VODA CLEANING & RESTORATION

The 2025 Voda FDD (Section 7.12) requires: General Liability at $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate on an occurrence form, primary and non-contributory, with waiver of subrogation and additional insured for FPB DNA Cleaning and Restoration LLC; Commercial Auto at $1M combined single limit for all vehicles; Workers' Compensation at state statutory limits; Employers Liability at $1M/$1M/$1M; Professional Liability at $1M/$2M; Pollution Liability at $1M/$2M with no mold or pollution exclusion permitted; Cyber at $250,000; Employment Practices Liability at $100,000/$100,000 including third-party and $25,000 wage and hour; Third-Party Crime at $100,000; and Bailee's Coverage at $50,000 minimum. All through an admitted A- VII or better carrier. Certificates required 14 days before operations begin.

A janitorial bond is a type of fidelity bond. It typically pays only after an employee is criminally convicted of theft — so a credible accusation with no proof may produce no payment at all. The bond also expects reimbursement from your business after paying the client. Voda's FDD requires a third-party crime policy — not a bond — which pays without a conviction and does not seek reimbursement. The crime policy is the stronger instrument. If you carry a bond for marketing purposes, carry the crime policy for actual protection.

A bailee holds someone else's property for a purpose. When your restoration crew moves a client's furniture and belongings out of a flooded room and stores them during the drying process, you are a bailee. Standard general liability does not cover property in your care, custody, and control. Bailee's coverage fills that gap. Voda requires it at $50,000. Operators who regularly run pack-outs or hold client property for extended periods should raise the limit to match the largest realistic contents inventory they might hold at one time.

No. General liability excludes employee dishonesty. The coverage for employee theft is a third-party crime policy with a theft-of-customer-property endorsement. It pays without a criminal conviction. Voda requires it at $100,000. For restoration crews who access homes while owners are displaced, Rikor's benchmark is $250,000 on a Loss Discovered form.

Your contractors pollution liability and professional liability policies are what respond to that claim — provided neither carries a mold exclusion. The standard general liability policy excludes mold. Voda's FDD prohibits the mold exclusion, but that prohibition only protects you if the policy form you bought actually implements it. Confirm both forms have no mold carve-out before binding.

Under a fidelity bond, a conviction is typically required before the bond pays. Without proof, a conviction may never happen. A commercial crime policy responds to theft on a proof-of-loss standard, not a conviction standard. This is why Voda's FDD requires a crime policy rather than a bond, and why the coverage matters most in exactly the no-proof scenario.

Voda's FDD is among the most detailed in the cleaning cluster. It sets required limits for ten separate coverage lines — including professional liability and pollution liability, which most cleaning brand FDDs omit entirely. The FDD's affirmative prohibition on mold and pollution exclusions is the most specific FDD pollution language in the cleaning group, reflecting the reality of restoration work.

Yes. State law requires workers' compensation for any business with employees in virtually every state, regardless of what the franchise agreement says. Voda's FDD requires it at statutory limits with a waiver of subrogation. The classification code matters: cleaning payroll typically falls under NCCI code 9014, and restoration payroll under NCCI code 5610. A policy with only one code will be corrected at year-end audit — that correction is a premium bill, not a claim denial.

NCCI code 9014 applies to janitorial and cleaning services. For Voda operators who perform water damage restoration and mold remediation, NCCI code 5610 may apply to the restoration portion of payroll at a different state rate. Confirm that both codes appear on your workers' compensation declarations page if your operation includes both service lines.