How much to charge for commercial cleaning.

Pricing method

Choose the pricing method that fits the scope

A square-foot price is useful when spaces and service levels are consistent. An hourly price can fit uncertain, one-time, or approved extra work. A per-job or recurring contract price gives the client one clear number for a defined result. Build all three from the same cost model. Estimate the crew time first, price the full job from your costs, then divide the result by hours or square feet when you need a comparison. Do not choose a method because it produces the easiest number to sell. Choose the one that makes the scope, approval path, and invoice easiest for both sides to understand.

Measure your own production rate

Production rate means how much defined work a crew completes in a given amount of time. Measure it from your own jobs instead of copying a generic benchmark. Separate offices, restrooms, break rooms, floors, glass, and periodic tasks because each moves at a different pace. Record the number of cleaners, total crew hours, site conditions, equipment, and whether the visit was an initial clean or recurring service. After several comparable visits, use the range to estimate the next walkthrough. Your history will expose the difference between a building that looks simple on paper and one that regularly slows the crew down.

Count every cost before profit

Start with loaded labor cost, not wages alone. Add the employment costs and benefits your company pays, then include chemicals, liners, consumables, equipment allocation, travel, parking, access time, supervision, quality checks, insurance, and other costs caused by the account. Add a fair share of overhead for the office work that keeps the contract running. If a cost exists only because you won the job, the bid needs a place for it. Leaving a real cost outside the estimate does not make the bid lean. It makes the loss harder to see.

Set a profit target, then solve for price

Profit margin is the share of the final price left after costs. Markup is an amount added to cost, so the two are not interchangeable. Choose the margin your business needs, add direct costs and overhead, and calculate the final price from that target. Then stress-test the result. Ask what happens if the crew needs more time, a supply cost changes, or the client adds a room. The answer should not depend on perfect weeks. Use the free calculator to run your own numbers and see the per-visit, monthly, and square-foot views together.

Let the walkthrough change the number

Ask how many people use the building, which areas are public, what must be cleaned every visit, what rotates, and what is excluded. Check floor types, restroom count, fixtures, waste volume, security, alarm procedures, elevator and parking access, storage, water, power, loading rules, service windows, and who supplies consumables. Ask about current complaints and the condition the outgoing provider will leave behind. Photograph and measure what the client permits. A walkthrough is not a formality before the quote. It is where the assumptions behind the quote are either confirmed or replaced.

Present the result, not a naked rate

A client comparing only hourly or square-foot rates cannot see the difference between two scopes. Present the service areas, task frequency, quality checks, proof of work, communication path, exclusions, and process for extra work next to the price. Separate the initial clean, recurring service, periodic work, and optional items. State the invoice schedule and due-date rule. The proposal should let a client compare what will happen at the building, not just which vendor printed the smallest unit rate.

Know when to walk away from a bid

Walk away when the required scope cannot be delivered safely and profitably at the price the client will accept. The same applies when access rules are unclear, the decision maker will not confirm the scope, unpaid extras are treated as normal, payment terms create more risk than the account can carry, or the client expects a first clean at a recurring maintenance price. A full schedule is not the same as a healthy business. The wrong contract consumes crew capacity, creates complaints, and delays payment from the accounts worth keeping.

Put the method to work

Build the bid, then watch the account.

Use your own costs before the quote and your actual job history after the work starts.

Commercial cleaning pricing questions

Use your scope and costs instead of copying a rate that was built for a different job.

Straight answers. Ask the rest on the call.