A friend in Fishers hired the first cleaner she found on Craigslist, handed over a spare key, and came home to a missing MacBook. No receipt, no insurance, no way to find the cleaner again — and no recourse because there was never a paper trail. That's the worst-case version. The smaller versions of the same story happen constantly in Indy: damaged hardwoods nobody will pay for, surprise price hikes on month three, rotating cleaners who don't know your house. The five red flags below will catch most of them in a 10-minute vetting call.
Red flag #1 — No proof of insurance
No general liability or worker's comp
A cleaner drops a vacuum through your hardwood, a cleaning solution eats the finish off your granite, or a cleaner slips in your bathroom and breaks an ankle — without general liability and worker's comp, you are the one who pays. Homeowners insurance rarely covers damage caused by a service worker you hired, and if a cleaner is injured on your property with no worker's comp, you can be personally liable for their medical costs.
Ask for a Certificate of Insurance (COI) before the first visit. Any legitimate Indy cleaning company can email one in under an hour. Check that general liability coverage is at least $1M per occurrence, that worker's compensation is listed (not just auto), and that the policy dates show it's currently active. If the company "self-insures" or claims they're covered under their homeowner's policy, keep looking.
Red flag #2 — No background checks on cleaners
"Trust our team" without the paperwork to back it
A cleaner spends 2–4 hours in your home with access to every drawer, jewelry box, medicine cabinet, and spare key. Gig-platform cleaners and one-person operations often skip background screening entirely — or ran a one-time check three years ago and haven't re-screened since. A lot of the franchise horror stories (Merry Maids, HomeAglow, MaidPro) trace back to thin or outsourced screening, regardless of how polished the parent-company branding looks.
Ask directly: "Do you run background checks on every cleaner, and what service do you use?" The right answer names a specific provider — Checkr, Sterling, or an equivalent — plus a re-check cadence (annually is standard). "Our cleaners are all trustworthy" is not an answer. Neither is "we vet them in person."
Red flag #3 — Cash-only or no receipts
No paper trail = no accountability
Cash-only operations don't just mean no receipt — they usually mean no tax ID, no insurance, no accountability, and no way to dispute a bad clean or a missing item after the fact. If something goes wrong, you have nothing showing the cleaner was in your home on a given day. Legitimate Indy cleaning businesses send a booking confirmation, a digital receipt, and a card transaction record. Accepting cash sometimes isn't a red flag; refusing anything else is.
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Get My QuoteRed flag #4 — Contracts that lock you in
Cancel fees, 6-month minimums, "prepay for 12 cleans"
Some companies bury 6-month minimums, $150 cancellation fees, or "prepay 12 cleans for a discount" clauses in the fine print. The logic is always the same: if they can't earn your repeat business through quality, they trap you into it instead. Good cleaners don't need contracts — they keep you because the work is good. At most, expect a simple cancellation window (24–48 hours before a scheduled visit) so they can rebook the slot if you cancel last minute.
Red flag #5 — Vague on what's actually included
"We'll see when we get there"
If a company can't send you a written scope before the visit — what's in, what's out, which add-ons cost extra — you're setting yourself up for the "that's not included" conversation mid-clean. The ambiguity almost always favors the company: baseboards weren't included, inside the oven was an add-on, the upstairs bathroom counts as a separate room. A legitimate Indy cleaner publishes or emails a line-by-line scope before they accept the booking.
How to vet a cleaning company in 10 minutes
- "Can you email me your current Certificate of Insurance?"
- "Do you run background checks on every cleaner, and which service do you use?"
- "Can you send me a written scope of what's included — and which tasks are add-on upcharges?"
- "Is there a contract, minimum commitment, or cancellation fee?"
- "What supplies and products do you bring — and can I request eco-friendly or allergen-safe alternatives?"
- "Will I get the same cleaner or team every visit, or does it rotate?"
If a company hesitates, stalls, or gives a vague answer on any of the six questions above, move on. Indianapolis has more than twenty legitimate cleaning companies actively taking new bookings — you don't need to gamble on the one that couldn't answer a basic question about insurance.
How Verdure handles each of these
Verdure carries $1M general liability plus worker's comp; our COI is emailed on request the same day you ask. Every cleaner is background-checked through Checkr before their first shift and re-checked annually. Every booking gets a digital receipt and card transaction record — no cash deals. There are no contracts, no minimums, and no cancellation fees as long as you cancel at least 24 hours before the appointment. Scope is written and sent with every booking confirmation — what's included, what's an add-on, what's out of scope — so there are no mid-clean surprises. And on recurring service, you keep the same cleaner or small team unless you ask for a change.
