Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595

Cleaning Business Insurance in Texas

Most Texas cleaning businesses meet insurance through a client’s contract, not through a state rule. Here is what the published contracts ask for, what “bonded and insured” can mean, and what to ask before you sign or say it.

What’s required: We found no Texas license, insurance or bond requirement for general cleaning work as of October 30, 2026. The requirement usually comes from the contract, and the contract sets the limit.

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The state first

Do you need a license or insurance to clean in Texas?

We found no state license for general cleaning. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s list of regulated programs names no cleaning, janitorial, maid, carpet or window program. A list is not a ruling, so treat this as what we found, not as clearance.

Source: TDLR, regulated industries. Verified 30 October 2026.

We also found no Texas statute or agency page that requires general liability insurance or a bond for this work. That rests on not finding one.

Houston’s start-a-business page for cleaning and janitorial companies lists a DBA filing where one applies and a Texas sales and use tax permit. It says additional requirements may apply. It also says a business “could be required to post a security bond” for that permit. That is a tax matter, not the bond your clients mean.

Source: City of Houston, Start a Business: cleaning/janitorial. Verified 30 October 2026.

The Tax Code lists janitorial work as a real property service, and the Comptroller says maid, janitorial and custodial businesses should collect sales tax. Ask your accountant how that applies to you.

Sources: Tex. Tax Code § 151.0048(a)(4); Comptroller publication 94-111 (10/2006). Verified 30 October 2026.

Where the requirement comes from

What Texas contracts actually ask for

These are published Texas cleaning solicitations. Each binds only its own contract. Yours may ask for more, less or something else, so read yours.

What seven Texas cleaning contracts asked for
Who, and when	General liability	Workers’ comp	Auto	Bond or other
Hill College, Aug 2026	$1M occurrence, $2M aggregate	As Texas law requires; employer’s liability $500K	$1M if vehicles are used	“Employee Dishonesty or Fidelity Bond”; $1M umbrella
Somerset Academies, 2026	$1M / $2M	Statutory	Not stated in what we read	We did not find a bond line. The 2025 RFP asked for “Fidelity Bonding insurance”
City of Alamo, 2025	$500K / $1M	Statutory	$1M	Additional insured by separate endorsement
Rocketship Texas, 2024-25	$1M combined single limit	Statutory; employer’s liability $1M	$1M	Criminal background and fingerprint screening
Town of Prosper, undated	$500K / $1M, occurrence form only	As the Labor Code requires	$500K if vehicles are used	Certificate before work
City of Angleton, 2021	“Per the City Standards”	Not stated in what we read	Not stated in what we read	“Should be bonded”, with proof in the proposal
Garland ISD, 2016 (old)	$500K combined single limit with $1M aggregate, or split limits	Must be a subscriber	Combined with GL, or split limits	$100K / $300K sexual abuse and molestation endorsement if unsupervised access to students

Sources: Hill College RFP 26/27-001 Addendum 1; Somerset RFP 2027-001; Somerset RFP 2026-001; Alamo RFB 2025-03-21; Rocketship 24-25 RFP; Town of Prosper, General Services; Angleton RFP 2021-0409HR; Garland ISD RFP 186-17. Verified 30 October 2026.

Three things show up that a limit alone does not tell you:

The paperwork. Hill College wants the additional insured and waiver endorsements themselves, along with the certificate. General liability explains the form. Our contractors page explains why a certificate holder and an additional insured are different things.
Keys. Angleton charges a lost key at cost plus 20%, and the same for re-keying after a breach, deducted from your payments. Garland ISD makes the contractor replace lost keys, master system included.
Continuity. One apartment manager’s vendor form (revised 2013, and we did not establish it is used in Texas) says any lapse in coverage ends future purchases.

Source: McKinley, Inc. Vendor Service Agreement. Verified 30 October 2026.

We found no published Texas limits from a current apartment manager, office landlord or HOA. If you have one of their requirement sheets, it is the document that counts.

Before you say it

“Bonded and insured”: what are they asking for?

Ask them which thing they mean, because “bonded” gets used for at least three:

A janitorial service bond, sold around theft of a client’s property.
Employee dishonesty or fidelity cover. This is the label Hill College uses.
A crime policy with a clients’ property endorsement, such as ISO form CR 04 01.

We have not read a bond form for this page, and sellers’ descriptions do not all match. So go by the document, and get these answers in writing before you buy or advertise it:

Who gets paid: you, or your client?
Theft of what, by whom? Does it reach 1099 cleaners and subcontractors, or the owner?
What has to happen before a claim pays: a police report, a charge, a conviction, an identified employee?
If it pays your client, can the issuer come back to you for the money?
Does it satisfy this contract’s wording and limit? Ask the client to confirm.

Moon’s bond desk, Surety Bond Houston, handles fidelity bonds from the same office, and our surety bonds page hands you across to it. Take the contract’s exact wording to them.

Questions, not answers

What can go wrong, and the question for each

Texas’s insurance regulator describes general liability as paying for bodily injury or property damage on your premises or from your operations. It also says policies exclude things such as damage to your own work and pollution, and that coverage varies by insurer.

Source: TDI, General liability insurance (updated 1/20/2021). Verified 30 October 2026.

Eight things that go wrong on a cleaning job
What happened	What to ask
A visitor slips on a wet floor	Is this operation described correctly on the general liability policy?
You break a vase while dusting it	How does the care, custody or control exclusion apply to something you were handling?
A crew member throws out a client’s property	Same question, and is there an endorsement for customers’ property, with what limit?
A client’s jewelry goes missing	Which of the three “bonded” products would respond, and what does it need? Do not assume general liability answers this
Someone steals from your own business	Is that a separate cover from what protects clients?
A crew member is hurt	Do you carry workers’ comp? See below
Your equipment is stolen from the van	What covers your own tools, on and off site?
A master key is lost	Does anything respond to a contract’s re-keying charge? We could not establish this

The care, custody or control exclusion is the one to read. As IRMI describes it, the ISO form’s exclusion j.(4) excludes property damage to personal property in the insured’s care, custody or control. A 2020 trade magazine put this to a panel as a question: a janitor’s employee throws out a bag of hard drives worth about $33,000, and the adjuster denies the claim. The panel did not agree. That is not a ruling and not a Texas case, but it shows the answer is not obvious.

Sources: IRMI, Care, Custody, or Control Exclusion in the CGL (Oct 1, 2008); IA Magazine (Mar 27, 2020). Verified 30 October 2026.

Bidding public work

Public cleaning contracts and the waiver question

Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers’ compensation. Going without it is a lawful choice, and it comes with its own duties.

Public contracts are the catch. TDI’s consumer page says private employers contracting with government entities must provide coverage for employees on the project. Labor Code § 406.096 is written about a governmental entity’s “building or construction” contract. We are not telling you how those two apply to routine cleaning, and we have not read a ruling on it.

What we can show is one example. In 2022 a bidder asked the City of Longview whether a comp waiver was acceptable on a library cleaning contract. The city said it would not accept one, and quoted TDI. That is one city and one bid. Most public documents in the table above ask for comp in their own terms, so ask the buyer before you bid.

Sources: TDI (updated 11/19/2024); Tex. Lab. Code § 406.096; City of Longview Addendum 2, bid 22-0023. Verified 30 October 2026.

Background checks

Cleaning schools: the check insurance cannot answer

A policy will not satisfy a background check. Education Code § 22.0834 applies to people offered employment by an entity, or its subcontractor, that contracts with a school district or open-enrollment charter school, where they will have continuing duties and direct contact with students. It sets a national criminal history review, with some carve-outs for public works.

Dallas ISD says contractors bear the cost and that fingerprinting happens before work begins. Ask the school how its process runs, and build the time into your start date.

Sources: Tex. Educ. Code § 22.0834; Dallas ISD, background information. Verified 30 October 2026.

Tell your agent

Work that changes the conversation

Tell your agent if you do any of this. We have not read a policy for this class, so these are questions, not known exclusions.

Mold. Texas licenses mold remediation, which includes cleaning mold. The chapter does not apply to routine cleaning that is not done for the purpose of mold assessment or remediation. No license is required under § 1958.102(c) for a project under 25 contiguous square feet. TDLR says that at 25 or more in residential properties of 10 or more units, a licensed remediator must do it. This chapter was amended effective September 1, 2025. If a job looks like mold, ask TDLR before you quote, and ask whether your policy responds.
High windows. For rope descent, federal rules require written information from the building owner on anchorages, each able to support 5,000 pounds per attached employee, and generally limit it to 300 feet. Ask how your policy treats height at all, including a ladder at a house.
Subcontractors and 1099 cleaners. Hill College requires approved subcontractors to match its insurance. Garland ISD let the contractor require it of subs or insure them on its own policy. Ask how your policy and premium audit treat them.
Homes and commercial buildings. Make sure the policy describes both, along with any post-construction cleanup.
Pressure washing. See our contractors page.
The van. A crew driving between jobs is a commercial auto question. A contract that wants more limit than your policy has can raise a commercial umbrella.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code §§ 1958.001, .002, .101, .102; TDLR mold FAQ; 29 CFR 1910.27(b). Verified 30 October 2026.

No obligation

Talk it through with the Houston office

Moon Insurance is an independent agency on FM 1959 in southeast Houston. Moon places general liability for cleaning businesses. Send the contract’s insurance page with your inquiry, and tell us whether you clean homes, offices or both, who does the cleaning, and how high you work. The first call can then start from the requirement. Call (281) 484-8320 or use the form below.

Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. Our Houston office is at 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034.

Cleaning business insurance questions

Do I need insurance to start a cleaning business in Texas?

We found no Texas law requiring it for general cleaning, as of October 30, 2026. The practical trigger is the client: the public contracts we read ask for proof of general liability, usually before work starts. Many owners ask this before their first job, and the honest answer depends on who that job is for.

Does a cleaning business need a license in Texas?

We found no state license for general cleaning. TDLR’s list of programs names none, and mold remediation is the nearest regulated work. Your city or a client may ask for other things, so check locally.

Does a cleaning business need to be bonded in Texas?

We found no Texas statute or agency page requiring it, though some contracts ask. If you do not hold a bond, do not say “bonded”. Take the contract’s exact wording to Moon’s bond desk, through our surety bonds page.

What limit should I start with?

The contract sets it if there is one. Documents we read run from $500,000 per occurrence with a $1,000,000 aggregate to $1,000,000 and $2,000,000. With no contract yet, tell your agent the kind of client you want, because that is the sheet you will eventually have to meet.

Can I buy insurance by the job?

Some contracts rule it out: Alamo and Hill College want coverage kept up for the whole term. Whether a per-job option exists for occasional house cleaning is a question for an agent. We have not verified one.

How much does cleaning business insurance cost?

We do not publish a figure, because we would be guessing at your business. Expect to be asked about the work (homes or commercial), payroll, subcontractors, height, claims history, and the limits and endorsements your contracts require.

From the library