One photograph taken from a roof can cancel the policy.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — Water and chemical driven under pressure into a building, or across a neighboring parking lot, is third-party damage that happens in seconds.

Inland marine & equipment

Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.

Without it — The rig is the business. Attached and non-attached equipment on the trailer are scheduled differently, and getting that wrong is only discovered when the trailer is gone.

Workers compensation

Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.

Without it — Ladders, wet surfaces and chemical handling produce the injuries, and any work off the ground raises the rate.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — The truck and the trailer are on the road daily and towing is constant.

Contractors pollution liability

Bodily injury, property damage and clean-up caused by a pollutant your work released: chemical drift, run-off, fuel spills. The standard general liability form excludes all of it.

Without it — Run-off carrying detergent, chlorine or removed coating into a storm drain is a pollution claim general liability excludes.

Contractors errors & omissions

Covers faulty workmanship and professional mistakes: the cost of the work itself being wrong, which general liability excludes by design.

Without it — Stripping a surface you were paid to clean — etched glass, stained stucco, damaged shingles — is a workmanship claim rather than an accident.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — Commercial and property management contracts require limits above primary.

Can an underwriter really cancel me over a photograph?

Yes, and it happens. Carriers do review an insured’s public social media, and a picture of somebody standing on a roof is treated as evidence of roof work regardless of what the application said. We have seen accounts cancelled over exactly that when the crew was washing the roof from a ladder and had climbed up once for a photograph. It is worth knowing before you post, and it is worth having the work described accurately from the start so there is nothing to contradict.

Is soft washing a roof from a ladder the same as roof work?

Not to you, and often yes to an underwriter. Cleaning a roof from a ladder, from the ground with a telescopic lance, and by walking on the roof are three different exposures, and many carriers only distinguish between them if you make them. Say which one you do, in those words, on the application: the difference decides both the price and the appetite.

How should my trailer equipment be insured?

Carefully, and this is where policies in this class are most often wrong. Equipment permanently attached to the trailer and equipment merely carried on it are treated differently, and a schedule that lumps them together leaves a gap somebody discovers after a theft. Machines, tanks, reels, hoses and lances should be listed for what they are and valued for what they cost to replace, not for what they were bought for.

What about damage to the surface I was cleaning?

General liability excludes property in your care, custody and control, which on a wash job is frequently the exact surface you were working on. Etched glass, driven-in water, stripped paint and damaged shingles are the frequency claims here. Whether the policy has care, custody and control coverage is worth confirming rather than assuming.

What does a pressure and soft washing insurance application ask for?

The applications for pressure and soft washing businesses ask about 4 things above all: how many years have you been doing snow removal work; what equipment do you use for snow and ice removal (plows, shovels, salt spreaders, snow blowers, sweeper brooms, or other); how many owners or principals work on the jobs, what do they do, and what's your payroll for them; do you use any subcontractors who don't have their own insurance. Have your receipts or income statements from your snow removal work and your last three to five years of claims history (called loss runs) from your current or prior insurance company ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.

What do pressure washing companies pay for insurance?

From policies we bound effective March 2025 to October 2026. Workers compensation: pressure washing companies we placed paid a median of $1,670 a year, with the middle half between $1,070 and $2,830 (15 policies from 10 businesses). Payroll, services, limits and claims history move the figure, so treat it as scale rather than a quote.