What do I charge on commercial cleaning bid?? - Cleaning Talk - Professional Cleaning and Restoration Forum

Carvell04 · 08-25-2010, 01:12 PM

I have started a Commercial Cleaning Company. I currently clean a small office, but I want to bid on a large Gymnastics gym. It is 40,000 sq. feet and it includes all general cleaning such as vacuum, mop, dust, deoderize carpets, clean windows, mirrors and three bathrooms. I am guessing, that it will take 2 people about 3 hours to complete the job. The gym will be cleaned 6 days a week. I want to be reasonable in price, because the people own to other gyms, but I am scared I will price it too low and not make a profit. Thank you in advance for any help and advise.

tsbuckets · 09-03-2010, 11:46 AM

Its hard to say....it all depends on where you live, what the going rates are. In my area I would charge roughly .11 cents per sq ft for all of that however I do have a friend in southern ontario who would charge 0.09 cents.

My best cadvice to you would be to call around some bigger companies and do a ghost call...meaning act like you would like them to quote on a similar job...this can be tricky since most people want to do a walk through butyou might get a general idea.

Plus you left out a few things, you gave sq footage, but how much vaccuming needs to be done, what type of floor is it? How many windows (these are usually seperate price per window)...are you supplying the supplies or are they...etc, etc...

Good luck however. Make some calls, read the forums, do some research and you will have a better chance of getting the contract.

Brianm4289 · 09-17-2010, 05:16 PM

i am confused... $0.11 per sq ft = $4,400... is that a monthly rate you are going by or what???

tsbuckets · 09-17-2010, 09:01 PM

In my area I would charge the 0.11 cents per square foot per month yes. I know it seems high but in my area that is actually a lower bid. After I factor in my employee's wages and supplies etc, that would be roughly what I go with.

I know of a monthly contract over 42,000 sq ft and charge .14 per sq.ft Which is cleaned 7 days a week. If I hadn't seen the paperwork with my own eyes I would never have believed it. 40,000 plus seems more like the .08 - .12 range

Competiton here is fierce and pricing is very high, industrial settings and larger complexes especially like gym's or swimming area etc pay nicely.

The golden rule seems to be anything over 20,000 sq ft is roughly .15 cents, over 30,000 is .13 and anything over 35,000 is .08 - .12....until you hit higher than 50,000 which I haven't seen here yet. These are just my area's pricing structures however.

Brianm4289 · 09-19-2010, 01:53 AM

that seems like a great payday at the end of the month if it is only taking 3 hours a day. I am really wanting to start my own company but afraid i will not find enough residential customers, but after hearing this I am thinking I would much rather try to land commercial deals it seems much more profitable and more of a consistent pay

tsbuckets · 09-19-2010, 02:50 PM

Hey there Brianm4289.

I wish you much luck on starting your cleaning company but please don't bite off more than you can chew. What I mean is that it took us 18 months of little jobs, residential cleaning, small office cleaning and the odd window washing job before we started to get things right.

I made ALOT of mistakes when I first started out, pricing was a huge factor, getting contracts was harder than hell in the beginning. We landed small jobs and made them damn perfect (you ALWAYS have a complainer or two) but we learned from our mistakes, gave refunds and a few free-bies. In all truth the only reason we moved up was quite literally a stroke of luck.

One day while handing out business cards I got a return phone call from one of the biggest construction companies in town. They gave us a little tester job and from there on we made them so happy that we slowly got bigger and bigger jobs. We got a grocery store one day simply because I asked if I could put a business card in the front entrance and the owner and I started to talk....bang he asked me for a quote on the spot. P.S. It was through this forum that I was able to quote the proper price and land the job.

Start small....PLEASE....We made several mistakes at first trying to go to fast and I don't want you to miss out on a successful business opportunity.

Remember that most larger companies only do their sub contractor payroll every 30 - 60 days, you need to build up a nest egg to pay for supplies and wages etc while waiting for payment from the big companies.

Ask questions in the forum or to me personally:

Find out your going rates locally.
Join your local Chamber of Commerce.
Join any local business person type club.
Network, network...network.
Hand out cards.
Make some phone calls.
Do a great job, treat every job like it is your biggest.
Most importantly, to me at least, is to make sure you pay your employees more than the average wage. I start my crew out at 12.50 an hour....bonuses for a job well done and raises are common, my crew is the reason for my success because of how awesome they are, so they are paid accordingly.

You CAN and WILL be successful but it may take a year or more, be persistent and don't give up.

If you need help, ask anyone here and you will get it. I am always available as well, if not for my mentor and team....well...chances are I would have quit many, many months ago.

Go get 'em

Brianm4289 · 09-20-2010, 01:29 PM

Thanks I appreciate all of your input and support.. so when you first began how did you start landing jobs? I mean, what type of marketing works best for you? Also, were you doing a lot of residential jobs in the beginning, or offices and small business? I am going into this with really no support or mentors so having somebody willing to take the time to help out means a lot! Thanks again!

divers · 12-18-2010, 06:34 PM

Making bids for a commercial cleaning service can be hard. Compute all the expenses you will be taking per day then multiple it on the days that you will be working on the project. Then add a little increase for that will be your profit.

aqualityassured · 12-20-2010, 05:58 PM

I would bid a job like this around .09 or .10 /sqft. unless it's heavy traffic and for some reason would be difficult to clean. Commercial cleaning is an art. It takes practice, heart, drive and determination and treating the customer right. Bidding takes a whole lot more. If you are are starting out new as a commercial cleaner you should hang out here alot and go door to door start out with small businesses. Ask your potential customer if you can give them a cleaning estimate. You will get alot of no's but you only need a few yes' to get started and a few maybes to build your pipeline.