Pressure Washing Insurance Requirements

Insurance Requirements for Pressure Washing Services

Pressure washing can make a home or property look new again, but this industry is not without its risks. The pressure from a pressure washer is 50 times stronger than a garden hose, making it easy to cause physical injury to employees or customers.

Insurance can help protect against these risks to keep your business up and running even if an accident occurs.

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Do I Need Insurance For A Pressure Washing Business?

Owners of pressure washing businesses may be reluctant to purchase insurance because it’s just one more expense. However, having good insurance can save you money in the long run and may help your business grow.

  • You’ll earn more customers. With pressure washing, the risk of damaging a customer’s property is relatively high, and most customers are aware of the risk. Knowing that your business is insured will give them peace of mind that if something happens, the damage will be repaired.
  • You’ll protect your business. If an accident does happen and a customer’s property is damaged, your business will have to foot the bill for repairs or replacement. If your business is sued, you’ll be covering those costs, too. Insurance will protect against these costs.
  • You can increase your client pool. Being insured means that you can bid on commercial jobs, which pay more and often offer steady weekly or monthly work.

The truth is that the cost of insurance is a small price to pay to protect against the major costs of repair or a lawsuit. Being insured will also help you win the trust of more customers, and that extra business can help offset the cost of your premiums.

Insurance can also protect your business in other ways. For example, if a covered incident prevents your business from operating, business interruption coverage can help cover your expenses to keep your doors open while you recover.

What Does Pressure Washing Business Insurance Cover?

pressure washing business insurance

Pressure washing services typically require the same coverages that other home service providers require. However, you may also have individual risks that you need to cover for your business, especially if you offer more than just pressure washing services.

That being said, there are general coverages that most pressure washing businesses will want to have. Insurance policies for pressure washing services can include:

General Liability

Every business should have general liability coverage because it provides vital protection. A general liability policy includes:

  • Bodily injury: If a customer is injured while you’re performing your services, bodily injury will cover the cost of medical care.
  • Property damage: If your pressure washing machine or one of your employees accidentally damages the customer’s property, this policy will cover the cost of repair or replacement.
  • Advertising injury: If your business’s advertisements cause harm in some way, such as copyright infringement or misappropriation of ideas, this policy will cover damage claims.

General liability is one of the most basic but also one of the most important insurance policies for pressure washing businesses to have.

Tools and Equipment Insurance

Your business’s tools are its lifeline. Without them, you can’t do your job. If something happens to your gear, a tools and equipment insurance policy can help cover the cost of replacement.

Typically, this type of insurance is available as an add-on to a general liability policy. However, it’s an important coverage that pressure washing services should consider. In most cases, these policies cover:

  • Employee tools
  • Equipment owned by your business
  • Borrowed equipment

If your gear is stolen from a job site or if they are damaged accidentally, insurance can help you get back up and running.

Workers’ Compensation

If you have employees, you will likely need workers’ compensation insurance. Texas is the only state that does not require this coverage, and even if you’re doing business here, it’s in your best interest to get it.

Workers’ compensation insurance will cover the cost of medical care, lost wages and other damages if an employee is injured while on the job.

Commercial Auto Coverage

Getting to and from worksites is crucial for any pressure washing business. The addition of commercial auto insurance will cover your truck and maybe even limited business use of your personal vehicle if it’s used for any business-related needs.

Commercial Property Insurance

Property insurance covers damage to your equipment and building. If a fire breaks out or a flood damages your business, this is the insurance policy to make a claim on.

Business Interruption Insurance

If there’s an unforeseen interruption in business activity, business interruption insurance will kick in. This insurance is most common for natural disasters, such as a tornado damaging your place of operation and causing you to be unable to conduct business.

Professional Liability

Pressure washing companies have workers, and you’re responsible for their actions. Professional liability protects against any of the following:

  • Negligence
  • Mistakes
  • Misrepresentation
  • Inaccuracies
  • Etc.

Cyber Liability

Data breaches are on-the-rise and may even impact smaller businesses, such as pressure washing businesses. This form of protection will help cover the cost of the following if a cyberattack against your business occurs:

  • Notifying customers
  • Credit monitoring
  • Attack investigation

How Much is Insurance for a Pressure Washing Business?

Just based on the list above, you can see that insurance costs will depend on which of the policies or coverages you choose. For example, you may choose not to have cyber liability insurance, but it does pose a serious risk to your operations.

You can find some pressure washing insurance options for as low as $65 a month, but pricing will depend on your occurrence limits.

If you own a major pressure washing service and need $1 million in insurance for each occurrence, this can cost you significantly more. Pricing is often:

  • $55 – $190 per month
  • $660 – $2,280 per year

However, costs will fluctuate greatly depending on the limits you choose and your deductible. You can often save on premiums if you’re willing to have a higher deductible. It’s important to discuss all of your insurance requirements with the insurer and price shop to find the best option for you.

Choosing the right insurance from the start will save you from potential liability issues in the future.

How to Choose Insurance for Pressure Washing Service

Choosing the cheapest insurance option for your pressure washing business is not how you should make your final decision on which policy to choose. Price is just a small factor, and you need to consider all of your needs and risks first.

Determine Your Needs and Risks

Your business has needs and risks, too. You’ll need to sit down and determine how much risk you’re willing to take on because taking on risk will lower your payments. A few risks that you need to consider are:

  • Breaking glass or other items at a client’s property
  • Customers tripping and falling over equipment
  • Employee injuries
  • Cyber liabilities

Risks will go much more in-depth here because you’ll also need to consider assets, business size and the type of jobs you take on. Once you have a good understanding of your risks, you can then better determine your needs.

For example, you might not need employee dishonesty coverage because you’re a sole operator, so this wouldn’t be a need of yours.

Sit down and look through the potential insurance options earlier in this article to help you determine which coverage your business needs.

Compare Policy Options and Coverages from Providers

Finally, you need to get quotes from multiple providers to determine which one is the right choice for you. Reviewing your options will come down to:

  • Cost. Can you afford the policy? What deductible options are available and how will they impact your overall cost?
  • Limits. What are your limits for each quote and how do they compare to each other? Limits will be what the insurer will cover, and large service businesses will need higher limits to cover all of their risks.
  • Coverage. What is covered and excluded from each policy?

You’ll want to view all of the quotes side-by-side to find out which provides the best coverage for the price. Additionally, be sure to read through reviews, especially on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to see if the insurer has a lot of complaints against them or not.

Decide Whether You Want to Shop Online or In-Person

Insurance requirements for a pressure washing business are vast. You’ll want to work either with an insurance agent in person or online. Shopping online often helps you save money and opens up far more insurance options than going to someone local for your insurance needs.

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