Leave the walkthrough with a measurable scope
Before entering a price, write down what counts as a completed visit. “Clean the office” leaves too much open. Record the rooms, accessible floor area by surface, restroom fixtures, waste bins, task frequencies and access window. Identify excluded spaces and work that needs a separate initial clean.
| Walkthrough question | What to record | Why the estimate changes |
|---|---|---|
| Where can the crew work? | Included rooms, blocked areas, keys and arrival window | Access delays and restricted sequencing consume time. |
| What does “done” mean? | Task, frequency and acceptance check for each area | Daily touchpoints and periodic detail work need separate allowances. |
| What is supplied? | Equipment, products, liners and restroom consumables | Client-supplied materials should not be costed as your purchases. |
| What is unusual? | Existing buildup, movable furniture and special restrictions | A maintenance estimate may not cover the first visit. |
Use the task checklist to turn the answers into a service record. Do not assign a time until the included work is clear.
Turn tasks into total cleaner-hours
ISSA’s estimating method relates a task quantity to a matching production rate. Area tasks can use square feet per hour; counted tasks can use minutes per item. A combined rate that already includes several tasks must not be added to separate allowances for the same work.
Hypothetical task budget; these speeds are not benchmarks.
- Floor task: 2,400 sq ft ÷ assumed 2,400 sq ft/hour = 60 minutes.
- Fixtures: 8 × assumed 5 minutes = 40 minutes.
- Waste and touchpoints: separately allowed 50 minutes.
- Setup and checks: separately allowed 30 minutes.
Total: 180 minutes, or 3 cleaner-hours. Two people could finish in 1.5 hours only if tasks can be shared without delays or overlap.
Enter your task quantities in the time calculator. In the price calculator, enter hours per cleaner and crew size; it multiplies them. Do not enter total team hours and multiply by the team again.
Give each expense one home
Use a loaded labor cost based on your own payroll and employment expenses, rather than treating the cash wage as the complete cost. BLS distinguishes wages and benefit costs; its national statistics are not a substitute for your records. Include a cost for the owner’s cleaning time too.
Put on-site labor in Labor, consumed products in Supplies, and paid travel labor plus vehicle expense in Travel. Put the visit’s allocation of remaining fixed costs in Overhead. If equipment has already been allocated in overhead, do not charge its full cost again in supplies.
For an illustrative allocation, $900 monthly overhead ÷ 180 expected billable cleaner-hours = $5 per cleaner-hour. A 3-hour visit carries $15. If only 120 hours are realistically billable, the same method gives $7.50 per hour and $22.50 per visit. Check the capacity assumption before using it.
Price the defined visit, then check the uncertainty
Using the invented 3-hour task budget: labor 3 × $24 = $72; supplies $9; travel $18; overhead $15. Total entered cost is $114.
At a chosen 20% target margin: $114 ÷ 0.80 = $142.50. The $28.50 remainder is 20% of that price.
If the visit takes 3.75 cleaner-hours with the other inputs fixed, costs rise to $132. At the agreed $142.50 price, only $10.50 remains: about 7.37%.
This sensitivity check identifies the assumption worth checking: the time budget. A target margin does not remove uncertainty. Confirm questionable tasks, test your assumptions on completed work and agree how changes in scope will be handled.
Check the proposal before sending it
- Match the price to one clear service period: a visit, a defined month or a specified project.
- Separate initial work, routine visits and periodic extras.
- State included rooms, tasks, access arrangements and supplies responsibility.
- Check that the same expense appears only once in your internal estimate.
- Keep tax treatment and any additional charges explicit in your agreed terms; this tool calculates a price before applicable taxes.
Transfer the total to the quote template. After service, use the completed-visit review to compare actual costs with your original estimate. A quote with correct arithmetic still needs a realistic scope and time budget.
Keep the assumptions with the quote
A total without its inputs is difficult to revise. In the time calculator, give the plan a visit name, record the scope and keep each rate’s source or measured conditions beside its task. Download the editable plan before leaving. Reopen that file when a room, quantity or frequency changes, then save the revised plan under a new filename.
Use the labor transfer to carry total cleaner-hours into the price tool. It divides by the chosen crew size once; with no crew entered it uses one costed cleaner. The price tool clears the example costs after a transfer so you supply your own labor cost, supplies, travel, overhead and target margin. A labor budget does not supply those expenses for you.
Save the task-plan file with the final customer PDF and your internal costing record. A CSV breakdown is useful for reading the assumptions, but reopening inputs requires the editable JSON plan. JanitorMath keeps no online copy of either file.
Sources & assumptions
Revised September 18, 2026. Linked ISSA, BLS and Intuit sources were checked on that date where used. The calculations, comparison worksheets and job scenarios are JanitorMath teaching material using invented inputs. They are not market surveys, production benchmarks or claims of cleaning-business operating experience.