make all the days I need to be there. ) For a very simple job.

In the future I know I can buy more insurance. But what is a good place to start at?

Virtually everyone in this area fell into the industry by mistake, lol, none of them stood up in first grade and announced a desire to clean carpets during Career Day. Same thing for me.

What most of my guys say is, get coverage for whatever you can't afford to pay for in person that may be damaged while you're on-site.

For commercial cleaning jobs, this number can be pretty high if you're working an office building late at night and your porty starts a fire that guts an office, or your dump hose flops out of the utility sink and gushes nasty water all over, or your tech isn't backing up straight and gouges the landscaping.

The purpose of insurance is to cover everything that you personally can't afford to replace, so by its nature you're looking at some startlingly high numbers. For high-end rug restoration and contents companies, I've seen policies for ten to twenty million or more.

 

[Mohave Commercial Cleaning]

Hey. Thanks Todd The Cleaner & Mama Fen.

The plant manager recommended one million. I was curious if there was a standard. But now thinking about it. It all depends on circumstances.

I know that they spent about 4.5 million on the building / setup. Minus the property. So I'm thinking that it would take a pretty damn good mess up for me to damage all of it.

 

[Robert86]

I have 2,000,000 General Aggregate
2,000,000 Products-Completed Operations Aggregate
1,000,000 Personal and Advertising Injury
1,000,000 Each Occurrence Limit
100,000 Damage to premises rented to me
5,000 Medical Expense

I do work in super markets with about 100,000 in wine sitting on shelves and unstable cardboard displays. My coverage has never been an issue.

 

[Mohave Commercial Cleaning]

I have 2,000,000 General Aggregate
2,000,000 Products-Completed Operations Aggregate
1,000,000 Personal and Advertising Injury
1,000,000 Each Occurrence Limit
100,000 Damage to premises rented to me
5,000 Medical Expense

I do work in super markets with about 100,000 in wine sitting on shelves and unstable cardboard displays. My coverage has never been an issue.

I am going to look up & Research all of the terms you mentioned. Just to make sure I understand this all correctly. THANK YOU for sharing your information.

 

[Mama Fen]

This might help:

http://www.genins.com/img/~www.geni...ercial general liability insurance limits.pdf

 

[Mohave Commercial Cleaning]

Mama Fen. Once again. Thank you.

You are rad. I appreciate this.

 

[Smtwn janitorial]

I have 2 million. Never had to use it. Nice to have for peace of mind, but I haven't heard of many janitorial accidents requiring insurance. Not saying they don't happen, but it is relatively rare.

 

[Mohave Commercial Cleaning]

I have 2 million. Never had to use it. Nice to have for peace of mind, but I haven't heard of many janitorial accidents requiring insurance. Not saying they don't happen, but it is relatively rare.

Smtwn Janitorial thanks for your input. I am doing my best tying to put this together and my budget mind made me question how much I need.

I think I will do the one million and I will update the policy when I have another client.

Gotta make this pay for itself

 

[jtsunbrite]

Long story short this industry found me. Not the other way around.

I tend to network a lot & While searching for some free or cheap IBC totes. I found a plant manager that was so frustrated with every cleaning company he has hired.

To put it in perspective. This is a small manufacturing plant. A total of four people work there. But due to automation they do well.

The plant manager who I know through friends just wants simple reliable service. It will be basic work. Mopping and vacuuming and a bit of scrubbing.

OK......

So after I inquired a lot about his previous cleaning companies. He dug through his filling cabinet and showed me all his past invoices and their liability insurance.

The most recent company held over three million in coverage.

This seemed rather excessive to me.

I don't want to be too cheap and screw myself. But I don't want to waste money either.


What do you think? This will be a two man operation. ( Simply due to my current work schedule. I cant make all the days I need to be there. ) For a very simple job.

In the future I know I can buy more insurance. But what is a good place to start at?

I carry 3 million in liability, the difference in price is not that much to upgrade to more and that more will land you more jobs...
make sure to get a rider on your equipment so its covered too commercial for your van......

 

[Robert86]

Yeah, I think it was like $50 more for $2,000,000 instead of $1,000,000. My total cost is $408 a year for liability insurance. The $8 is for an act of terrorism insurance. All kinds of insurance out there these days.

 

[Gary K]

What is the company that you use. We work in NYC and some buildings will not let you in without at least 2 million in insurance. That is quite a bit less than what we pay per year.

 

[carpetmaxllc]

What company then?