Is Your House Cleaner Insured? What “Insured & Background-Checked” Actually Means

Written by MaidEX Cleaning Services Editorial Team · Reviewed by Milad Hoseini, Founder & CEO · Published September 13, 2026 · 7 min read

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

“Insured and background-checked.” You'll see that phrase on almost every cleaning company's website, including ours. But most homeowners have never had it explained — so it becomes background noise instead of the deciding factor it should be. When someone spends three hours alone in your home, around your valuables and your family, the coverage behind them matters more than almost anything else.

This guide decodes the terms in plain English: what commercial general liability insurance actually covers, what “bonded” traditionally means (and why we're careful with that word), what customer-property coverage is, what a background check does and doesn't tell you, and how WorkSafeBC fits in as a question you can ask any company. By the end you'll know exactly what to ask before you let anyone into your home in Metro Vancouver — and how to read the answers.

Commercial general liability insurance — the one that protects your home

This is the coverage that matters most to you as a homeowner. Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance covers third-party property damage and bodily injury that a business causes while doing its work. In plain terms: if a cleaner knocks your TV off the wall, cracks a granite countertop, or floods a bathroom, the company's liability policy is meant to pay for it — not you, and not your own home insurance.

Why does that matter? Because without it, the money to fix the damage has to come from somewhere. If the person cleaning your home carries no policy, your realistic options are (1) hope they pay out of pocket, (2) claim on your own homeowner's or tenant's insurance and absorb the deductible plus a possible premium increase, or (3) eat the cost yourself. An insured company removes that dilemma: the claim goes through their policy.

When a company says it's “fully insured,” this is usually the coverage they mean. It's worth asking for the specifics — is it commercial general liability, and roughly what limit does it carry? A legitimate company answers without flinching.

“Bonded” — what it traditionally means, and why we don't use the word

You'll see “bonded” thrown around constantly in cleaning ads, and it's one of the most misunderstood terms in the industry. Traditionally, a surety bond (specifically a janitorial or fidelity bond) is a product a company can buy to reimburse a client if an employee steals from them and is convicted. It's a narrow, theft-focused protection — not general damage coverage, and not the same thing as liability insurance.

Here's the honest part: many companies advertise “bonded” loosely, or use the word without actually holding a current bond. Because it's so often misused, we don't describe MaidEX as “bonded.” We'd rather tell you exactly what we do carry than lean on a buzzword. If a company you're considering says it's bonded, that's not a bad thing — but it's fair to ask what kind of bond, what it covers, and whether it's active. Don't assume “bonded” means your property is broadly protected; on its own, it usually doesn't.

Customer-property coverage (Bailee's) — protection for your things

Liability insurance covers damage a cleaner causes to your home. But what about your belongings while they're in the cleaner's care — items handled, moved, or looked after during the job? That's where Bailee's coverage comes in. A bailee is simply someone temporarily entrusted with another person's property, and Bailee's insurance is designed to cover loss or damage to a customer's belongings while they're in the company's care, custody or control.

It's the sort of specific, checkable detail worth asking any company about — not just whether they're “insured,” but whether your belongings are covered, not only your building. Many solo cleaners don't carry it, so it's a fair question to put to any provider you're considering.

Background checks — useful, but know what they show

A background check is a screening of a person's criminal record before they're sent into homes. It's a real and valuable safeguard: it filters out relevant convictions and gives you more than a stranger's word. MaidEX background-checks its cleaners for exactly this reason.

Two honest caveats so you read it correctly. First, a background check reflects a record at a point in time — it's a strong signal, not a guarantee about future behaviour. Second, “background-checked” only means something if the company actually does it; a solo cleaner you find in a classifieds ad almost never has one. So the value isn't the phrase — it's that a company takes the screening off your plate instead of leaving you to judge a stranger alone. For more on vetting the person, not just the paperwork, see our guide on whether it's safe to hire a house cleaner in Vancouver.

WorkSafeBC — a question to ask, not a badge to assume

Here's a piece specific to British Columbia that's easy to get wrong. WorkSafeBC is the provincial workplace-safety and insurance system. If a worker is injured on the job — a fall on wet stairs, a back strain moving a sofa — WorkSafeBC coverage is the mechanism that handles it, so the injured worker isn't chasing the homeowner personally.

This is relevant to you because if someone cleaning your home is injured and has no coverage behind them, there's a scenario where you, the property owner, could face a liability claim. Many incorporated cleaning businesses that employ workers in BC register with WorkSafeBC — but you shouldn't take anyone's word for it, ours included. You can verify a company's status yourself using WorkSafeBC's free online clearance-letter search. Treat it as a question to ask and a box to check, not a slogan on a website.

For transparency about our own status: MaidEX has applied for WorkSafeBC registration and the application is currently pending. We don't describe ourselves as WorkSafeBC-registered or covered while it's in process — so if you run the clearance-letter search on us, read it for exactly what it shows today, and ask us where things stand.

Why an uninsured independent can leave you exposed

Plenty of independent cleaners do excellent work, and for the right situation they're a fine choice — see is it safe to hire a house cleaner in Vancouver for how to weigh it. But it's worth being clear-eyed about where the risk sits.

With a typical solo, cash-based arrangement there's often no liability policy (so damage is your problem), no property coverage for the things they handle, no background check (you're trusting your own read of a stranger), and no workplace-injury coverage (which is the exposure most homeowners never think about). None of that makes an independent a bad person — it simply means more of the risk moves onto you, and you're the one managing it if something goes wrong. A company's job is to carry that risk instead.

The questions to ask before you hire — anyone

Whether you're leaning company or independent, ask the same short list. Good providers answer without hesitation:

1. Are you covered by commercial general liability insurance, and roughly what limit?
2. Is my property covered while your cleaners are handling it — do you carry customer-property (Bailee's) coverage?
3. Do you background-check the people you send into my home?
4. Are you registered with WorkSafeBC? (Then verify it yourself with the clearance-letter search.)
5. What happens if something is broken — what's the claims process, and how long does it take?
6. Is there a guarantee if I'm not satisfied — a re-clean or a fix?
7. Do I get a proper invoice with GST?

If you'd like a fuller framework for weighing all of this, our guide on how to choose a cleaning service walks through it step by step.

How MaidEX is set up

We built MaidEX so you don't have to gamble on the big ones. Every clean is backed by insurance — liability coverage for damage or injury we cause in your home — and background-checked cleaners so you're not vetting a stranger yourself. For transparency: we describe ourselves as insured, not bonded, and our WorkSafeBC registration has been applied for and is currently pending. If something's missed, our satisfaction guarantee means a re-clean rather than a shrug. Pricing is flat and upfront — you see the price online before you book, and BC residential cleaning is charged 5% GST only, no PST.

That's the whole point of hiring a real company instead of taking a chance: the protection sits with us, not with you. If you'd like to see a no-obligation flat price for your home in about a minute, you can get an instant quote and book online.

Sources

• WorkSafeBC — Clearance letters (verify a firm's status)
• WorkSafeBC — Who needs coverage
• Insurance Bureau of Canada — Home insurance basics

Frequently asked questions

About the author

Milad Hoseini

Founder & CEO, MaidEX Cleaning Services

Written by the MaidEX Cleaning Services Editorial Team and reviewed by Milad Hoseini, who founded MaidEX in Vancouver. MaidEX provides insured, background-checked cleaning across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. More about MaidEX →

How this guide was made

This guide draws on MaidEX's hands-on cleaning experience across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, along with publicly available sources. It was drafted with the help of AI tools, then reviewed and fact-checked by our editorial team and approved by Milad Hoseini, Founder & CEO, before publishing.