Most Texas trades arrive at insurance through a license. Cleaning does not. A person can start a cleaning or janitorial business in Texas and never file anything with a state licensing board, and the first insurance question usually comes from a client. This page quotes what the state does say, as of October 2026, and says where I looked and found nothing.
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Where I looked for a state license
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation publishes a list titled “Programs Licensed and Regulated by TDLR.” I read the full list on October 31, 2026. It names programs such as air conditioning and refrigeration contractors, electricians, barbering and cosmetology, mold assessors and remediators, and used auto parts recyclers. It has no janitorial, commercial cleaning, or maid service category. Source: TDLR, Programs Licensed and Regulated by TDLR.
That is evidence about one agency’s list, not a statement about every agency. Specific tasks can pull a cleaning company into another license. Mold remediation is on the TDLR list by name, and pesticide application belongs to the Texas Department of Agriculture. Ask the agency that regulates the task, and ask a licensed agent how your policy treats it.
What Texas says about insurance for employers
I found no Texas statute or rule that sets an insurance requirement for cleaning businesses as a category. The general workers’ compensation rule covers them the same way it covers most private employers. Labor Code Section 406.002(a) reads:
“Except for public employers and as otherwise provided by law, an employer may elect to obtain workers’ compensation insurance coverage.”
Source: Texas Labor Code Chapter 406.
The “as otherwise provided by law” clause is where government contracts come in. Section 406.096(a) reads:
“A governmental entity that enters into a building or construction contract shall require the contractor to certify in writing that the contractor provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage for each employee of the contractor employed on the public project.”
Source: Texas Labor Code Chapter 406, Section 406.096.
By its own terms that section speaks of a “building or construction contract.” Whether a janitorial services contract with a school district or city counts is not something the section answers in so many words, so ask the contracting entity and a licensed agent. Our guide on workers’ comp and nonsubscriber status in Texas covers what electing out of coverage means.
Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth
This page quotes no city ordinance. I did not find a city rule setting an insurance requirement for cleaning or janitorial businesses in any of the five. I could not search the full text of those cities’ codes of ordinances from here, so treat that as a gap, not a finding. Large Texas cities register building contractors before permits are pulled, and whether a given city’s registration reaches a cleaning company is a question for that city’s permitting office.
What a certificate of insurance is
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary of your policies, prepared by your agent. Texas Insurance Code Section 1811.152 says:
“A certificate of insurance is not a policy of insurance and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage afforded by the referenced insurance policy.”
Section 1811.153 adds: “A certificate of insurance shall not confer to a certificate holder new or additional rights beyond what the referenced policy or any executed endorsement of insurance provides.”
Source: Texas Insurance Code Chapter 1811. Our guide on the certificate of insurance for Texas contractors goes through the form box by box and shows what it cannot prove.
Who asks a new cleaning business for one
Property managers, HOAs, and commercial building owners are the usual requesters. A property manager wants proof of coverage on file before a vendor starts, as our certificate guide explains. None of the state rules quoted above tells them to ask. The request comes from their own contracts, and each one writes its own terms.
Because the terms live in the contract, the amounts and the wording of the request vary from client to client. Bring the request to your agent and read it against the policy you hold.
Want a licensed Texas agent to call you?
Leave your name and number. We pass your request to one licensed Texas insurance agency, and that agency calls you back. PolicyCompared does not sell insurance.