Here's the frustrating reality of running a cleaning business: you invest thousands in quality equipment—commercial vacuums, floor buffers, pressure washers, window cleaning tools—only to watch it walk out the door to job sites every single day. And unlike your office space, which your commercial property insurance covers, those tools are on their own the moment they leave your building. That's where inland marine insurance comes in.
If you've heard the term "inland marine" and thought it had something to do with boats, you're not alone. The name is a historical quirk, but what it actually covers is your mobile business property—equipment and tools that travel to different locations. For cleaning and janitorial businesses, this coverage is absolutely essential. Let's break down what you need to know to protect your investment.
What Equipment Insurance Actually Covers
Equipment and tools insurance (the more common name for inland marine coverage in the cleaning industry) protects your gear against theft, accidental damage, vandalism, and weather-related losses. This applies whether your equipment is in your vehicle, in a storage trailer, sitting at a job site, or anywhere else outside your main business location.
For a typical cleaning business, this means coverage for your vacuums, carpet extractors, floor buffers and polishers, pressure washers, window cleaning equipment, ladders, carts, and even your cleaning supplies if they're stolen along with your equipment. The policy reimburses you up to your coverage limit, allowing you to replace damaged or stolen items without devastating your cash flow.
Here's the catch: the insurance won't cover "mysterious disappearance." In plain English, if your pressure washer simply goes missing without evidence of theft or damage, you're probably out of luck. You need documentation—a police report for theft, photos of vandalism damage, or clear evidence of the loss. This requirement prevents fraud but means you need to be diligent about reporting incidents immediately when they happen.
Scheduled vs. Blanket Coverage: Which Is Right for You?
When you purchase equipment insurance, you'll face a choice: scheduled coverage or blanket coverage. This decision matters more than most insurance agents explain, so let's get into the practical differences.
Scheduled coverage means you create a detailed list of every piece of equipment you want covered, along with its value. You might list "Advance Convertamatic 28D floor scrubber - $4,500," "Kaivac No-Touch cleaning system - $2,800," and so on for each major piece of equipment. The advantage? If that specific scrubber is stolen, you know exactly what you'll receive. The disadvantage? The paperwork is tedious, you need to update the schedule every time you buy new equipment, and you can't apply unused coverage from one item to replace a different item that exceeded its scheduled value.
Blanket coverage takes a different approach. You determine the total value of all your tools and equipment, then buy a policy with a single limit covering everything—say, $25,000 or $50,000 depending on your inventory. You don't list individual items. If someone steals $10,000 worth of equipment from your van, you can claim that amount regardless of which specific items were taken, as long as you're under your total limit. This flexibility makes blanket coverage more popular with cleaning businesses, especially those that regularly add or replace equipment.
Most cleaning businesses with equipment valued between $25,000 and $50,000 find blanket coverage simpler and more practical. If you only have a few very expensive items—like a $15,000 ride-on floor scrubber—scheduled coverage might make sense to ensure that specific machine is fully covered. But for the typical mix of vacuums, buffers, and smaller tools, blanket coverage offers the flexibility you need without drowning in administrative work.
Why Your Commercial Property Insurance Isn't Enough
This trips up new cleaning business owners constantly. You might think, "I have commercial property insurance, so my business property is covered, right?" Not exactly. Commercial property insurance protects your business location and the property inside it. The moment your vacuum leaves your office and gets loaded into your van, it's no longer covered by that policy.
Think about your actual workflow. Your equipment spends maybe 10% of its life at your office or storage facility. The other 90%? It's in your van, at a client's office building, in a parking lot, or stored in a trailer overnight. That's when it's most vulnerable to theft and damage—and that's exactly when your commercial property coverage doesn't apply. Inland marine insurance fills this gap by following your equipment wherever it goes.
Even if you operate from your home and don't have a separate business location, you still need this coverage. Your homeowner's insurance has very limited coverage for business equipment, often capped at $2,500 or less. If you're running a professional cleaning operation with $20,000-$30,000 worth of equipment, that's nowhere near enough protection.
What It Costs and How to Buy It
Equipment insurance for cleaning businesses typically runs $35 to $50 per month, or roughly $420 to $600 per year. That's a small price compared to replacing even a single stolen floor buffer. The exact cost depends on your coverage limit, your location, your claims history, and what security measures you have in place (insurers often give discounts for GPS tracking on equipment or secured storage).
Here's something important that catches people off guard: most insurers require you to have an active general liability policy before they'll sell you equipment coverage. This isn't arbitrary—it's because equipment insurance is meant to work alongside your other business insurance, not replace it. General liability protects you if you damage a client's property or someone gets injured because of your business operations. Equipment insurance protects your stuff. You need both.
The good news is that many insurers now offer streamlined packages for cleaning businesses. You can often bundle general liability, equipment coverage, and commercial auto insurance into a single policy with one monthly payment. This simplifies your insurance management and sometimes gets you a discount on the bundle. Companies like NEXT Insurance, Simply Business, and Insurance Canopy specialize in policies for cleaning businesses and can often provide quotes online in minutes.
Practical Tips to Protect Your Equipment (And Lower Your Premiums)
Insurance pays out after something goes wrong, but you'd rather prevent the loss in the first place. Some practical steps can both reduce your risk and potentially lower your insurance premiums. First, never leave equipment visible in your vehicle overnight. Thieves cruise parking lots looking for exactly this. Lock everything in your van (windowless cargo vans are better than vehicles with windows showing your equipment) or take high-value items inside.
Consider engraving or marking your equipment with your business name and a unique identifier. This doesn't prevent theft, but it makes stolen equipment harder to resell and easier to recover if police find it. Take photos and keep serial numbers for all major equipment—you'll need this documentation if you ever file a claim anyway, so do it now while everything is in your possession.
Some cleaning businesses install GPS trackers on their most expensive equipment. These devices cost $20-$50 per unit plus a small monthly fee, but they can help recover stolen items and may qualify you for an insurance discount that offsets the cost. Talk to your insurance agent about what security measures they recognize for premium reductions.
How to Get Started
If you don't have equipment insurance yet, start by inventorying what you own. Go through your storage area, your vehicles, and any job sites where you keep equipment, and make a spreadsheet. List each item, its purchase price, its current estimated value, and any serial numbers. Add up the total—that's your coverage target.
Next, contact insurance providers who specialize in cleaning businesses or small commercial operations. Get quotes for both scheduled and blanket coverage so you can compare. Ask specifically about what's excluded (some policies have limits on cash, electronics, or other non-equipment items), what documentation you'll need for claims, and whether they offer any package deals with your other business insurance.
Once you have coverage, update it annually or whenever you make major equipment purchases. Insurance only works when it matches your actual exposure, and your equipment inventory changes as your business grows. The $25,000 policy that covered everything when you started might be woefully inadequate three years later when you've doubled your equipment to serve more clients. Make reviewing your equipment coverage part of your annual business planning process.
Equipment and tools insurance isn't the most exciting business expense, but it's one of the most important. Your cleaning business depends on your equipment being available, functional, and ready to work every single day. One theft or damage incident could put you out of commission for weeks while you scramble to replace essential tools—or worse, could force you to shut down if you can't afford replacements. For $35-$50 a month, inland marine coverage eliminates that risk and lets you focus on growing your business instead of worrying about what-ifs.
