Price the add-ons without guessing twice
Your base contract covers nightly janitorial. Carpet cleaning, floor stripping and waxing, window washing, and one-time deep cleans are quoted separately — and most contractors either forget to charge for them or lowball them because there's no reference point. Here's one.
Rate ranges for the add-ons that come up most
These are one-time or periodic rates, separate from your recurring janitorial contract. They vary by region same as base rates do, so treat these as a starting point to adjust from.
Carpet cleaning — Hot water extraction runs $0.20 – $0.35 per sq ft for standard traffic-lane and open-area cleaning; bonnet cleaning (faster, less deep) runs $0.10 – $0.18 per sq ft. Heavily soiled carpet or upholstered furniture gets quoted separately, not folded into a per-square-foot rate.
Floor stripping and waxing (VCT/tile) — Full strip-and-wax runs $0.35 – $0.55 per sq ft; a recoat without stripping the old finish runs $0.12 – $0.20 per sq ft. Furniture that has to be moved by hand adds labor time that the per-foot rate doesn't cover — price it as a line item if the space is dense with desks or filing cabinets.
Window cleaning — Interior-only runs $2 – $5 per pane for standard office windows; interior-and-exterior on a ground-floor or low-rise building runs $4 – $9 per pane. Anything requiring a lift or rope access is a specialty quote, not a rate off this table.
One-time or post-construction deep clean — $0.15 – $0.30 per sq ft depending on how much construction dust and debris is involved. This is almost always priced as a flat one-time fee, not folded into the monthly rate.
Disinfection/sanitization service — $0.08 – $0.15 per sq ft per visit for electrostatic or fogging treatment of an already-clean space, on top of standard cleaning.
Bundle it into the contract, or bill it separately?
Facilities managers will sometimes ask you to fold quarterly carpet cleaning or monthly floor care into the flat monthly rate so their budgeting looks simpler. You can do that, but do the math first: divide the add-on's true cost by the number of months in the contract term and add that to your base rate — don't just absorb it to look competitive.
As a rule of thumb: recurring, predictable add-ons (quarterly floor care, monthly window cleaning on a small storefront) are easier to bundle because you can amortize them cleanly. One-time or irregular work (post-construction cleanup, an unplanned carpet emergency) should almost always be billed separately, because bundling it forces you to guess at a frequency that hasn't been set yet.
Either way, put the add-on rate in writing in the bid — even if it's bundled — so there's no ambiguity later about what happens if the facilities manager wants to change frequency or drop the service.
How to quote an add-on request mid-contract
This comes up after you've already won the job, usually by email or a walkthrough call.
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Get the scope in writing
Square footage or pane count for the specific area, not the whole building — carpet cleaning quotes are almost always for a subset of the space you already clean.
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Check for anything that moves the rate up
Heavy furniture to move, unusually soiled carpet, windows above ground floor, or hazardous material near the work area all push the number above the base range.
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Decide bundle or bill separately
Match it to how often the request will recur — see above. Don't default to bundling just because it's the first time they've asked.
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Send a written add-on quote, not a verbal number
Even a short email with the rate, scope, and one-time vs. recurring status protects you if the facilities manager's expectation doesn't match what you deliver.
Questions about pricing add-on services
Should add-on rates ever be lower than these ranges to win the extra work?
Be careful with this — add-on services usually carry equipment or chemical costs your base janitorial rate doesn't, so discounting them cuts into margin faster than discounting the base contract does. If you want to win the add-on, it's usually safer to hold the rate and throw in something low-cost, like scheduling the work on a night you're already on site.
Do I need different insurance for floor stripping or window cleaning?
Floor finish chemicals and elevated window work are exactly the kind of thing a general liability policy sometimes excludes or caps differently — confirm with your carrier before you quote work above ground level or involving industrial floor chemicals, not after you've already booked it.
What if the facilities manager wants a single number that covers janitorial plus quarterly carpet cleaning?
That's a bundle — amortize the carpet cleaning cost across the contract term and add it to your monthly rate, but still show the carpet cleaning line item separately in the pricing breakdown so it's clear what happens if they later want to drop it.
Are these rates different for a single visit versus a standing add-on contract?
Yes — a one-time job usually sits at the top of these ranges because there's no ongoing relationship to amortize setup costs against. A standing quarterly or monthly add-on can usually be priced nearer the bottom of the range once you've done the space once and know exactly what it takes.
Have a specific add-on to price?
Send the service type, square footage or pane count, and whether it's one-time or recurring, and we'll help you land on a number.