How to price a commercial cleaning job

Define the work before the number

List the areas to clean, tasks in each area, service frequency and any separately priced work. Record assumptions about access, existing buildup, equipment and who supplies consumables. Keep that scope beside the estimate so a price change can be traced to a change in the work.

A building’s floor area alone does not specify every cleaning task. ISSA describes cleaning times as a starting point for budgeting labor, with benchmarks based on tasks, tools, quantities, time and training. Combine relevant benchmarks with observations from your own jobs.

Count every cleaner’s time

Two cleaners working two hours each represent four labor hours. Multiply those hours by your loaded hourly labor cost. Include the employment costs you actually pay, such as wages, paid leave and benefits. If you do the cleaning yourself, include a cost for your own time.

Add supplies, vehicle costs, paid travel labor and a reasonable share of overhead. In this calculator, the Travel field combines vehicle expense and paid travel time. Enter each cost once.

Work through an example

Review what the job really costs

Compare estimated and actual time after completed visits, then revise future assumptions. Equipment, administration and other recurring expenses still need to be covered. The estimate is only as complete as the costs you put into it; it is not a guaranteed net profit.

Allocate overhead without counting it twice

Choose a consistent way to share fixed business costs across your jobs. In a hypothetical month with $1,000 of overhead and 200 expected billable cleaner-hours, the allocation is $5 per cleaner-hour. A visit needing four cleaner-hours would carry $20 of overhead. Those inputs are planning assumptions, not recommended business ratios.

Use realistic billable hours, rather than every paid hour in the month. Check whether equipment, insurance or administration has already been included elsewhere. If it has, do not add it again.

Use the cleaning quote template to record the client-facing price, included rooms, task frequencies, exclusions and access arrangements. Keep the costing worksheet for your own review.